Word of the day

[Ajarn Philip]

That's wonderful, Mary! I've been trying to find something appropriate, but the best I could come up with is...:

coulrophobia
[ostensibly fr. Gk koulon, limb; related to kolobathristes, one who goes on stilts]
an irrational fear of clowns

[englishangel]

We knew that one, my daughter would run screaming from clowns, until she was about 5 years old. She hated anyone dressed up with a mask on,(we had a 'great' time at Disneyworld).

Her 'thing' now is waxworks so we have never been to Madam Tussauds.

[Angela Woodford]

The dear thing! This Pilgarlic looks rather appealing though...

Mary, I'm not at all surprised your daughter would run screaming from clowns. Although not phobic, I have never liked them or thought them funny; in fact I think it interesting that The Simpsons "Krusty the Clown" is an unpleasant deceptive and manipulative character.

A few years ago, I belonged to a drama workshop, and felt very uncomfortable indeed the night we did work in masks. It changed a great many of my perceptions about acting. Very very different.

Munch

[englishangel]

I suppose he can be excused as it was obviously Christmas. In fact this was probably the first picture taken with the camera he had given me as a present. It replaced the one he had given me 18 years before to take photos when I had the twins.

[Ajarn Philip]

Omphaloskepsis is the contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation. It is well known in the usually jocular phrase directed towards self-absorbed pursuits: "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazers". This criticism is also often leveled at professions which are interested in themselves: movies about Hollywood, for example, or television shows about television writers.

[Ajarn Philip]

Remember Latah? Well, Angela pointed this out to me, and I thought it deserved to be shared...

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a rare disorder originally described by G. M. Beard in 1878. It results in an exaggerated "startle" reflex, and was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine. It is not clear if the disorder is neurological or psychological.

The "Jumping Frenchmen" seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Beard recorded, for instance, individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one, and repeat back unfamiliar or foreign phrases uncontrollably. Beard also noticed that the condition was often shared within a family, suggesting that it was inherited.

The interest sparked by Beard's publication about the disorder inspired Georges Gilles de la Tourette to investigate what later became known as Tourette's syndrome. Further studies of the condition in the 1980s, however, cast doubt on whether the "Jumping Frenchmen" phenomenon was in fact a physical condition like Tourette's. Documentation of direct observation of "Jumping Frenchmen" has been scarce, and while videotape evidence was recorded by several researchers that showed the condition to be real, Saint-Hilaire concluded from studying eight affected people that it was brought on by conditions at their lumber camps and was psychological, not neurological.


They may have been lumberjacks, but they certainly weren't okay!

[Ajarn Philip]

habromania
<psychiatry> Rarely used term for a morbid impulse toward gaiety.

Origin: G. Habros, graceful, + mania, insanity


(The Online Medical Dictionary goes on to define a morbid impulse as:
An impulse that drives one to commit some act, usually of a deviant or forbidden nature, notwithstanding efforts to restrain oneself. And I thought I was just having a good time...)

[J.R.]

habromania
<psychiatry> Rarely used term for a morbid impulse toward gaiety.

Also referred to as the 'Hallo Sailor Syndrome'

[Angela Woodford]

Remember Latah? Well, Angela pointed this out to me, and I thought it deserved to be shared...

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is a rare disorder originally described by G. M. Beard in 1878. It results in an exaggerated "startle" reflex, and was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine. It is not clear if the disorder is neurological or psychological.

The "Jumping Frenchmen" seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Beard recorded, for instance, individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one, and repeat back unfamiliar or foreign phrases uncontrollably. Beard also noticed that the condition was often shared within a family, suggesting that it was inherited.




They may have been lumberjacks, but they certainly weren't okay!

I couldn't resist checking to see if there was a male version of being a latah, and was enchanted to find that they were lumberjacks . Shared condition within a family too! As we know, a lumberjack wears high heels, suspenders and a bra. Can't you just imagine them striking each other for a turn at wearing the lingerie? That is, prior to hanging round in the bars of the Moosehead Lake area hoping for sudden stimuli.

Munch

[J.R.]

We're back to Stockings agaib.

Where is Richard Ruck when you need him ?

[Richard Ruck]

We're back to Stockings agaib.

Where is Richard Ruck when you need him ?

Lurking but working......

[Richard Ruck]

sephira

• noun (pl. sephiroth) (in the Kabbalah) - each of the ten attributes or emanations surrounding the infinite and by means of which it relates to the finite. They are represented as spheres on the Tree of Life.

— origin from Hebrew sepirah.

[Richard Ruck]

assignee

• noun - chiefly Law

1. a person to whom a right or liability is legally transferred.
2. a person appointed to act for another.

— origin Middle English : from Old French assigne, past participle of assigner ‘allot’

[Ajarn Philip]

galimatias

nonsensical talk; gibberish; gobbledygook

Personally, I think goobledygook is a much better word...

[cj]

On a similiar theme (of nonsense) has anyone come across the word hornswoggle (vb), much used and loved by my husband? I'm not quite sure what it means as it can be fitted in to an endless array of situations (yesterday's example, "I've completely hornswoggled my shoulder" meaning "First person singular has in totality knackered the collection of bones individually known as the clavicle, scapula and humerus").