SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
A wise man was quite often fond of saying, "Don't let your dongle dangle".Dongle- a small device tha plugs into a computer to enable wireless reception.
Believe that wise man was moi.
A wise man was quite often fond of saying, "Don't let your dongle dangle".Dongle- a small device tha plugs into a computer to enable wireless reception.
PUKA is a valid scrabble word, except in North America
Play with the word puka, 2 definitions, 1 anagram, 3 prefixes, 3 suffixes, 1 word-in-word, 11 cousins, 4 epentheses, 9 anagrams+one... PUKA scores 10 points in scrabble.1word.ws
Not a "monster" word, but Puka also shows up English dictionaries and appears to be a valid Scrabble word. Pooka is sometimes an alternate spelling for Puka.
TMK, it is a word borrowed from Hawaiian around the 1970s. The most common usage of puka, in Hawaiian, was to mean hole or opening. With this definition, it could be a very versatile word. Pani ka puka could be used to mean close the door, shut (your) mouth, cover the hole, etc.
Puka, in Hawaiian, also refers to a type of shell or a necklace made from those shells... puka shell, puka shell necklace. These necklaces became quite popular in the 1970s. This is undoubtedly when the word became known to many English speakers. From Webster's:
Puka - n. a small, usually perforated, wave- and beach-polished shell fragment formed from the spire of a cone (genus Conus), found along beaches of Pacific Islands, and used especially to make necklaces
A wise man was quite often fond of saying, "Don't let your dongle dangle".
Believe that wise man was moi.
Good little test of word power.Test yourself
1. Bifurcate..........................................................................................................A. Fork, branch, split.
2. Incantation.....................................................................................................B. Pointless waste of time/money.
3. Homunculus...................................................................................................C. Self centered, self involved.
4. Euphony...........................................................................................................D. Narrow strip of land linking larger land masses.
5. Grotto...............................................................................................................E. Magic spell, charm.
6. Narcissism.......................................................................................................F. entertainment that is horrific, gruesome, sensational.
7. Isthmus.............................................................................................................G. Picturesque cave.
8. Grand Guignol...............................................................................................H. Small humanoid creature.
9. Phalanges........................................................................................................I. Bones of the fingers, toes.
10. Boondoggle.................................................................................................J. Harmonious, pleasing to the ear.
Unobtanium- maybe the best possible nameMacGuffin
A MacGuffin is a movie term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for a plot element or device that drives the action or logic of the plot. It is extremely important for the characters, but it is often ignored once it serves its purpose. The sled in Citizen Kane is a MacGuffin.
The Microfilm in North by Northwest (1959)
What is a MacGuffin in North by Northwest? MacGuffins are ideal for thrillers, kicking off the events of the film without bearing any real importance themselves.
Throughout the film, Roger Thornhill is chased by spies due to a case of mistaken identity. They believe Thornhill is an agent on their tail while they’re trying to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets out of the country. But, as expected, we never learn what those secrets are.
Marcellus Wallace’s Briefcase in Pulp Fiction (1994)
What is a MacGuffin in Pulp Fiction? It should be fairly easy to figure out. It’s the briefcase Jules and Vincent try to give back to Marcellus Wallace.
It meets the classic MacGuffin definition. It sets the plot in motion because Jules and Vincent have to go on a mission to retrieve it. It doesn’t have any real significance on the plot. In fact, we don’t even see what’s inside the briefcase.
This has led to people speculating all sorts of things about what could possibly be inside. Theories range from the briefcase containing diamonds to Marcellus Wallace’s soul. The fact that the contents are never addressed is the entire point of the MacGuffin and why the briefcase works so well.
The movie isn’t about a quest for a briefcase. It’s an homage to cinema. It’s about deep ruminations on philosophy. Those things are what people remember fondly of Pulp Fiction. Not a briefcase that’s so inconsequential we never see its contents.
Classic MacGuffin Films
MacGuffins take on various shapes and forms. If you’d like to see more MacGuffins in action, then we’d recommend checking out the following films. We’ve listed them below as well as the MacGuffin associated with each one.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-macguffin-definition/
- The 39 Steps (1935): The Military Secrets
- The Maltese Falcon (1941): The Maltese Falcon
- Casablanca (1942): Letters of Transit
- Notorious (1946): The Uranium Ore
- Rope (1948): The Rope
- Dial M for Murder (1954): The Spare Key to the Apartment
- 3:10 to Yuma (1957): The Train
- Vertigo (1958): The Necklace
- Psycho (1960): $40,000 in Cash
- It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963): The Giant “W”
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): The Holy Grail
- Apocalypse Now (1979): Colonel Kurtz
- Escape From New York (1981): The Tape
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): The Genesis Device
- Romancing the Stone (1984): The Stone
- Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996): The X-5 Unit
- Titanic (1997): The Heart of the Ocean
- The Big Lebowski (1998): The Persian Rug
- Saving Private Ryan (1998): Private Ryan
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): The Green Destiny Sword
- Mission: Impossible III (2006): The Rabbit’s Foot
- The Departed (2006): The Microprocessors
- The Hangover (2009): Doug
- Avatar (2009): Unobtanium
- Atomic Blonde (2017): The List
TU used in place of TO? Or perhaps a phrase of Slavic or other European origin? Or perhaps an anagramWhile stopped at a red light, I noticed the licence plate on the pickup in front of me read
"TU BLAVE"
Not a real word, but it kind of is.
Don't forget the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland.A similar sounding word
Dingle- a deep wooded valley or dell.
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light....
Dylan Thomas (fragment)
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is a movie term coined by Alfred Hitchcock for a plot element or device that drives the action or logic of the plot. It is extremely important for the characters, but it is often ignored once it serves its purpose. The sled in Citizen Kane is a MacGuffin.
The Microfilm in North by Northwest (1959)
What is a MacGuffin in North by Northwest? MacGuffins are ideal for thrillers, kicking off the events of the film without bearing any real importance themselves.
Throughout the film, Roger Thornhill is chased by spies due to a case of mistaken identity. They believe Thornhill is an agent on their tail while they’re trying to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets out of the country. But, as expected, we never learn what those secrets are.
Marcellus Wallace’s Briefcase in Pulp Fiction (1994)
What is a MacGuffin in Pulp Fiction? It should be fairly easy to figure out. It’s the briefcase Jules and Vincent try to give back to Marcellus Wallace.
It meets the classic MacGuffin definition. It sets the plot in motion because Jules and Vincent have to go on a mission to retrieve it. It doesn’t have any real significance on the plot. In fact, we don’t even see what’s inside the briefcase.
This has led to people speculating all sorts of things about what could possibly be inside. Theories range from the briefcase containing diamonds to Marcellus Wallace’s soul. The fact that the contents are never addressed is the entire point of the MacGuffin and why the briefcase works so well.
The movie isn’t about a quest for a briefcase. It’s an homage to cinema. It’s about deep ruminations on philosophy. Those things are what people remember fondly of Pulp Fiction. Not a briefcase that’s so inconsequential we never see its contents.
Classic MacGuffin Films
MacGuffins take on various shapes and forms. If you’d like to see more MacGuffins in action, then we’d recommend checking out the following films. We’ve listed them below as well as the MacGuffin associated with each one.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-macguffin-definition/
- The 39 Steps (1935): The Military Secrets
- The Maltese Falcon (1941): The Maltese Falcon
- Casablanca (1942): Letters of Transit
- Notorious (1946): The Uranium Ore
- Rope (1948): The Rope
- Dial M for Murder (1954): The Spare Key to the Apartment
- 3:10 to Yuma (1957): The Train
- Vertigo (1958): The Necklace
- Psycho (1960): $40,000 in Cash
- It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963): The Giant “W”
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): The Holy Grail
- Apocalypse Now (1979): Colonel Kurtz
- Escape From New York (1981): The Tape
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): The Genesis Device
- Romancing the Stone (1984): The Stone
- Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996): The X-5 Unit
- Titanic (1997): The Heart of the Ocean
- The Big Lebowski (1998): The Persian Rug
- Saving Private Ryan (1998): Private Ryan
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): The Green Destiny Sword
- Mission: Impossible III (2006): The Rabbit’s Foot
- The Departed (2006): The Microprocessors
- The Hangover (2009): Doug
- Avatar (2009): Unobtanium
- Atomic Blonde (2017): The List
That's a good point, but the audience doesn't care about the sled and is focused on other aspects of the narrative.The sled is also the psychological key to the pathology of Citizen Kane himself, so it's not just a plot device. It's the answer to the question of what made him what he was.
That's a good point, but the audience doesn't care about the sled and is focused on other aspects of the narrative.
TU used in place of TO? Or perhaps a phrase of Slavic or other European origin? Or perhaps an anagram
TUBA ELV
BLUE VAT
TUB VEAL
BLUE ATV
That's a good point, but the audience doesn't care about the sled and is focused on other aspects of the narrative.
Interesting."Tu Blave" comes from the movie, The Princess Bride-
"He clearly said "Tu Blave" which means "to bluff" so he was playing a card game and he lost."
He was trying to say "true Love".
Interesting.
After seeing this Princess Bride clip, I Google translated "to bluff" to Yiddish and got "tsu blafn".
The black pickup likely had a license plate frame like this one:It would have been interesting if, instead of a black pickup, the licence had been on a "Blue ATV".
The MacGuffin is a nebulous concept.The audience eventually focuses on the word 'Rosebud' as a key to who the man was. We only learn it was the name on the sled when it's burnt.
The only true paradises are the ones we have lost, as Proust would have it.
https://indiefilmhustle.com/macguffin-alfred-hitchcock/A man asks, “Well, what is a MacGuffin?” You say, “It’s an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish highlands.” Man says, “But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands.” Then you say, “Then that’s no MacGuffin.”
The subject of many political arguments on this forum can be viewed as a MacGuffin. It often isn't about the issue as much as emotional catharsis and winning one for the team.This is very interesting- possibly a "gray" area, but I think there is something more.
Hard to say. It's been maybe 40 years since I saw the movie, but I remember that there was
some unclear, unspoken reason for Kane's mother sending him away. Yes, the sled was there, but
she was afraid for his safety at home, something about the husband? She, herself, seemed hardened.
The sled, in itself, was perhaps a symbol of something more. Hard to say, memory is vague.
wasted, hammered, off his/her tits, pissedWords, slang, phrease for being drunk
Intoxicated, smashed, zonked, Crocked, stoned, loaded, fried, plastered, stewed, laced, flying,
feeling no pain, under the table, tight, seeing double, inebriated, glazed, kneeling before the porcelain alter,
stinko, blotto, s/faced, f'd/up, pickled, wrecked, three sheets to the wind, battered, sloshed, tipsy,
buzzed, under the weather, squiffy, snockered, ripped polluted, lubricated, dipso, out of business,
decimated, obfuscated, crapulent, off the wagon, on a tear, drunk as a skunk, in his/her cups, petrified, groggy, ossified.
I may have missed a few- any others?
You beat me to the table (toilet) on Casu Martzu. But you overlooked another disgusting food from Italy = Tripe. Actually, tripe is a specific type of Offal. My paternal grandma served this to us once. Never again, thank you.OMG- disgusting foods
Offal- entrails and internal organs used for food.
Sweetbreads- the thymus gland (usually) prepared as food.
Rocky Mountain oysters- (usually) bull testicles, often skinned, battered and deep fried.
Haggis- a savory pudding of sheep heart, liver and lungs mixrd with fat, oatmeal and seasonings then stuffed into the animals stomach.
Balut- fertalized developing egg embryo boiled and eaten in the shell.
Chitterlings- dish made from intestines of a hog.
Casu martzu (sardinian) rotten, putrid, cheese containing live maggots.
Menudo- a cow's stomach in a broth- so many special recipe.
Kopi Luwak- (civit coffee)- partly digested coffee berries which were eaten and then defecated by the Asian palm civit.
Others, favorites?
You beat me to the table (toilet) on Casu Martzu. But you overlooked another disgusting food from Italy = Tripe. Actually, tripe is a specific type of Offal. My paternal grandma served this to us once. Never again, thank you.
Tripe is a type of (edible) lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle, pig and sheep. Beef tripe is typically from linings of first 2 or 3 stomachs.
Difficult to believe both these disgusting delicacies are from the same people who brought us pizza, Italian sausage, spaghetti and other pasta.
Related to The Peter Principle:Peter Principle- Members of a hierarchy contiue to be promoted until they reach a level of incompetence.
Murphy's Law- Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong (many variations to this).
Related to The Peter Principle:
The Dilbert Principle: Incompetent employees are promoted to the position where they can do the least damage = management.
My favorite of the Laws of Murphy is his Law of Selective Gravity: An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
This is aka The Buttered-Side Down Principle. Jenning's Corollary to Murphy's Law of Selective Gravity: The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.
Extended Murphy's list:
An apparent contradiction to the Murphy's Law of Selective Gravity arises from the observation that cats always land on their feet. This appears to violate the buttered side down principle. This gives rise to the Buttered Cat Paradox.
Yeah, squirrels do have the same superpower as felines. That ability is highlighted in this very creative & entertaining FB presentation of a Squirrel Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course.We have lots of squirrels in our backyard, and was wondering what would happen
if one fell from the treetop. Looked it up and it seems they are (similar to cats) able to survive
a fall where they reach "terminal velocity". My dog would like them with butter.
Yeah, squirrels do have the same superpower as felines. That ability is highlighted in this very creative & entertaining FB presentation of a Squirrel Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course.
(This video also appears on YT on the Mark Rober channel and elsewhere)
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3291871824156895&id=494774490533323
I somehow am possessed to start this. A little tacky, I know
It will give me the chance to further enhance my vocabulary, and mostly I'm looking for terms that are used in tennis articles. One of my aspirations is to become a writer of some sort for a tennis magazine or site.
This will also give the other youngins a chance to go beyond their new age talk, and give you old guys out there the chance to show off your knowledge.
I'll start this thing off with the word of today --- tempestuous
Meaning: adj. tumultuous; stormy; as if showing violent anger
Sentence: Ilie Nastase was talented, tempestous, and outrageous.
Thanks for your participation in this thread,
Ralph
Sadist!Just for fun- match word to definition.
1. Rodomontade........................................................A. Unable to keep still from boredom or impatience.
2. Jonquil.......................................................................B. Relating to a style of fiction writing that is episodic, with a roguish hero.
3. Ablution....................................................................C. Boastful, inflated talk or behavior.
4. Tetragrammaton.....................................................D. Pleasant, interesting, having a strong, pleasant taste.
5. Seraph.........................................................................E. The act of washing oneself.
6. Picaresque.................................................................F.The unspoken name of God.
7. Mimesis......................................................................G. Art imitating life.
8. Restive.........................................................................H. A high ranking angel.
9. Sapid............................................................................I. Shrew or harridan.
10. Termagant................................................................J. A kind of daffodil.
That helps. Feeling somewhat less mentally deficient. 5 words now look more familiar (when) used in context. Several others, unfamiliar but easily gleaned from they way they are used.Here are the words used in sentences.
A. The horses smelled smoke and became restive in their stalls.
B. Don Quixote is an example of a picaresque tale.
C. The annoying party guest was full of gin and rodomontade.
D. The sapid nut bread was soon sold out.
E. The doorbell chimed just as he began his morning ablutions.
F. The Hebrew name for God, Tetragrammaton, can be written with just four letters.
G. Writers use words to create a mimesis of actual life, much like the myth of Pygmalion.
H. In Poe's famous poem, Annabel Lee was carried away by a winged seraph from heaven.
I. We were awakened by the shouting of the drunken husband and his termagant wife.
J. The woman received a gift of buttercups, daffodils, and jonquils.
Just for fun- match word to definition.
1. Rodomontade........................................................A. Unable to keep still from boredom or impatience.
2. Jonquil.......................................................................B. Relating to a style of fiction writing that is episodic, with a roguish hero.
3. Ablution....................................................................C. Boastful, inflated talk or behavior.
4. Tetragrammaton.....................................................D. Pleasant, interesting, having a strong, pleasant taste.
5. Seraph.........................................................................E. The act of washing oneself.
6. Picaresque.................................................................F.The unspoken name of God.
7. Mimesis......................................................................G. Art imitating life.
8. Restive.........................................................................H. A high ranking angel.
9. Sapid............................................................................I. Shrew or harridan.
10. Termagant................................................................J. A kind of daffodil.
ennui I am familiar with. However, nadir appears to be an anagram. If that sequence show up in my Scrabble rack, I'll most likely make drain. Or maybe even dinar. Another possibility for this set of letters. Any guesses?Happy Thursday!!!!!
ennui
nadir
.