New Word for the Day

[Grandad]

So would you 'Clariflocculate' in a centrifuge?

I worked for many years in the plastic and rubber manufacturing industry. When milling rubber the term 'Mastication' describes the process.......Have to be careful how you say that one.

[Kiya]

[LovelyLadyLux]

I never knew there was a 45 letter word for anything or even a 28 letter word. Haven't come up with my new word of the day but on reading this it reminded me of my Latin studies which BTW I used every single day (not) however it is interested to mull how a language dies.

Gaelic is going the way of the dodo. Some still speak it but it isn't in the top ten languages you need to know to succeed English on the other hand is ever changing. Kinda wonder why some languages just didn't adapt new words to keep them viable. Also I kinda wonder if they just faded slowly over decades or centuries and were replaced by what?

[Grandad]

What happened to 'Esperanto'?

[Horus]

Yes I remember that one Grandad, supposed to be the be all and end all of a universal language, but died the death. On the other hand English is an ever evolving language mainly due to our colonial past and immigration over the years.

[LovelyLadyLux]

English words, especially new words that pertain to cyber world or technology are definitely global and can be found in almost any language. Interesting to be out and about someplace and hear somebody rattling off rapid fire in a foreign language and then suddenly you hear a totally English word pop in.

[Horus]

I agree, it must be a similar thing though if you are say from India and hear words such as 'Bungalow' & 'Pajamas' used in spoken English, the word 'Jute' means a fibre in Bengali and one of my favourites was a word my father often used to describe someone and it was 'Doolally' meaning crazy or mad, it comes from the name of a town called 'Deolali' and one can only speculate it is because all the inhabitants of that place are crazy

[Grandad]

Sitting doodling with my afternoon cuppa, my mind drifted to thinking of a word for today. For some unknown reason 'Somnambulist' came into my head. I am sure we all know that somnambulist is a noun for a sleepwalker.

Thinking of other forms of the word I came up with, Somnambulism (noun), somnambulation (noun), Somnambulistic (adjective), and Somnambulate (intransitive verb, or a verb with no object)

It soon becomes clear why some foreigners have difficulty learning the English language. Not to mention how we pronounce words like cough, bough, dough etc

[Horus]

Yes the same words used in English but with totally different meanings would be a topic all on it's own Grandad.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I've read (and believe) that English IS one of the most difficult language to learn because while we have rules we have more exceptions to the rules than rules.........

[Horus]

And if you also add the Americanisation of certain words that now get used it gets even worse for a non native English speaker.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Latest NEW word of the day: WINDLESTRAW

Had to look it up cause I definitely never heard of this before

[Horus]

I reckon it's a very good descriptive word and it really does conjure up the image in your mind.

[Grandad]

Not a new word but my word for today:

'Dichotomy'

And this came to my mind when I was thinking about the reported lowly performance of education in GB compared with other countries of the world. The dichotomy being that if we are SO bad at education, why do so many students from around the world come to the UK at great expense to their family or country to further their education?

[Horus]

Probably because there is nothing wrong with the standard as such, it is either the lack of teacher quality or more likely a lack of any learning ability or the will to learn in the first place. Although I did hear something about the other countries examination questions being a bit on the low side compared with here in the UK.

[LovelyLadyLux]

My new word for today I got whilst reading an old Nat Geo. It is kopje (rocky outcrop). Was an interesting article about lions.

[Horus]

A word I am very familiar with LLL from my years spent in Africa, it is an Afrikaana word and is pronounced more as 'Copy'. Similar words are skopje meaning a 'head' so you can see the similarity between a rocky outcrop and a human head. There is the most beautiful lizard that lives in tall trees such as Jacaranda and blends extremely well with the bark, they are quite large maybe 16" including their tail and the males are defined by their bright blue coloured heads which they bob up and down during the breeeding season to attract the females, hence the name Blue Skopje's or Blue Heads. Also I believe that the famous Liverpool clubs 'Kop' end where their team supporters congregate actually gets it's name from Spion Kopje a famous location during the Boer War between the British and the Afrikaana's in South Africa.

[Grandad]

A word on my mind today with the passing of Nelson Mandela is 'Madiba', his Xhosa tribal name.

If there was one person in the world that I could be granted a wish to meet, it would have been Madiba, Nelson Mandela. Having been to Robben Island and seen the quarry in which he broke rock, and his cell, No 5, I have the greatest respect for the man and his suffering for a free South Africa.

RIP Tata Madiba.

[Horus]

You mentioning his tribal name and of him belonging to the Xhosa tribe brought back many more African memories for me. The Xhosa use a 'click' language when they speak and it is almost impossible to mimick by none native speakers. My hearing is quite well attuned to it, so it was therefore quite a surprise to hear the South African guy (the president I think it was) speaking on the news about Mandela and using that Xhosa click as he spoke about him, probably in tribute to him, but the signifcance would have been lost on on most viewers, but it was not lost on me, he was speaking about a warrior.

This got me thinking about some great Zulu songs that I have had on vinyl for nearly 40 years, I still have the album today by Ipi Ntombi (which if my memory serves me correctly is Kwa Zulu for a young girl) and accompanied by a great female singer Margaret Singana. One of my favourites on the album is this song called The Warrior' and should be played with your speakers well up to feel the atmosphere. In addition to Egyptology I did at one time have a great interest in African tribal history and especially the Zulu and Matabele tribes and their rise to power under leaders such as Shaka Zulu & Dingane. This song is a recounting of a famous battle, probably the one at Isandlwana or the Tugela River in which the Zulu impis under the Zulu king Cetshwayo, wiped out the British army under the command of Lord Chelmsford and formed the basis for the movie 'Zulu'

"phumla ngoku madiba"

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[LovelyLadyLux]

@H - when I was reading the Nat Geo article I actually did wonder if you would relate to the Kopje word. Interesting description you've add of the other related words. Neat info.

@ Grandad - yes I would have also loved the opportunity to meet/talk to Nelson Mandela. He put his beliefs into action and stood behind them (which is way over and above what 99.9% of politicians do today). He really was a great man.

@ H - love the music. Years and years and more years ago than I care to admit I read some books on the Zulu and Shaka Zulu. They really were great warriors.

Music is beautiful as well. Quite enjoyed it. Definitely has its own tempo and beat.