LearningNerd

Weekly Word: Cursory

LearningNerd — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:23:43 +0000

Cursory is an adjective meaning “going rapidly over something, without noticing details; hasty; superficial”.

I’ve come across this word many times before, but I never bothered to look up its full definition. Apparently it comes from the Latin word cursor. Sound familiar? It’s that little arrow on your computer screen, showing you where you’re pointing the mouse. Well, the Latin word cursor means “runner”.

I never made a connection between cursory and cursor, despite how similar they sound. Have you?

Weekly Word: Innumerate

LearningNerd — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:36:55 +0000

Innumerate means “unfamiliar with mathematical concepts and methods” — in other words, innumeracy is another way of saying “numerical illiteracy”.

I never knew there was a word for it, but I’m definitely familiar with the concept. Even though I’m technically a math major, I’m still innumerate when it comes to leaving a tip! Funny how you can be good at calculus without being able to do simple arithmetic.

The opposite of innumeracy is numeracy (short for “numerical literacy”). According to Wikipedia, those two terms were coined by two different people, thirty years apart.

Weekly Word: Vacuous

LearningNerd — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:29:06 +0000

Vacuous is an adjective meaning “without contents; empty”. Its more specific meanings include “devoid of meaning”, “devoid of expression”, “lacking in ideas or intelligence”, or “idle”.

It comes from the Latin word vacuus, meaning “empty, void, free”. So yes, as you already know, it’s related to the word vacuum. But did you know that it’s also related to the word vain through the Latin word vacare, meaning “to be empty”? Yup.

Well, turns out there aren’t really any other interesting facts about vacuous — not that it’s a vacuous word, though. If you want to get a headache, just read Wikipedia’s article on the abstract concept of vacuous truth.

Weekly Word: Jejune

LearningNerd — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Jejune is fun to say, but it means “not interesting; dull”. Its other meanings include “immature”, “uninformed”, and “lacking in nutritive value”. Notice a theme here? It comes from the Latin word jejunus, meaning “empty, dry, barren”, or literally “hungry”.

You might know that déjeuner is French for “to eat breakfast or lunch”. Well, it comes from Latin dis- “undo” and jejunare “to fast” — in other words, to break the fast, which is why our first meal of the day is called breakfast.

World Wide Words has an interesting article on jejune, which ends with the writer stating that he avoids using the word “because it’s far from common and because people differ in their views about what it means”. But wouldn’t you hate to see a word go extinct? If more people used jejune, it wouldn’t be so uncommon anymore!

Weekly Word: Gelid

LearningNerd — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:49:06 +0000

Gelid is just another way to say “extremely cold” or “icy”, either literally or figuratively.

From Merriam-Webster:

“Gelid” first appeared in English late in the 16th century, coming to our language from Latin “gelidus,” which ultimately derives from the noun “gelu,” meaning “frost” or “cold.” (Our noun “gelatin,” which can refer to an edible jelly that undergoes a cooling process as part of its formation, comes from a related Latin word: “gelare,” meaning “to freeze.”)

Sounds like a good name for a brand of frozen drinks or ice cream. Actually, there’s already a PC cooling company called Gelid Solutions. They have good taste!

Weekly Word: Quotidian

LearningNerd — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:58:01 +0000

The word quotidian means “daily” or “ordinary”. It comes from the Latin word quotidianus, meaning “daily”.

Quotidian usually has a slightly negative connotation; it’s more like mundane than the neutral word daily. But I like it, since it’s probably the fanciest word you could use to describe something ordinary! Who doesn’t love ironic words? To me, quotidian is the linguistic equivalent of Andy Warhol’s “work of art” titled “Campbell’s Soup Cans”.

Weekly Word: Philtrum

LearningNerd — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:13:32 +0000

The philtrum is an oddly specific anatomical term, meaning “the vertical indentation in the midline of the upper lip, also called the infranasal depression.” I never knew there was even a word for that!

It comes from Greek philein, meaning “to love”. According to Wikipedia, “the ancient Greeks used to believe that the philtrum was one of the most erogenous spots on the human body”. There are stories that say it’s created by the touch of an angel, “shushing” the baby to make it forget the angel’s wisdom. But the more likely explanation is that the philtrum exists to give us a wider range of lip motions for better communication.

The (X)HTML Document

LearningNerd — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:25:00 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I started this series with The Basics of (X)HTML Tags. Luckily, this “How To” group writing project from PureBlogging reminded me that I need to make a new post!

So, here’s a short slideshow explaining the parts that make up an (X)HTML Document, which is basically the skeleton of every web page you see on the internet. (This series is made for anyone who’s completely new to writing (X)HTML and CSS.) Enjoy!

And here’s the code for you to copy and paste into your own HTML file:

Basic HTML Document Template: HTML 4.01 Strict

Like I mentioned in the intro for this series, I strongly recommend starting with HTML, because using valid XHTML involves some tricky issues. More on that later, though.

Weekly Word: Titivate

LearningNerd — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:51:29 +0000

Titivate means “to make decorative additions to”, “to spruce up”. The word has been around for a while, but its origin is unknown. It’s an alteration of tidivate, possibly a combination of the words tidy and renovate or elevate.

It was featured on A.Word.A.Day for the theme “words that seem risque”. Yup, I’ll admit it, the word titivate made me giggle! Similar words include titillate, “to tickle” or “to excite, especially in a superficial, pleasurable manner”, and titubate, “to stumble”.

Weekly Word: Savoir-faire

LearningNerd — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:12:16 +0000

Savoir-faire is “tact” or “knowledge of just what to do in any situation”. It comes from French (duh!), from the words savoir, meaning “to know how”, and faire, “to do”.

Writers just love to use expressions from other languages; it makes their writing sound more worldly. So it’s not surprising that savoir-faire shows up in some news articles, like here:

“The mustachioed Mason set the bar for cinema savoir-faire in the films ‘It Happened One Night’ and ‘Gone With the Wind’…” — referring to Clark Gable, from an LA Times article.

Other phrases I found were “poker-faced savoir faire”, “savoir faire in fragrance”, and “the irreverent savoir faire of James Bond”. Just one of the many French phrases that are fun to throw around. Some other French words I’ve learned include: recherche, ennui, bricolage, and flaneur.