Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Come on, are these even words?
Ten winning words for a recent National Spelling Bee, of which I knew the meaning of four. No, five. Definitely five. (How about you?)
Meanings below the fold.
Scrannel
Matsutake
Rhabdomyoma
Brumalia
Leguleian
Villicus
Bacalao
Mirin
Genethliac
Bundestag
Scrannel: adjective
1. thin, lean, or slight
2. harsh and unmusical
Matsutake: shrooms, man.
Rhabdomyoma: a benign tumor of striated muscle. Yes, I knew this one. And I could have spelled it, too.
Pretty in pink.
Brumalia: “Brumalia was an ancient Roman solstice festival honoring Dionysus, generally held on 25 December. The festival included drinking and merriment. The name is derived from the Latin word bruma, meaning ‘shortest day.'”
Leguleian: Lawyer-like, legal. Used when you mean “lawyer-like” but you don’t want anyone to know what the hell you’re saying.
Villicus: again from Wikipedia,
Vilicus (Greek, á¼Ï€Î¯Ï„Ïοπος), was a slave who had the superintendence of the villa rustica, and of all the business of the farm, except the cattle, which were under the care of the magister pecoris. The duties of the vilicus were to obey his master implicitly, and to govern the other slaves with moderation, never to leave the villa except to go on market, to have no intercourse with soothsayers, to take care of the cattle and the implements of husbandry, and to manage all the operations of the farm villa. His duties and those of his wife (the vilica) are described by Columella (I.8, XI.1, and XII.1), and by Cato (cxlii-cxliii, focusing on the vilica).
The word was also used to describe a person to whom the management of any business was entrusted (see the passage quoted in Forcellini’s Lexicon)
Bacalao: Spanish dried salt cod. And I only know this one from having read The Sparrow.
Mirin: sweetened rice wine (sake).
You cook with it, unless you're desperate. Then you drink it.
Genethliac:
a. 1. Pertaining to nativities; calculated by astrologers; showing position of stars at one’s birth.
n. 1. A birthday poem.
2. One skilled in genethliacs.
Obsolete, a person who is skilled in genethlialogy.
Bundestag: The Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany.
I feel much smarter now, don’t you?
D.
PS: More fun . . . HuffPost readers pick their 20 worst grammar pet peeves.
Is it Villicus or Vilicus?
I thought I knew two, but turned out I had one confused with netsuke, which are totally different.
So only Bundestag.
Hmm, not the best esteem booster to start Monday!
I knew the food ones, and the Bundestag.
Kira, you’re right — the spelling bee and Wikipedia have two different spellings. Either that or HuffPo got it wrong.
ps: me too, except I knew “rhabdomyoma” also.