Help with English
- Thread starter Saint
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Saint
Valued Senior Member
8. de rigueur = Conforming to accepted standards? Usually people don't use this word, how many people will understand this word?
9. grandes écoles = ?
10. razzle-dazzle = ?
11. Nouveau riche = ?
12. hubris = hybris = pride ? Also not commonly used?
13. cabal = ? Nothing to do with cable? Same pronunciation?
14. torpor = being inactive?
15. gallivant = ? From the word gallop?
16. ex post facto ?
9. grandes écoles = ?
10. razzle-dazzle = ?
11. Nouveau riche = ?
12. hubris = hybris = pride ? Also not commonly used?
13. cabal = ? Nothing to do with cable? Same pronunciation?
14. torpor = being inactive?
15. gallivant = ? From the word gallop?
16. ex post facto ?
An apple cart is what a market seller might have used to carry and display their apples. If you upset it, all the apples go everywhere, creating a mess, chaos, a difficulty etc.
So if one "upsets the apple cart" one does something unexpected that causes others a problem, by upsetting the normal state of affairs.
No, "to pander to" is to indulge someone else's desires. To ponder is "to think"
"Hem" and "Haw" are onomatopeic... sounds one makes when clearing one's throat, or exhaling quickly, or a slight laugh, that sort of thing. To "hem and haw" means to discuss and deliberate, but is used in a pejorative sense when someone would rather they take action.
A sudden reversal of opinion / position. Taken from the French, I believe. Or maybe Italian. Voltare in Italian means to turn.
A sudden revelation of something, e.g. when you're struggling with a difficult mathematics problem and in a sudden moment of insight you realise how to get to the solution - one might say that they had an epiphany with regard the solution.
Sort of, yes. Common place language, not flowery or romantic, just the sort of everyday language we use when speaking. The opposite is "poetic".
Yes - or a boost to what ever you're doing.
Yes - required by current fashion standards, or etiquette. E.g. going to a posh restaurant without a black tie may not be de riguer for that restaurant.
It's still used. May not be common but I think most would understand. At least I hope people do.
Part of the French education system - a sort of smaller, more prestigious university, I think, but funded very differently. Not too familiar with them myself. The closest we have in the UK is, I think, Oxford and Cambridge, although they are part of the university system.
Flashy theatricality, "bling", showiness etc.
People who have come into money within their own generation rather than inherited it. Comes from the French, literally meaning "new rich". The term is again pejorative for those people who suddenly came into money but aren't used to it, so spend wildly, throwing money around.
Yes, pride. Still used, probably not commonly, though.
Nothing to do with cable and completely different pronunciation.
I would pronounce it Ka-BARL (Ka as in car but shorter).
Yes. Mental or physical inactivity, lethargy etc.
Gallivant means to go around and enjoy yourself, probably without regard to what you should be doing. Gallop comes from a different root word altogether, I believe. So not related.
It's Latin meaning "from after the action/fact" - it means to retrospectively change the result of something. An ex post facto law is one that changes the legal result / implication / consequences of previous decisions.[/quote][/quote]
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
"Pander" originally referred to pimps: men who provide prostitutes. It has been expanded to mean catering to someone's immoral, illegal, or simply nasty desires. It is taken from the name Pandaro, a character in an Italian story.
"Hem" is a shortening of "ahem," which is the way we write the sound of a person clearing his throat. "Haw" means to hesitate in speech, either by being silent for a moment, or by uttering a sound like "uh."
It's a French term meaning to reverse something such as a personal opinion or a government policy.
Used as a verb, "fillip" means to hit something with your fingernail by snapping it from the end of your thumb. As a noun it means a tap, or more generally something that gets your attention.
This means something that is customarily done because of etiquette, fashion or habit. I suppose that in the USA there are a lot of people who are unfamiliar with this term, but most educated people are familiar with it, although they might not use it personally.
To dazzle means to shine brightly, for example, a dazzling light show at a rock and roll concert. "Razzle dazzle" is simply a duplication to signify an extremely bright dazzle. It is used metaphorically to mean any kind of brilliant display, such as a lecture.
This word is generally restricted to academic or religious use. It means excessive pride, conceit, arrogance, etc.
This goes back to the Hebrew word kabbalah, for a group of people planning to do something evil such as overthrowing the government. Today its basic meaning still refers to a group of people plotting in secret to overthrow a government, a corporation, etc.
This is the Latin word for numbness. Compare the adjective "torpid," from the same source.
This means to wander around in search of fun, adventure, liquor, sex, etc. Its origin is uncertain.
In American legal terminology, an ex post facto law is one that allows punishing a person for doing something that is illegal now, but was not illegal when he did it. The U.S. constitution prohibits the government from creating ex post facto laws.
Edont Knoff
Registered Senior Member
My idea:
From "potential" the ability to do something. A powerful person, likely acting unrestricted.
Wikipedia idea:
"Potentate (from the Latin potens, 'powerful') is a term for a person with potent, sometimes supreme, power. According to WordWeb, the term is synonymous with 'dictator,' meaning 'A ruler who is unconstrained by law.' In modern English, the term is used to describe people with much political or business power."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentate
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Yes, but we usually reserve this word for a clever theft rather than one done by brute force or breaking a window.
In the old days, men wore wigs in formal meetings, especially with royalty. The size of a man's wig was an indication of his power and importance.
A potentate is a ruler with great power, not the king of a very small country. The title was used more commonly and formally in times past. Today it is considered old-fashioned, so it's only used for humor. There was nothing funny about Hitler, so I doubt that anyone ever called him a potentate.
This goes back to Mesopotamian legends about genies (also djinn, jinni and various other spellings) being magically trapped in a bottle for various reasons. The legend tells us that if someone rubs the side of the bottle, the spell will be broken. Out of gratitude, the genie will grant three wishes to the person who set him free.
Genies are usually somewhat evil, otherwise they would not have been imprisoned. Therefore when they grant a wish they will often interpret it in a way that is not what the person who freed them wants. For example: if you wish to live long enough to be the oldest person in your country, the genie might grant that wish by causing everyone in your country who is older than you to die immediately.
Therefore, since a genie is at least slightly evil, you might wish that you had never let him out of the bottle. Unfortunately, there is usually no way to put him back inside. You'd have to go back into ancient times and talk to the sorcerer who cast the spell in the first place.
Edont Knoff
Registered Senior Member
Thanks for this inside. So far I only knew a german, remotely related saying "Once the genie is out of the bottle ...", with untold consequences, but as a warning that with a certain likelihood, they won't be pleasant.
A whipsaw is a a two handed saw most commonly used by two people for felling trees, such as lumberjacks, that sort of thing.
The metaphor in relation to trading is with regard the push/pull motion of the two people using the saw. In trading it refers to stocks that go one way to start with and then head in the the other direction quite significantly and quite suddenly, against the predicted positions.
The term can be applied to a single trade ("He was predicting an upturn but got whipsawed!") or to the trading environment as a whole, as per your example.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
"The genie is out of the bottle" is a common saying in the USA.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
A clarion is an ancient type of trumpet with a curved body. The word is Latin. A clarion call was used in medieval battles to launch an attack. Today the word is used to mean something that's important, loud and clear. It can be used as a noun or an adjective.
In addition to essays, an anthology may be a collection of poems, lessons, jokes, letters, epitaphs, short stories, court decisions, etc., that have something in common, such as similar topics, written in the same era, or by the same writer.
Just to add, the metaphor / adjective implies that whatever was considered clarion is actively being sent out as a message to others.
Yes, different words, different meanings.
Paeon, if I remember correctly, is a word of four syllables where one of the syllables is long, the other three short. I've only ever seen this word in reference to poetry, though, and the flow of the poem.
Paean, however, is something like a song of praise, a hymn, something that honours its subject matter.
If the spell-checker is clever enough, it may be picking up that you should be using onward instead of onwards? (Strictly speaking, in the UK onward is an adjective, onwards is an adverb).
However, I think in the US and even in the UK they are used interchangeably. Everyone would/should understand you whichever one you use.