25 Oct 2005
Today’s word, copacetic, is a favorite of mine. Although I too often forget to use it. Copacetic is an adjective meaning completely or entirely satisfactory. I think its connotation is much more positive then satisfactory. For example if a boss told me my work was satisfactory I would be concerned it wasn’t very good, that [...]
9 Aug 2005
While putting together yesterday’s podcast on zoetrope I came across today’s word- heliotrope. Heliotrope is a noun with several definitions. One is a purple or violet color. Another heliotrope is a surveying tool for civil engineers and map makers. It allows them to focus a beam of sunlight and signal a fellow surveyor up to [...]
7 Aug 2005
Zoetrope in motion Originally uploaded by tempo. On a recommendation from Michael Geohegan I watched the Francis Ford Coppola movie the Conversation. Great movie. Frequent listeners of this podcast know I enjoy reading the credits. Well the credits for the Conversation include the name of Coppola’s production company Zoetrope. What a beautiful word. And a [...]
1 Aug 2005
Today’s word, Potemkin, is an entertaining political term. I have seen it on Boingboing.net many times. Recently it appeared in a post about the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin was an 18th century Russian military officer and politician. Who was rumored to have built fake villages along the banks of the Dnieper [...]
20 Jul 2005
Today we have three f-words. Don’t worry, this is a family friendly podcast. The three words are: Fathom Furlong Fortnight These are all units of measurement. Fathom is a sailor’s term for describing the depth of water. A fathom is six feet deep or 1.8 meters. Not living near an ocean I never hear anyone [...]
19 Jul 2005
Today’s we have a rather obscure technical term from the world of geography. Antipodal is a word I came across in a BBC article. The article is about a replica of the U.K.’s famous stonehenge. This new henge is antipodal to the original. Which is to say it is on the opposite side of the [...]