51吃瓜 of the Day
More about linguaphile
Linguist has existed in English since the 16th century. It means 鈥渙ne who is adept at learning and using foreign languages; one who is a student of language or linguistics; a translator or interpreter.鈥� Linguaphile has a somewhat different meaning: 鈥渙ne who loves words or languages.鈥� The originally Greek suffix -phile (鈥渓over of鈥�) is completely naturalized in English. Lingua in Latin means 鈥渢ongue, language鈥�; its Old Latin form was dingua, from Proto-Indo-European 诲峁噂丑飞腻, which is also the source of Germanic (English) tongue, and of Celtic (Old Irish) teng, Baltic 颈苍啪农-, and Slavic (Polish) 箩臋锄测办 (with Baltic and Slavic loss of initial d-; 臋 represents a nasalized vowel). Linguaphile entered English in the late 20th century.
how is linguaphile used?
The collection has so many good passages 鈥� whole paragraphs that move into pages with never a misstep 鈥� that any linguaphile could spend a great afternoon in a little spasm of dazzle.
In the story 鈥淓ntourage,鈥� a linguaphile travels to Poland, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, and more, collecting suitcases full of books in their original languages.
More about patzer
Patzer was first recorded in 1955鈥�60. It is probably from German Patzer 鈥渂ungler,鈥� equivalent to patz(en) 鈥渢o bungle鈥� (compare Austrian dialect Patzen 鈥渟tain, blot,鈥� patzen 鈥渢o make a stain鈥�).
how is patzer used?
Anatoly Karpov, the champion before Kasparov, once said the only difference between a prodigy and a patzer was how far into the future a player could look.
You’re a patzer. Look that up in your dictionary.
brightwork
noun
polished metal parts, as on a ship or automobile.
More about brightwork
Brightwork is an Americanism dating back to 1835鈥�45.
how is brightwork used?
One other mode of passing time while in port was cleaning and polishing your bright-work; for it must be known that, in men-of-war, every sailor has some brass or steel of one kind or other to keep in high order …
Under the unblinking gaze of the sun, windshields blazed and brightwork gleamed.