![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dord (dôrd), n. Physics & Chem. Density.
I echo the first commenter's sentiment:
I echo the first commenter's sentiment:
This is so awesome I can hardly believe it. You aren’t putting us on, are you?
It's not jerry rig. It's jury rig. Short for injury rig. Leave Jerry out of this.
(EDIT: Wikipedians seem to believe it's short for ajurie rig or rig du jour. The OED says "Origin unknown." Jerry remains an innocent bystander.)
(EDIT: Wikipedians seem to believe it's short for ajurie rig or rig du jour. The OED says "Origin unknown." Jerry remains an innocent bystander.)
Confused typists
Nov. 11th, 2007 11:10 amSomething I've been seeing more and more lately is people getting "reign" and "rein" confused. The trend seems to be among writers who don't have frequent occasion to use either word independently, but who use figures of speech or cliched metaphors involving reins. I think the rationale is that adding a "g" makes everything more legit. Hence, you get weird and fucked-up imagery like "loosening the reigns."
This has got to be exacerbated by the fact that both words are about controlling things. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of these mix-ups.
This has got to be exacerbated by the fact that both words are about controlling things. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of these mix-ups.
(no subject)
Nov. 10th, 2007 08:12 pmI found this Q and A with the NYT's Deputy News Editor to be pretty fascinating. This is because I am a huge dork. But I know some of you are huge dorks too, so I thought I might share!
A linguistic interlude
Oct. 5th, 2006 11:54 pmOh, so here's something I learned today. In the Midwest, "a couple" — as in, the conversational, non-exact quantifier — means "two." As in, the exact, arithmetical quantifier.
Which was kind of confusing, the first few times some dude came in and asked for "a couple olive rolls" with no further offer of information. I was like, "okay, sure! How many?" and they were like "a couple?" and I was like, "great, how fucking many?"
So I've learned my lesson. In the spirit of reciprocity, here's how things work in the Pacific Northwest, AKA the real world:
If you wanted to say "two," we have a word for that. It's fucking pronounced like "TWO." One syllable less, and it actually means what it says. Works great! I highly recommend it!
Which was kind of confusing, the first few times some dude came in and asked for "a couple olive rolls" with no further offer of information. I was like, "okay, sure! How many?" and they were like "a couple?" and I was like, "great, how fucking many?"
So I've learned my lesson. In the spirit of reciprocity, here's how things work in the Pacific Northwest, AKA the real world:
- A few: Either three or four.
- A couple: More than a few. Anywhere between four and seven.
- Several: More than a couple. Between six and ten.
- Many: More still.
If you wanted to say "two," we have a word for that. It's fucking pronounced like "TWO." One syllable less, and it actually means what it says. Works great! I highly recommend it!