Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
A word, a two word phrase actually, I have always read and heard, but never knew what it meant, from:
"A Lesson in Love": - Prima Donna excerpt: Nothing is for certain, that's what the showman said First you must open the curtain And stand them on their heads There can be no inhibitions, no prima donna ways If you want to pass the audition And times is tough these days Merriam webster's dictionary def.: [prima donna] Pronunciation: \ˌpri-mə-ˈdä-nə, ˌprē-\ Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural prima donnas Etymology: Italian, literally, first lady Date: 1782 1 : a principal female singer in an opera or concert organization 2 : a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team #2 in Yellow seems to be the general usage I have encountered, and kind of by assumption and context, I thought it meant a stuck-up spoiled brat that expected the red-carpet treatment right out of the shute, before paying their dues. Big assumption, that. I guess I wasn't too far off from the yellow common usage, but no surprise, my connotation in my own mind was longer and more verbose than the dictionary's denotation ! lol that fits.. that busts it ! lol..... pretty close to Latin, from which I believe, will the good Professor DQ correct me on spanish ?; but the "Prima" part of Prima Donna is verbatim from Latin romance-language origin to its spawn on Spanish Prima.. I believe..the Donna, I have not encountered in latin, but my latin was limited to law class usages on context-specific terms. Professor el Don Quixote ?? :) :biggrin: I really was not too far off was I ? In both my connotation, and my Latin-Spanish etymological lineage assumption ? Am I being a prima donna ? Hope not... it sounds like a girl or somethin'..... lol... and I ain't no girl Pilgrim, not by a da**-site ! - Which reminds me ( non sequiter pivot): A fairly funny REAL store name, on HWY 34,which ran out the end of the temporaily famous in '76 Big Thompson Canyon [road] and [river]. It overflowed so badly from rain in '76 at the rate of 12" in a 4-hour period, that it busted the damn down below, overflowed it up above in Estes Park, Colo., and a 12-foot-high wall of water rampaged down the canyon. It entirely wiped out an entire little burg at the intersection mid-canyon of the Big Thompson Highway, and Devil's Gulch Rd. running down from Estes Park perpendicular to the confluence with the canyon rd. This flood, in a phrase, was an incredible tragedy of nature versus man-made infrastructure, lives were lost, entire homes, whole portions of highway, and two police officers that gave their lives trying to warn campers to get out of the canyon. A memorial was erected in their honour; in memorium for their bravery. I was visiting my soon-to-become monk friend in Indiana at the time of my home-town flood; it hit national news and I woke to a newspaper in Indiana that read "Estes Park, Colorado, wiped off of the map" - my whole home town. I had a fit of course, and phones were tied up for hours. I later learned it was the small enclave halfway down the canyon that was wiped away, not Estes, but still immensely tragic. Anyway (THE JOKE) the damn at the bottom of the road and canyon, having set you up for a hearty laugh with a morbid , loquatious story before it (timing ! TIMING ! said the comedian), well the damm had a small general store right beside it. After the flood, and they got washed away in the store, they rebuilt the store, picked themselves up by the bootstraps, dusted their britches off, said many cliches, and at the site where the damn WAS, rebuilt their store. They had the good-natured double-entendre wit to name it ( you guessed it....) "BEST STORE BY A DAMN SITE" ! lol - GOTTA GIVE -EM CREDIT FOR HAVING A SENSE-OF-HUMOUR ! well...that busts another other wise-short thread..... ~geo steve |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
RESTLESS
In the QUIETUDE of winter you can hear the wild geese cry. 'formal' quietness, peace, tranquility. It's a zen-like feeling when the hundreds of geese fly over my house. I stop and just listen to them..the sound stays in my head for days and if I see a flock in the distance I can hear them in my head. I will always love that sound until the day I die.. |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
From "Gotta Get Away" I learned the word Hexagram which is an object with 6 points (one being the Jewish star symbol). :)
I learned a little "French" vocabulary from Nous Vivons Ensemble (and finally learned to spell Ensemble correctly! LOL!) :biggrin: |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
B-stone - if you can bear it, check out the hexagram references I have on pg 1.... if u can take it. The read, that is......lol.... actually, respectfully, the most rife usage, without the circle is the star of David, and the symbol of Judaism
~geo steve |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Char - i also learned a word - I was embarrassed to say... from Restless, the fish Muskie. I was embarrassed , 'cause, in another thread , I mentioned I had heard of it, but.. I did not know what it really meant. I
have been on a binge of learning for several days actually, at your guys' expense to your poor eyes, I might add. A personal reanaissance of learning, which is good, but not 2-pagers in a GL forum.... I AM indeed sorry. to The room as a whole. I know I apologize too much,too LOL.. reference: from "RESTLESS" The lake is blue, the sky is gray, the leaves have turned to gold The wild goose will be on her way, the weather's much too cold When the muskie and the old trout too have all gone down to rest We will be returning to the things that we love best Adieu, Shut-up-and-deal :) ~geo steve |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Shut-up-and-Deal,
I gotta say, this thread is a hoot , I love it... because... I am a closet etymologist....student of words..... no sh** says everybody -groan- lol I am forceably teaching myself short, pertinent posts today. A lesson in manners, one might say in a song. Thanks for the thread idea, Shut-up-and-Deal, ~geo steve |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Just a short one, g-man. A "prima donna" (literally a "first lady") is taken from Italian opera, the leading lady soprano role in the production. As they had a reputation for being high-strung and more than a little demanding, the term expanded, even being used sometimes for males (like a ballplayer being called a prima donna). All interesting stuff; I haven't had much time for Corfid these days, but I've been checking in to see what's happening (including some of Geo-Steve's other topics). I think, as far as this topic, only "navvy" and the term "stemming gold" were things that I hadn't heard of outside of Gord's songs, as far as what's been mentioned.
Keep up the good work, everyone, and I'll keep swooping in occasionally. Best, DQ |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Why thank you., Professor DQ - on the Prima Donna et al brief and concise colloqium; I might learn a thing or two from your concise writing....working on it.... weird the last couple of days I've been assimilating words, maps, web sites, papers,math, proceedings...and learning, re-learning at times....so many things... it started increasing in speed... somewhat... I've been sleeping better the last few days , I think the reason is.. As always , your input is valued to me Prof., check in more often DQ. Thanks
~geo steve |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
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The lyrics list in the album says. "hexic ring" n |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
geo steve wrote:
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But interesting still is hexic ring. Help me please by showing a little patch of lyrics - like cut-n-paste out of Wayne's site, and then I'll know the hexic ring location, and song. I think I'm the only confused one... I really would enjoy knowing where hexic ring is, since its in the liner notes, can u refernce the song name, and a couple lines of lyrics from the liner notes with hexic ring ? I don't mean to be stupid, 'cause I think I am the only one not seeing the reference made to the song name with hexic ring, thats all. :) Thanks I 'preciate it ! Thanks, Paddle:) |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
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Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Geo-Steve. I forgot to mention Prima Donna as well. :) (Known a few people like that in my life :o)
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Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Shut-up-and-deal: yeah, me too, lol. re:
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Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Watching the coverage of Hurricane 'Ike', I was reminded of another word that was completely new to this desert dweller :"flotsam" from "High And Dry".
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Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Hey Ron - I've never heard people speak the word flotsam aloud - but I have read it, a lot. Since I realize you could and probably have looked up the definition of flotsam; I figured I'd just relay my connotation of it, from the context I've read it in many times.
To my recollection, every time I have read it where it was used literally, it was in a maritime context - like you referred to in "High and Dry". One of leaving behind floating flotsam from ..say.. a boat spilling a 5-gallon bucket of chud overboard, and they'd refer to it in the book almost always in this literal context together as the "flotsam and jetsam" (sp?) left roiling in the wake of the departed previous boat. From the context, flotsam seems to be typically debris of no value, floating, and left behind a departed boat. If I were to guess, I'd say the origin of the terms was from literally "float" in flo(a)tsam, and "to jettison" the jet(tison)-sam. Jetsam by context reads usually as more intentional for functional reasons, like jettisoning empty containers, bilge water, or heavy articles no longer needed on-board of no value. I've also read 'orts' used in the same context seemingly as a synonym in metaphorical use, functionally, but I don't think I've seen it as a typically maritime term like flotsam and jetsam. Then, in non-literal, but apparently metaphorical or analagous uses ( by context), I've seen the two words flotsam and jetsam used usually together as a figurative way of referring to, well, best way would be an example of the kind of thing I've read: ( I made the following up...) 'That night, after working on secure servers on classified data, he was left with nothing to do at the hotel but pad around in stocking feet; take a cigar out on the spacious 3 x 6 ft. patio. Then, scan-read the paper ( he eschewed TV, just another tube) or, increasingly for news- surf the web on his laptop for flotsam and jetsam from the banal,soon-to-be-yesterday's home-page pseudo-news and ubiquitous 'info-bites', orts of pop-culture with inevitable advertising-links;....' (note: author-generated ad-hoc writing; no cite applicable) |
Re: Vocabulary terms you have learned from listening to Gord...
Hangdog. As in Hangdog Hotel Room. At first I thought Gordon might have made the word up, but knowing his command of the english language I thought better and looked it up.
Harper-Collins Essential English Dictionary describes hangdog (adj.) as dejected, ahamed, or guilty in appearance in manner. Webster's describes as (adj.) showing a sense of guilt, a guilty look; (noun) a sneak, a degraded person; (adverb) low, sneaking, ashamed. Regardless of how used, I'd never heard of the word before! RM--like you, I'd never heard of flotsam either, but you beat me to it:) |
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