Word Collections
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Language is beautiful only because its constantly evolving, and everyone
has a different take on it. Here's a bunch of observations, thoughts, and stuff I have found meaningful and collected over time. Hopefully you enjoy the same...
Single words can sometimes be boring. In contrast, we have all heard of interesting phrases which pique the ear; and word pairs which sometimes just sound great together. They usually carry a peculiar insight. Some of the classics include, "intellectual curiosity", "infectious laughter", "intellectual masturbation", "clairvoyant adversary" (as if having an adversary wasn't enough, she knows the future too ...), and "programmed obsolesence." Here's more -- some of which I came across and found interesting, and some that are perhaps original.
- Honest Bastard
- Social Ease
- Meaning: The art of being able to converse, guage the situation, extend warmth, blend in and make any stranger comfortable, anytime, anywhere. I particularly recall an Indian Ad, where there is this executive in a business suit lending and sharing an umbrella with a cab driver in somewhat tattered clothes, while walking across the street in pouring rain.
- Infinitely Differentiable Feminist
- Meaning: A complete and true feminist through and through.
- Source: Kamakshi
- Selective Warmth
- A nothing quality actually aka. being nice only to people from whom you want to get something.
- Self Sighted
- The absymal art of ignoring people based on an intrinsic and often false feeling of superiority.
- Just Dinner
- Cultural Apologist
- Meaning: An educated person who is stubborn and refuses to change, and uses culture/tradition/background etc. as an excuse.
- Practising Agnostic
- Meaning: A skeptic who practises the harmless and fun/festive aspects of a religion. (source: SR)
- Positive Moron
- Reciprocal Altruism
- Source: A beautiful phrase in vogue in the socio/evolutionary biology field.
- Life's too sh..
- Anybody who is a nobody, is made a somebody in front of everybody.
(Pertaining to the ability of the press to always create a hero)
- Gosh. What has 5 billion years of evolution given us? A 70 yr old lifespan?
- To be successful at pretty much anything, there's four things one needs -- dedicate time, have passion, find a good teacher, have a great friend to do it with. 4/4 and you will be awesome soon. 1/4 and you will still make good progress over time. 0/4 - no donut for you!
There are words the press loves to bandy around for politicians and at times are so overused that it cringes. How about, "Our charismatic leaders are visionary geniuses?" :-) No offense to the rare statesman/woman who actually deserve the epithets, just that when overdone it loses all meaning.
- Charisma
- Leadership
- Genius
- Visionary
There are some words are considered or used as synonyms, but actually have vastly different meanings. The wrong use is based on a mistaken understanding or emotion. The classic one is "love", which is sometimes mistaken for "emotional blackmail."
- Friendship vs. Friendliness
- Company vs. Companionship
- Example: 'Jonathan, you offer me company without the pleasure of companionship'.
- Happiness vs. Satisfaction
- As in, 'You seem happy, but are you satisfied? (See here - entry #82 for a brief description.)
- Religion vs. Philosophy
- Hedonistic vs. Cultured
- Meaning: The difference between a hedonistic person and a cultured person is subtle, but often mistaken.
- Example: As misused in, 'She's very "cultured", and likes eating fine food, loves caviar, goes to eclectic concerts, and appreciates modern art, Mozart ...'
- Organized Religion vs. Cult
Some words convey no information (zero entropy!) because they have no underlying basis. The word presidential is one of the best examples.
- Minority
- All humans are a minority of one, and a majority of (at last count ouch!) 6 billion.
- Race
Tick one of the following: :-)
- Pigment Absentia - What's a pigment? (albino)
- Pigment Impaired - Where's my tanning salon? (white)
- Pigment Deficient - Pigment Yin? Pigment Yang, Pigment Yellow (asian)
- Pigment Ephemereal - Pigment come, but Pigment go (middle eastern)
- Pigment Abundant - Pigment more, Pigment some more (brown)
- Pigment Plethora - Pigment, Pigment, Pigment ... Pigment. (black)
- Pigment Versatile - Hey Sandhya, its thursday, pass me the turqoise gene. (chant of the genetically engineered boy, 2087 A.D)
- Presidential
- Illegitimate
- As in, 'That child is illegimate' (the others were god's own legitimate mistakes!)