Less than is used for actual units of measure & things that can’t be counted, while fewer than is used for things that can be counted.
- For more on “fewer” vs. “less,” click HERE.
pish-tosh
a nice, upper-crust, slightly less obnoxious way of saying “bullshit”
A phrase commonly used to scoff at some one or something; disbelief; A condescending interjection.
Mel: We’re going to the movies, do you want to come?
Bruce: Pish-tosh!
What does the word supervocalic mean?
Supervocalic is an adjective describing a word or phrase containing each of the five vowels - A, E, I, O and U - exactly once.
Examples include:
sequoia
ambidextrous
milquetoast
Julia Roberts
supervocalic
If your country’s dialect of English employs British spelling, further examples include:
favourite
behaviour
Do you capitalize after a colon? - Quora
Current common practice is to capitalize if what follows the colon is (a) multiple sentences or (b) a maxim and to lowercase if what follows the colon is not a complete sentence.
- The itinerary fluctuated: They would begin in Paris and end in Frankfurt. The would begin in Paris and end in London. They would begin in Frankfurt and end in Sicily.
- Everyone knew the old saw: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. [not a great example!]
- Jamie packed only three things: a change of underwear, a toothbrush, and a stack of books.
In between is the case of a single complete sentence, which some publications or manuals will capitalize and others will not; current practice leans toward not capitalizing, but the The New Yorker is well known for not updating to common practice
cool phrase: Apperceptive mass
the whole of a person’s previous experience that is used in understanding a new percept or idea —called also apperceiving mass, apperception mass
More great underused words...
cacography-Bad handwriting or spelling.
schmegeggy-an idiot, a dickhead.
invective- Insulting, abusive, or highly critical language.
What are some great underused words? - Quora
Naches From the Yiddish, meaning “joy”, but in the sense that it comes from taking great pleasure in someone else’s achievements (such as your kids). The opposite of schadenfreude, which means “taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune.” Yiddish is a rich source of wonderful words.
Bumptious Presumptuously, obtusely and often noisily self-assertive
Nugatory Useless, inconsequential. From the Latin nugae, or “trifles.”
- Farrago A tangled mess. Orig. meant a mixture of grains for animal feed. Sounds best as an adjective: “farraginous.”
- Jeremiad An interminable complaint. Jeremiah wrote one, apparently.
- Cachinnate To laugh hysterically.
- Copacetic My personal favorite. If you ask me “How’s everything?” I’ll probably say “copacetic,” i.e., all good. In searching for the etymology it seems there’s no consensus, but I like the theory it comes from the Hebrew kol b’seder ( כל בסדר).
Conglobate
To form into a ball.
What are some great underused words? - Quora
Fantast In common usage a dreamer; visionary; or flighty, impulsive person. From medieval Latin phantasta which, in turn, comes from the Greek meaning ”an ostentatious, boastful person”. 2.7m Google hits but surely only a fraction of those can be for a second, rarer meaning identified by the OED: ”A fantastic writer; one who aims for eccentricity of style”?
Divagate Sounds like it could have been coined to describe revelations about JFK’s assignations with Marilyn Monroe or something involving Lady Gaga or Madonna but, in reality, a word meaning ”to ramble, digress, stray from subject to subject”. 73k.
Battailous Warlike, bellicose (almost a contender for this list in its own right), confrontational, ready for a fight. Not recognised by the otherwise indispensable http://afterthedeadline.com/ and only 12.3k hits on Google.
Captious Most often used to mean nitpicking, niggling, liable to find fault (hence Wordsmith’s paean to Simon Cowell at \http://wordsmith.org/words/capti…). Also refers to an argument designed to entrap, ensnare or perplex. From the French captieux. 396k.
Bailiwick With 1.6m Google hits, hardly as uncommon as others in this list but no less deserving of more frequent use: it means one’s domain, sphere of expertise, skill, authority or influence. If you’re on Quora, you almost certainbly have one.
Tarradiddle Hopefully, never to be found on Quora: a taradiddle (alternative spelling) is a silly lie or ”fib’ as a noun or the act of creating the same as a verb. In more modern usage, it also refers to pretentious, empty talk or senseless, unproductive activity 69k
Effulgent May this be true, at least figuratively, of all your Quora answers: it means ”resplendent, shining forth brilliantly, radiant” and scores 511k hits on Google.
Melisma
defintion: A group of notes sung to one syllable of text
love that word :)
nerdy word factoid i learned today: the origin of “capital” vs. “capitol”: “Capital” comes from a Latin root meaning “of the head.” same as words such as decapitate and captain. “Capitol,” however, comes from Latin “capitolium,’ which app. was a temple for Jupiter, in Rome. Capital = D.C. Capitol = the legislative building.
“Organize” is “Organise” in British English. This Ze to Se is common.
- For other words that differ in spelling in American and British English, click HERE.
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