Word of the Week
Created | Updated Apr 23, 2003
In the dim dark recesses of h2g2 history before we moved lock, stock and barrel to our new BBC home there used to be a front page feature
The h2g2 Word of the Day. It was a way to
highlight some of the lesser occurring or largely obscurer words in the
English language. Sadly this feature was discontinued.
Until now...
Word for the Week
This week's word was suggested by Frood on 4 July 2000. Following our look last week at Zymurgy and the fact that the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy as described by Douglas Adams is largely taken with that clear, volatile liquid that can cause intoxication in carbon based lifeforms, I feel it is an appropriate addition for inclusion.
It also only occurs in one other location in the guide. That is Frood's unedited version of his article on wine. It was dropped from the edited version.
Enology
n. The study of wine making.
From the Archive
This week in our look at the word for the day archive I've chosen a word which a researcher Recumbentman has recently picked up and used in a very artistic way.
Tessellate
v. To divide in to squares or checks. To mosaic a floor.
It was originally suggested by Chunky Bear on 17 Feb 2000 as one of a couple of "symbols of an idea used in speaking". Sadly this is yet another researcher lost to h2g2 as they have not posted since March 2000.
The road has also cropped up in a response to an Ask H2G2 question posed by KlondikeAnnie on 24 Jan 2001. The question 'In an article about the supernatural, I came across a reference to 'Bimini road'. Can anybody tell me what that is?' Created this response by aliquis mirabilis,
Beginning in 1968, when an interesting pattern of natural rock was
discovered underwater off the coast of Bimini, occultists began claiming
that the formation was actually a road built on the site of the lost
continent of Atlantis and thus was strong evidence for the existence of this mythological place.
The 'road' is actually the now-submerged former coastline of the island and is made of beach rock; a concretion of shells and other debris formed in modern times. This fragile material tends to fracture in more or less straight lines and then at right angles to those fractures, resulting in a pattern of large fragments resembling an area of paved stones. Such natural formations, also referred to as tessellated pavement, are extremely common along the eastern shores of Austrailia, and almost entirely around Tasmania, where they are plainly exposed to view along the coast. For a hundred miles along the coast of Venezuela there is similiar undersea
formation.
The word has also been used in the 'mix the last three letters' game
thread. Following Ernest it was used by Tiger Susie
Innuendo to great effect.
And finally to that artistic use I promised you - a poem called 'Men'.
Men
to a tessellate plain come to disparate hordes
to fight to the death in the name of their lords
one faction may triumph or both may be shamed
but no man shows merit and none can be blamed
pawns battle upward and never look back
knights gad about cutting through to attack
bishops adopt contradictory attitudes
rooks set up strongholds enthralling new latitudes
queens go in style with the trappings of fame
kings back their champions to capture the game
unmourned, unenlightened, we shuffle away
to face resurrection when gods stoop to play
How can you contribute?
- Go and check out words in the archive to
avoid duplication. - Check out the discussion threads and nominate a word that you feel was
overlooked before discontinuation. - Suggest a new word or your forgotten word in the word of the week archive
conversation.
