51吃瓜 of the Day
More about furphy
Furphy, a piece of Australian slang meaning 鈥渁 false report; rumor,鈥� originated in the early days of World War I and derives from the Furphy carts used to haul water and rubbish for the Australian army. The carts, made of galvanized iron drums mounted on wheels and originally used for hauling water on farms, were invented and manufactured by J. Furphy & Sons in Shepparton, in the state of Victoria. Soldiers gathering around a Furphy cart, like office workers around the water cooler, would hear and spread all the rumors they could absorb, and the drivers of the Furphy carts could then spread rumors among different units. Furphy first appears in print in 1915 in a poem by the English poet Robert Graves entitled On Gallipoli: 鈥淭o cheer us then a 鈥榝urphy鈥� passed around… They鈥檙e fighting now on Achi Baba鈥檚 mound.” Scuttlebutt, 鈥渁n open cask containing drinking water,鈥� shows a parallel development among American sailors, the scuttlebutt originally being the place where one could get a drink of water, becoming by 1901 鈥渞umor, gossip.鈥�
how is furphy used?
Granted, they鈥檙e judged by panels, rather than lone individuals. But the idea that panels make better decisions than individuals is a furphy.
Some tourism figures in Queensland fear an 鈥渋n danger鈥� listing will be more bad news that could discourage international visitors from travelling once borders reopen.
鈥淚 really think that鈥檚 a furphy,鈥� says Dr Jon Day, a former Australian government representative on the world heritage committee and a veteran of the meetings.
furphy
verklempt
adjective
overly emotional and unable to speak.
More about verklempt
Verklempt, 鈥渙vercome with emotion and unable to speak,鈥� is an American colloquialism from Yiddish verklempt, farklempt 鈥渙vercome with emotion,” from German verklemmt 鈥渋nhibited, uptight,鈥� literally 鈥減inched, squeezed,鈥� the past participle of verklemmen 鈥渢o become stuck.鈥� Verklempt was popularized by the TV show Saturday Night Live in 1991.
how is verklempt used?
Listening to your story, I鈥檓 a little verklempt myself. Give me a second. Talk amongst yourselves (holds it all in). There I feel better.
鈥淚鈥檓 so verklempt,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 need a hug.鈥� She assumes he鈥檚 being sarcastic, but when she glances at him he鈥檚 teared up for real.
verklempt
stentorian
adjective
very loud or powerful in sound.
More about stentorian
Stentorian, 鈥渆xtremely loud; having a powerful voice,鈥� comes from Greek 厂迟茅苍迟艒谤 (inflectional stem 厂迟茅苍迟辞谤-), the name of a Greek (more properly Achaean) warrior who fought at Troy. Stentor is mentioned in the Iliad only once, in book 5, where Hera 鈥渢ook the likeness of great-hearted Stentor of the brazen voice, whose voice is as the voice of fifty other men鈥� to scold the Achaeans. According to a scholium (an ancient comment or annotation on a Greek or Latin text) on this line in the Iliad, Stentor, like several other Greek heroes who came to similar bad ends, challenged the god Hermes to a shouting contest and was killed for his impudence. 厂迟茅苍迟艒谤 is a Greek derivative of the Proto-Indo-European root (s)ten-, (s)ton– 鈥渢o groan鈥� (thus the literal meaning of 厂迟茅苍迟艒谤 is 鈥済roaner, moaner鈥� from the verb 蝉迟茅苍别颈苍 鈥渢o moan, groan, lament鈥�). The root appears in Sanskrit as 蝉迟谩苍补迟颈 鈥�(it, he) groans, thunders,鈥� Old English stenan 鈥渢o groan loudly; roar,鈥� and Russian 蝉迟辞苍谩迟鈥� 鈥渢o groan.鈥� The form without the initial s– (i.e. ten-, ton-) appears in Aeolic Greek (the dialect of the lyric poets Sappho and Alcaeus) as 迟茅苍苍别颈 鈥�(it, he) thunders,鈥� Latin 迟辞苍腻谤别 鈥渢o thunder, roar,鈥� Old English thunor (English thunder), and Old Norse 罢丑艒谤谤 鈥淭hor鈥� (the deity, literally, 鈥渢hunder鈥�). Stentorian entered English in the early 17th century.
how is stentorian used?
You may not know much about helium, except that it fills birthday balloons and blimps and can make even the most stentorian voice sound a bit like Donald Duck.
It’s been a few days since I wondered, on the basis of a fabulous pre-World War II film clip about San Francisco, why you never heard modern Americans speaking in the formal, stentorian tones so instantly recognizable from newsreels and movies of that era.
stentorian