51吃瓜 of the Day
solecism
noun
a nonstandard or ungrammatical usage, as unflammable and they was.
More about solecism
The noun solecism ultimately derives from Greek 蝉辞濒辞颈办颈蝉尘贸蝉 鈥渋ncorrect use of (Attic) Greek; incorrect use of language鈥� (whether of individual words or in syntax), later 鈥渋ncorrect reasoning in logic,鈥� and finally, 鈥渁wkwardness.鈥� 厂辞濒辞颈办颈蝉尘贸蝉 is a derivative of the adjective 蝉贸濒辞颈办辞蝉 鈥渟peaking incorrectly, speaking broken Greek,鈥� then 鈥渉aving bad manners, in bad taste, awkward.鈥� 厂贸濒辞颈办辞蝉 traditionally derives from 厂贸濒辞颈, a colony on the southern shore of modern Turkey, not far from Tarsus where St. Paul was born. 厂贸濒辞颈, however, was not founded by the Athenians (who spoke Attic Greek) but by the Argives and Rhodians, who spoke Doric dialects. Perhaps whichever Athenian colonists were there originally wound up speaking a mixed dialect, or perhaps the 厂贸濒辞颈koi have been getting an undeserved bum rap for the past few millennia. Solecism entered English in the 16th century.
how is solecism used?
… Lee finds in the solecism of 鈥渓ess鈥� for 鈥渇ewer鈥濃�攃atnip for pedants, and familiar to anyone who has stood in a grocery-store express lane鈥攖he inspiration for a beautiful poem about growing old …
And a single word couldn鈥檛 be a dead giveaway either, no matter how much people would like to portray the use of pled rather than pleaded as an obvious Trumpian solecism, especially when Dowd himself has been documented using pled at least once.
makebate
noun
Archaic. a person who causes contention or discord.
More about makebate
The rare noun makebate comes from the common English verb make and the uncommon, obsolete noun bate 鈥渟trife, discord,鈥� a derivative of the Middle English verb baten 鈥渢o argue, contend; (of a bird) to beat the wings鈥� (cf. abate), a borrowing from Old French batre 鈥渢o beat.鈥� Makebate entered English in the 16th century.
how is makebate used?
… he was no makebate or stirrer up of quarrels; he would rather be a peacemaker.
Trying to set you against me, the spiteful old make-bate, and no one knows how long she will be here …
ullage
noun
the amount by which the contents fall short of filling a container, as a cask or bottle.
More about ullage
If ever there was a Scrabble word, ullage is that word. In Anglo-French the word is spelled ulliage; Old French records many spellings, e.g., ouillage, (h)eullage, 舱颈濒濒补驳别; Middle English has ulage, oylage. The French noun ultimately comes from ouil 鈥渆ye,鈥� also 鈥渂unghole,鈥� from Latin oculus 鈥渆ye.鈥� The very common Romance suffix -age, prolific in English, comes from Late Latin -agium, a suffix for forming nouns, a derivation of Latin -腻迟颈肠耻尘, the neuter of the adjective suffix -腻迟颈肠耻蝉. The suffix -腻迟颈肠耻蝉 is an extension of -腻迟耻蝉, the past participle ending of first conjugation verbs. Ullage entered English in the 15th century.
how is ullage used?
“And what about the ullage?” she said. We both looked at her. … “The ullage. The part of the bottle that’s empty, under the cap.”
… inspectors stroll casually from hatch to hatch, measuring ullage (the air space between the top of the oil and the top of the tank) with a long rule.