Words/Phrases Referenced On This Website

~~ Paul V. Hartman ~~


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beg the question
means: to make a statement which is a logical fallacy. In essence, the statement maker takes for granted the thing he is setting out to prove. Example: "One must keep servants, since all respectable people do." The speaker is assuming that those who keep servants are respectable.

As a sign of the continuing decay of our language, the phrase "beg the question" is being used more and more to mean "requires me/us to ask the question".  A person using the phrase this way is simply uneducated. They might also use the phrase "the die is cast" to mean something about dying.

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Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts
A reference to the most famous trick of all, the "gift" of a wooden horse to the Trojans by the apparently departing Greeks following a 10 year unsuccessful Greek siege of Troy. The gift, of course, concealed Ulysses (Odysseus) and some others who unlocked the gates of Troy that night to allow entry of the Greek army which had secretly returned. Troy was sacked.

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Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire was the Roman Empire, Eastern half, which became the only half when Rome fell for the last time in 476. The Byzantine Empire lasted from 395 AD, when established by Constantine I at Constantinople, until 1453 AD, when the city was captured by the Ottoman Turks. Though it was the center of the Roman Empire, the city had a distinct Greek origin and a persistent Greek flavor. So many walls surrounded the city that it became the paradigm for the concept of "defense in depth."

The name Byzantine would come to mean "intricately connected, complex, arcane, difficult to unravel", as the administration of the Byzantine Empire came to be known.

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Cassandra
In colloquial use, a "Cassandra" is anyone who forecasts doom, but the Greek legend is more rich: Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam of Troy, who was taught the gift of prophecy by Apollo. However, when she refused his amorous advances, he cursed her by commanding that though her divinations should always be true, they would never be believed. She correctly warned her father and the Trojans about the wooden horse and the coming downfall of Troy, in vain. A true Cassandra, therefore, implies the tragic element of impotent wisdom.

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Cathay
The name Europeans used for China. For centuries into the early 1100's, China was controlled by a people called the Khitan and the word Khitai (ka-tie) or Cathay (ka-thay) first appears in the 1250's and was later used by Marco Polo, visitor to the court of Kublai Khan.

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Close, but no cigar
A phrase that originated in American fairgrounds or carnivals. A cigar was a customary prize in a game of chance, in which, say, if you hit a target, you won the cigar. If your rifle shot or ball toss agitated the target but it did not fall, the "carnie" would shout "Close, but no cigar!"

A near miss is still a miss. The phrase moved from carnies to horseshoes, from there to politics, and everything else by the late 40s. Google will give you 380,000 links to this phrase.

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coin a phrase
Means to originate a phrase, to invent a phrase, such as John Paul Jones: "I have not yet begun to fight"; or Horace: "carpe diem" (seize the day). However, it's more common and incorrect use is to recall a phrase, as in this example from a recent book review: "He cares about America first (to coin a phrase)."

The reviewer has not invented the phrase "America first", he has merely repeated it from the title of another book by another author. The reviewer does not know the meaning or use of "to coin a phrase."

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come a cropper
This phrase comes from horse racing and polo, and means a head-over-heals fall over the top of a horse. "Crop" is a British slang word of long pedigree for "entirely" or "completely."

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Dark Ages
The "Middle Ages" is that time period in Western Europe between the disappearance of the Roman culture and the appearance of the Renaissance. The year 400 is chosen for the first, and 1400 for the last as easy numbers to remember. The "Dark Ages" is the first half of that period, thus 400 AD to 900 AD, during which literacy and almost any form of learning ceased to exist except in monasteries. Elsewhere in the world, civilization flowered, and did not return to Europe until the
Carolingian "reforms".

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decimate
Means to "reduce by a tenth". It does not mean a tremendous reduction, although that is the way the word is customarily employed. Used by Roman commanders to punish a society by killing every tenth person, the word came to be used to imply the destruction of a large portion of the population.

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dilettante
This Italian word contains two meanings, not necessarily consistent. The more frequent usage is "superficial or amateurish interest in a brand of knowledge" and is not pejorative. The lesser used meaning is: "connoisseur; lover of the fine arts", which is also not pejorative. Pronounced: DILL-ah-tent

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disgronificator
A mythical - but expensive - automobile part which unscrupulous auto repair shops say is "missing" or "damaged" in a car brought into the shop by an automobile-ignorant customer. (Usually a woman.) More likely to be discovered to be "damaged" when the unlucky car owner is towed to a shop far from home. (Other spellings: disgromificator, dysgromificater, dysgronificator, disgronificater, etc.)

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Elgin Marbles
The Earl of Elgin (EL-gan, not EL-jin), British ambassador to Constantinople in 1801, received permission from the Turkish government to remove - for his personal use - Greek scuptures from Athens, which city was under the rule of Turkey at the time. Over the next dozen years he removed to England much of the great work from the Acropolis, including most of the Parthenon except for the columns. He sold all of it to the British government, and the pieces are on display in the British Museum in London.

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Holy Roman Empire
It was, as Voltaire identified it, "neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." Rather, it was a political organization which existed from the time of Charlemagne, its first emperor, into the 1800's. Modeled after the Roman Empire, given the blessing of the Pope, it was a loose conglomerate of countries in central and western Europe, parts of which were frequently at odds with other parts of it. It finally disappeared when it was recognized by all as a hollow shell.

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honeymoon
An ancient custom at weddings was for the bride and groom to drink a brew based on honey on a daily basis for a period of one "moon", the lunar cycle approximating a 30 day interval.

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Ides of March
The "ides" was the Roman name for the middle of the month, the 15th day of a thirty day month, 30 days being roughly equal to a lunar cycle. In the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, a fortune teller early in the play warns Caesar to "Beware the Ides of March". Caesar was assassinated on March 15th. A similar warning now should be interpreted as a threat that someone is plotting to stab you in the back.

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Ivy League
The name "Ivy League" derives from an association of 4 north-eastern colleges in the 1920's for the purpose of athletic competition. The colleges were: Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. In name, it was the "Four League" but on the sports pages it was written with Roman numerals: "IV League". Soon it was pronounced that way as well. Being the oldest schools in America, they were indeed covered with ivy, but the name did not relate to the climbing vine. In subsequent years, Penn, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown were added to the "IV League" which, by the 1940's, changed to the "Ivy League."
(The author of this page is former Yale faculty. Other "explanations" for the origin of "Ivy League" are bogus.)

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lemon sole
Sole is a flat white fish. The adjective "lemon" has nothing to do with the bitter yellow fruit. Rather, it is a corruption of the French limande which means flat. As such, "lemon sole" is a bit redundant.

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Levant
The eastern Med, or more accurately, the countries which bordered the Mediterranean from Constantinople (now Istanbul) to Egypt. The name derives from the Latin verb levare meaning "to rise", and the present participle, levant, meaning "a rising", in this case referring to the sun rising over the eastern Mediterranean.

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Macedonia
In ancient times, Macedonia occupied a large portion of the Balkan peninsula north of Greece, Mount Olympus marking the southern border, the Danube the north eastern border, and the Carpathian Mountain range the north western border, embracing modern Yugoslavia (now further subdivided), Bulgaria, and Albania. The earliest recorded cultural imprint was that of the Thracians, circa 2000 BC. Its apogee was under Alexander, who, beginning from this country, went about conquering the known world until the day of his untimely death in 323 BC. The Macedonian culture at the time was a mix of Greek and European influences.

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Marathon
The plain of Marathon was the site of a victory by a Greek fighting force (10-11 thousand men) over a larger army (20,000+) and fleet of King Darius of the Persian Empire, in 490 BC. The Athenian general, Miltiades, noting the heavy Persian advantage, sent the swiftest runner, Pheidippides, to gather the Spartans, a distance of 150 miles. (The Spartans were occupied in a religious ceremony and would not arrive until the battle was over.) In the fight, the Greeks lost 192 men (buried in a single mound still present at Marathon) whereas the Persians lost 6,400 and fled to their ships. Pheidippides returned, and was then sent running to Athens, 26 miles away, to declare the news of the victory: "Rejoice, we conquer", dying on the spot. In commemorating the second (and shorter) run, the modern marathon is a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards, or 42.2 km, and it is now considered poor form to die at the end of it.

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Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is Greek for "between the rivers", the rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates, in modern Iraq and Syria. The earliest civilizations only began when hunters and gatherers could remain in one place and Grow the food they would otherwise search for. Since cultivation techniques began with minimal knowledge, highest early successes would occur where the soil was most fertile, which tends to be the soil in the flood plain of a river. Thus, in turn, the Summerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian empires flourished on this narrow piece of fertile territory. Subsequent control, in turn, went to conquering Greeks (Alexander), Romans, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks.

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Metaphysics
You may not find this anywhere else. Originally, this term, which means "after physics", was meant to focus on the writings of Aristotle which he proposed after those on "physics", which were his philosophic points about the nature of real things and the human interaction. This "after" group, or "beyond" group, focused on what are essentially three areas:
1) Ontology, aka "Being", or "what exists", Or: "what is there, really?".
2) Cosmology, aka "the structure of the universe", or "who am I, where am I, where did I come from, what is all that stuff in the sky", and
3) Epistemology, aka, "the origin, or limits, of knowledge", or "how do we know what we know".

"ology" means "study of". All of this is pretty deep and important stuff. And we have had a host of interesting people, over the ages since Aristotle, commenting on these categories.

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Michaelmas
(MIK-uhl-muhs) A festival among Europeans, probably originating in the 5th Century, celebrating St. Michael, a Saint of the Roman Catholic church and the patron Saint of Knighthood. Held on September 29. Traditionally, the day marks the beginning of a yearly quarter when classes begin (Oxford, Cambridge) and rents and bills are due. A roast goose is the expected customary dinner for celebrants.

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mondogreen
A misheard word or phrase resulting in a misinterpretation. Common when listening to popular music. Example: "The girl with colitis goes by" was a frequent misinterpretation of "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes" from the Beatle's "Lucy In The Sky".

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Naciente
While perusing a Spanish dictionary I came upon the word "naciente", which is an obscure, or at least infrequently used, Spanish noun/adjective meaning, variously, "aborning", or, "new" or, "beginning". It is related to our English word "nascent" (which means "coming into existence" or "emerging") and the cognate French word "renaissance" (which means re-birth). When I saw this word, I knew instantly that it was the unique word I was looking for with which to name my new sailboat, and thereafter, the web site.

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opsimathy
A word which has disappeared from many dictionaries but should be back in them. It means "learning, late in life". (op-SIM-uh-thee) A person who pursues education later in life is an opsimath. (op-suh-math) From the Greek opsimathes.

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Phoenix
The Greek word for purple is phoeno, from which comes their name for the ancient seafaring people, the Phoenicians, renown for their purple cloth derived from seashells. We would expect, then, that the ancient sacred symbol of Egypt, the bird named the Phoenix, would be purple. But Herodotus, the Father of History, tells us the bird was red and gold and resembled an eagle. Perhaps red and gold is close enough to purple.

Anyhow, the Phoenix was (is?) a bird which lives for 500 years, then burns itself in a funeral fire (more accurately: a funeral pyre), from the ashes of which a new bird appears. The Egyptians believed the Phoenix was representative of the sun, and of resurrection and rebirth.

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Posh
Means elegant and fashionable. It was first an acronym: P.O.S.H.    Back when Britain had an Empire, genteel Britons took periodic trips to the East - mainly India - by cruise ship. The ship cabins were priced according to the view - higher for the land side, less for the ocean side. The land side was Port on the way to India, Starboard on the way back. Wealthier travelers aways specified "Port Out, Starboard Home", which became an acronym, and then a common word to describe anything "better".

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Procrustean
Has to do with the notion of fitting information, by force, into a pre-existing framework, or to the notion of forcing conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means. The adjective derives from the Greek giant Procrustes, who waylaid travelers, then fitted them to an iron bed of a set size, by chopping off parts which extended, or stretching parts which did not fill the bed. Procrustes was killed as one of the noble acts of Theseus.

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public school
The old name for "government re-education center".

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radar scout
This is the term I use to describe a person passing me in their car when I am already exceeding the speed limit. This public servant will not only identify the radar installation, he will fully engage it, as the radar source will be seen parked behind him with blue lights flashing. I am always happy when someone is driving faster than I am.

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roman à clef
A roman à clef (roh-MAHN ah KLAY) is a novel in which the fictional characters are thinly disguised real people. In French the phrase means "novel with a key".

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Rubicon
The Rubicon was the name of a small river near Rimini, Italy, which once constituted part of the boundary separating Roman Italy from the Po Valley, which the Romans called "Cisalpine Gaul". By law, Roman generals were forbidden from crossing this boundary with their troops as a way of preventing warfare close to the city. At a time when Julius Caesar was commanding his army in Gaul (France), the Roman Senate, fearing his growing power, ordered him to give up his command. Instead, Caesar led his troops over the boundary on January 10, 49 BC (old calendar) and took control of the Roman Empire. The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" has thus become synonymous with a decision that is irreversible. The river today is called the Fiumicino. (FUME-eh-CHEEN-oh)
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Salamis
An island west of Athens, site of the famous collision in 480 BC between the Greeks under Themistocles and the Persian fleet. Although the Persians had been stopped at Marathon (ten years earlier), Themistocles knew that Persia was determined to add Greece to its immense empire, and that a larger force would arrive. He also knew that Athens would be indefensible. He encouraged the Greeks to build up their navy. When the Persians arrived with a considerably larger force, Athens was deliberately abandoned, encouraging the Persians to deploy their military off Salamis. There, by clever and well planned strategy, Themistocles defeated the Persians. Had he not done so, the history of "Western Civilization" would have been much different today.

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shibboleth
The Hebrew word for "ear of corn". In ancient times, used by the men of Gilead to identify enemies, for they could not pronounce it correctly. Thus, it's modern meaning is "test word". A more contemporary shibboleth occurred in World War 2: "halleluja". The Japanese cannot say rolling letter L's (they become R's), while Chinese can. Thus the Japanese pronunciation would come back "hara-roo-yah", and the enemy was identified. For the Chinese, it is the reverse: trouble with R. Thus they say, for instance, "Velly velly solly".

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spagetti western ( spaghetti western )
A cowboy movie filmed in Italy. When such films became too expensive to shoot on the Hollywood back lots, or on the dry dusty plains of Arizona, they packed off to Italy where the scenery seemed identical and Italians could pass as Mexicans. This latter element is the key, for Italians will not pass for Indians, and, therefore, Indians do not appear in "spagetti westerns." Clint Eastwood and the "Dollars" film series solidified the spagetti western as an American idiom.

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swan song
The last work of a creative artist is called his "swan song". It is based on the erroneous but (in literature) the legendary notion that a swan sings one last song before it dies. However, the swan does not sing. On the other hand, the alternate myth is that the non-singing swan DOES sing, but only at the moment of its death. Whether this is ever proved to be true or false, what you need to know is that the last work of a creative artist is called his "swan song".

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titular
holding title to an office which no longer exists; holding title to an office without any obligations; existing only in title or name only.
titch-ah-lur, not titch-you-ler

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to the manner born
Means "fitted by birth or endowment for a certain position in life", such as the fiancee of Rose in "Titanic". Often incorrectly written as "to the manor born" as if to identify birth in a manor house. However, the correct form is as written in Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 4): "But to my mind - though I am native here, and to the manner born - it is a custom more honour'd in the breach than the observance."

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Twelve Caesars
From a history entitled "Lives of the Twelve Caesars" by Suetonius Tranquillus, lawyer and historian and secretary to Emperor Hadrian, who wrote the history early in the first century AD. His biographies employed primary sources, some trivia, and popular rumors - similar to the modern technique. As a high public official, he had access to much material. The Twelve Caesars claimed a relation to Julius Caesar. All were emperors except Julius, since the title "Emperor" began with Julius' adopted nephew, Octavius. In order, the Twelve were: Julius Caesar, Octavius ("Augustus"), Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
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Valhalla
The word means Hall of the Slain, the great hall of the dead heroes in Norse mythology, where Odin feasted with those who had died in battle. The roof was made of golden shields, the walls of polished spears which provided light, and it had 540 doors so that all could enter for the feast at once, which was served by the Valkyries, the goddess-maidens who also plucked the fallen heroes from the field. But fighting did not end at Valhalla, as all heroes rode to the battlefield each morning, many suffering grievous wounds, which magically healed on the way back to the feast.

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