Sophistry

The word of the day is sophistry.

Sophistry -- n. a deceptive or fallacious argument.

Sophistry is deceiving someone by making a superficial or defective argument, which doesn't hold water. Example: telling your mother you can't clean your room because it will destroy the delicate balance of the ecosystem. 

Sophistry is not a word that you hear every day in conversation, but just turn on the TV and watch the commercials. You'll see plenty!

Fight Fire with Fire?

I thought the saying was You can't fight fire with fire, but they can and do. It's been a common practice since the old west, when they burned underbrush so there wouldn't be much flammable debris to prolong a fire. And more recently, when they detenate dynamite to remove oxygen from the fire, which extinguishes it. Shakespear mentions "be fire with fire" in a play about King John, written in the 16th Century.

The closest reference was more recent.  US author Henry Tappan's 1852 reminiscence A Step from the New World to the Old, and Back Again:

Smoking was universal among the men; generally cigars, not fine Havanas, but made of Dutch tobacco, and to me not very agreeable. I had some Havanas with me, and so I lighted one to make an atmosphere for myself: as the trappers on the prairies fight fire with fire, so I fought tobacco with tobacco.

But it still makes more sense to me that you can't fight fire with fire. I think it is more effective to fight fire with its opposite, water. There are many instances of the backfire thing, back firing, meaning althoughit was intended to quell the fire, it only exacerbated it!

Are you a maven?

I like that word: MAVEN.

It would make a good job title, or even a name. A girl's name, I think.

Maven means an expert or authority. It comes to us from Yiddish!

I'm also excited because I don't think I have posted about any other words from Yiddish before!

Oy vey! what chutzpah! I need to diversify!

Balance

I think I need more balance in my life.

What exactly does that mean?

Most times I think people mean they need more leisure time or more family time. I have never heard anyone say this who wanted more time at the office.

But balance is a good positive word.

I want balance in my life between work, family and recreation. I want a high balance in my checking and savings account. I want low balances on my credit card bills.

Zero balances are good, on credit card bills, not good for your checking account.

Nobody likes to be off-balance.

And what is meant by "perfect" balance...

You Blow Me Away

More light and airy expressions.

Blown Away. Is this a good thing?

Blown over is usually good, when said of a storm.

Blow my mind. 80s flashback. Or did it come from the 70s and acid trips?

Blow up means to explode. Not usually a good thing.

And this sounds like a pirate expression:

Why, Blow me down!

Red Heads

Why am I suddenly the red-headed step-child?!

I'd rather be the red-headed vixen.

Where do these expressions come from?

Red hair is beautiful. It is rare. True redheads are rare, of course, though it is very popular as a hair dye. When I made my hair copper, people came up to me on the street and said "I love your hair!" They do not do that with ash brown hair.

The best definition of this term is from Urban Dictionary:
A term that originated out of the common mistreatment and social ostracism of redheaded individuals (gingers). A redheaded individual born into(legitamately or not), or adopted into a family of non-redheads was typically subject to physical and emotional abuse, and usually short handed when it came to financial matters in the family, such as the estate or any savings the family had acquired. Today, the term can be applied to an individual or group of individuals who are outcasts, or are typically dealt the worst hand in society.

I used to be the fiery redhead. But now I'm barely smoldering.

I'm going to get back that fire!

Filthy Wealthy

Filthy rich sounds right. Filthy Wealthy doesn't.

Where does the saying filthy rich come from?! I know money, the actual metal or paper has been through a thousand hands and maybe some toilets (the metal ones), but what does filth have to do with rich?!

Filthy is not just dirty. Filthy also means obscene or morally foul.

A poor person must have assumed all rich people were morally unjust. Or maybe a jealous person.

Rich is a great word. a noun and an adjective. Means full, intense, abundant, complete, thick, dense, creamy, opulent, luxuriant, not just the state of owning many possesions and a large bank account.

Dither

I've recently heard these two uncommon words.

Blather means to speak foolishly. From Old Norse.

Dither means a state of nervous excitement or anxiety. no root language given, but it is an alternate form of "didder" (to shake or tremble).

Before you get in a dither, I'll stop blathering.

Blow my Mind

Blow my Mind

I want to write an article about this expression.

You don't hear it much anymore, though it was once popular. I guess that was when recreational drug usage was more poplular. I think there is more drug usage now, but prescriptive, not recreational. Either way people still use drugs to feel happy.

Blow off, Blow up, blowout, Blow over,

There are many expressions using the word blow. Blow as a verb means:
to move in a current of air, emit a jet of air, to be in motion, to play (a bugle), or to inflate.

Dishabille

That was the word for the Day on Thursday, at the Toastmasters meeting.

I had to look it up. My pocket dictionary, said,
"partially or improperly dressed."

The first thing that came to my mind was the teenagers at the High School where I used to work. I would say almost all of them were dishabille. The boys wore huge long Tee shirts to hide the fact that the gymn shorts or jeans they had on were hanging off their butts. I call that imPROPERly dressed.
And the girls had on strapless tops (not allowed in the dress code) and tiny shorts or skirts (not allowed either, but usually ignored. At least they had shorts or a skirt on.) I call that partially dressed or scantily clad.

Scantily Clad??!! Scantily? CLAD?!

Scantily--the adverb form of the adjective scanty. (Actually that is not in my dictionary, but I'm sticking with it. "Scantly" does not sound right to me. And it may be a typo.)

Clad-- clad? what is that? Is that a word? I know I have heard it, but is it in the dictionary??? Yes, it is! Adjective, meaning covered or clothed.

At the meeting, it was defined as wearing casual clothing, or perhaps too casual.

And the pronunciation is dis uh BEEL. From the French word meaning undressed.
Not "dish" as in disheveled.

The official dictionary says, the state of being dressed in a casual or careless style.

So I can definitely say that I never go to work dishabille.
I can also tell my child not to go to school dishabille.
And I can call those high school students dishabille.

Also think of a child when they learn how to dress themselves, but can't match up the buttons properly, find things that match, or maybe leave something out. Children like to be dishabille, in the sense of not completely covered up, barefoot or topless.

I can really use this word in Florida, where people spend most of the year dishabille. Especially at the beach, but not just at the beach.

My advice, Don't leave home dishabille! Bring a sweater, just in case.

Between a rock and a stone...

Listen to these words:

Feather ... Stone

Why does feather sound so light and floating? And why does stone sound so heavy?

How about Rock? It sounds hard. Even more solid than stone.

I guess that's why they say "Between a rock and a hard place." It sounds much worse than "Between a stone and a hard place."

Knuckles

I wonder where the expression, knuckle-head" came from? Is it related to knuckle-sandwich?

Knuckle comes to us from Middle English, somehow related to the Old High German word for knot. It is the rounded prominence formed by the ends of 2 adjacent bones at a joint. And a few other things that somehow resemble a knuckle or the prominence at an intersection.

Knucklehead means dumbbell according to my Dictionary, another interesting compound word. This could be confusing, as dumbbell has 2 meanings. It would be strange to hear someone at the health club looking for some knuckles!

Knuckle-sandwich is not in my dictionary. I think the meaning is clear, but there could be people who speak English as a second language and they might not understand that it means a punch to the mouth.

More About Diddley

More about diddley. Much ado about nothing.



Didley means nothing.



And yet there is a web page dedicated to the expression Diddley Squat. Imagine that! Very information and amusing.

It includes a few stories.

Lighten Up

I do enjoy the song "Lighten Up" or is it "Soak up the Sun?" by Sheryl Crow.



In it she sings that she doesn't have "diddley squat." What a wonderful expression!



I don't know how far back it goes, but the phrase was immortalized in a 50's song, I believe,
"My girl is red hot!
Your girl ain't diddley squat!"


Diddley represents a very small amount.

Squat is a verb which means to bend knees in order to almost sit on the floor.....the dictionary says to crouch down or "sit on heels or hams."

It doesn't really add to the meaning of this expression, but I think it's added for emphasis as a short, harsh sounding word.

Where's your moxie?

Curses! We've been jimmy-jacked!



I just saw the movie, The Battle of the Smithsonian. It was funny. There was a lifesized manequin of Amelia Earhardt and she came to life, with very colorful language. Somehow, even though the other figures, from ancient Egypt or Russia, spoke modern English, with a thorough understanding of the current idioms and slang expressions, she was allowed to use some uncommon language, possibly from her own era.



The word I was thinking about was moxie. Amelia said it many times and my son asked me what it meant after the movie. Moxie is a great word! I think it means Boldness, daring, fearlessness.



It means boldness or courage and I think it may come from Yiddish. It is not in my pocket dictionary and not in my thesaurus for Word.

Tempest in a teapot

There's something you don't hear every day, "Tempest in a Teapot. "

I don't know why, I kinda like it. It means a big controversy about a trivial matter.

Aren't most of our fears really trivial when analyzed or disected?

Tempestuous. It means violent or turbulent. Tempest is a violent wind. Both are derived from a Latin word meaning "weather."

Handsome Thoughts

Why do we say "Handsome?"

Does it have anything to do with hands?

just pondering...

Lackadaisical Afternoons

Are you Lazy or Lackadaisical?

Lackadaisical means lacking life, spirit, or zest. The dictionary lists a "folk etymology," that the word comes from an archaic word, "lackaday," which is from the expression, "Alack, the day!"

People don’t speak like that any more. Alas!

Lazy means disinclined to activity or exertion, encouraging indolence or inactivity; sluggish; or droopy. It comes from MLG, which is Middle Lower German.

Alack is used to express regret or sorrow. From Middle English, curiously enough, since the following is from Latin:
Alas is used to express concern or unhappiness.

Alack! I have been lazy about updating my blogs, but I promise that is soon to change!

Cracking Up

"Cracking up" has two meanings. It can mean laughter or insanity. What is the relationship between these 2? If you are cracked, you are nuts or lacking common sense.
If you crack a smile, it's a spontaneous movement you can't suppress, and cracking up is indulging in hearty laughter that can't be denied.
But cracking under pressure is not good.
Cracking up is not good, even if it is laughter, because it is often used for inappropriate laughter. If you crack up in a church or in class, you get in trouble. And if you crack up laughing repeatedly, people will think you are really cracking up (going crazy).

Crack up also means a crash. So, here's hoping all your crack-ups are the laughing kind!

Beaming with Confidence

I like that word, beaming. I didn't think it was a bona fide word when I read it a hundred times in Harry Potter. I thought it was just a British expression. I had to look it up. But if you look in the dictionary, one of the definitions of "beam" is to smile. I like it, because it comes with the shimmer and glimmer of a sunbeam. We do say a person's face lights up when they smile.

Which is a better title for my soon to be available CD, Beaming with Confidence or Brimming with Confidence? Or should we stay with Building Confidence. Or do you prefer Outrageous Confidence?