51吃瓜 of the Day
More about skookum
Skookum 鈥渓arge, powerful, impressive鈥� derives from Chinook Jargon, a pidgin spoken primarily during the 1800s in the Pacific Northwest that still has hundreds of speakers today. A pidgin is a simplified language variety that fuses elements from multiple languages, and Chinook Jargon is primarily based on four sources: English, French, Lower Chinook (a Chinookan language once spoken along the Columbia River), and Nootka (a Wakashan language still spoken along the western coast of Vancouver Island). However, skookum entered Chinook Jargon instead from Lower Chehalis, a Salishan language once spoken in the southwestern coastal area of the Olympic Peninsula; skookum derives from Lower Chehalis 蝉办飞蓹办飞蓹虂尘 鈥済host, spirit, monster.鈥� Skookum was first recorded in English circa 1830.
how is skookum used?
At the head of the anti statehood efforts was the lobbyist for the Alaska Packers Association, W.C. Arnold. “The fishing and cannery industries employed W.C. Arnold, a man so powerful that he was called ‘Judge Arnold,'” Alaskan historian Claus Kaske told the San Francisco Chronicle in September of 2008. “Arnold was a skookum lobbyist, and he told Congress that business was paying the cost of running the territory.”
skookum
cantillate
verb (used with object)
to chant; intone.
More about cantillate
Cantillate 鈥渢o chant鈥� derives from Late Latin 肠补苍迟颈濒濒腻谤别 鈥渢o sing low, hum,鈥� a verb formed from the stem cant- 鈥渟ing鈥� and the diminutive element -ill-. Cant- ultimately derives from the verb canere 鈥渢o sing鈥� and is the source of many words related to song, pronunciation, persuasion, and even light magic. While cant- is preserved in words such as cantor, in many stems, Latin a- often becomes e- after a prefix is added; this is how cant- becomes the cent- element in accent (from Latin accentus 鈥渟peaking tone鈥�) and in incentive (from Latin 颈苍肠别苍迟墨惫耻蝉 鈥渟etting the tune鈥�). Because Latin ca- often becomes cha- in French, the Latin stem cant- is visible today in the French-derived word enchant. Cantillate was first recorded in English in the early 1860s.
how is cantillate used?
Shmuly鈥檚 voice, in contrast to his father鈥檚, was high pitched and extraterrestrially sweet, as if the hormonal shakedown had not quite taken. You leaned forward with your elbows planted on the balcony railing, … your brow resting against the steeple of your fingers pointed heavenward as he melodically cantillated the tropes he had so perceptively deconstructed the night before.
Perhaps unique among international teams, the … group … face to the west and sing the national anthem with a gusto that threatens to require a second warm-up. Before that though comes another ritual, an emotional chant known as the Inifresi, a pledge to their motherland in Chamorro. Standing in a tight circle the entire playing, coaching and support staff cantillate the words as if coming from the depths of their soul, a paean to their forebears.
cantillate
tchotchke
noun
an inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament.
More about tchotchke
Tchotchke 鈥渁n inexpensive souvenir, trinket, or ornament鈥� is a borrowing of Yiddish tshatshke, from obsolete Polish czaczko 鈥渢oy, trinket鈥� (modern Polish cacko), which is cognate with Czech 膷补膷办补 and Russian cacka, of the same general meaning. These Slavic terms are all most likely of imitative origin; with the addition of the diminutive suffix -ka or -ko, the original forms (Czech 膷补膷补 and both Polish and Russian caca) appear to be reduplicated syllables that are typical of baby talk. In case you thought it was a little strange that a word for 鈥渢oy鈥� or 鈥渢rinket鈥� would derive from a doubled syllable, bear in mind that English contains the similarly reduplicated term knickknack. Tchotchke was first recorded in English in the late 1960s.
how is tchotchke used?
For a reminder-through-association to work well it needs to be distinctive鈥攕omething out of place that will catch the eye. To remind yourself to mail a stack of bills in the morning, for example, you might put a tennis ball on top of them 鈥�. And to remind employees to fill out the sign-up sheet for the holiday party, place it next to the brand new large snow globe on the receptionist鈥檚 desk and let people know to sign-up when they see the distinctive new tchotchke.
Michael Zegen, a star of 鈥淭he Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,鈥� is an unabashed hunter and gatherer. It runs in the family …. He says that tchotchkes make him feel good. 鈥淔rom the time I was a kid I鈥檝e been into knickknacks,鈥� said Mr. Zegen, whose collectibles include an orange Snoopy and a robot.
tchotchke