Curious Word: Eftsoons

What a gem, courtesy of St. Germain.

Eftsoons:

Archaic 1. Soon afterward; presently. 2. Once again.

Gee, thanks, American Heritage Dictionary! Archaic, eh? Not when I'm done with it. I can hear the Microsoft flackies now..."Sales of Zunes will balloon eftsoons."

Curious Word: Patois

Today's curious word comes from the proofs of a highly esteemed publication, which is possibly illegal, so I'll keep my quoting and referencing to a minimum.

Actually, now that I have looked about the room, I realize I don't have those proofs, so I can't even be the fool that I planned on being. Aaaaaaanyway, the word is...

Patois, although without a formal definition in linguistics, can be used to describe a language considered as nonstandard. Depending upon the instance, it can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but is not commonly applied to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant. Class distinctions are embedded in the term, drawn between those who speak patois and those who speak the standard or dominant language used in literature and newscasts—the "acrolect" in professional jargon.

The origin of the French word patois is uncertain. One derivation^[1] is from Old French patoier meaning "to handle clumsily, to paw". The language sense may therefore arise from the notion of a clumsy manner of speaking. Alternatively^[2] it may derive from Latin patria (homeland) referring to the localised spread of the language variety.

Thank you, Wikipedia. I can't help but wonder if any famous impressionists betrayed evidence of this speech condition...perhaps Degas' patois?

Curious Word: Noetic

The latest star in the constellation Curious Word comes to us via P.G. O'Rourke in his latest work, a dissection of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Sadly, I've once again managed to lose the exact page...actually, I don't have any idea what the page was. I finished the book late last night after soaking up the remains of decent bottle of the ol' chard from Clos du Bois. Of course, the remains of a bottle were not nearly enough, so Mr. Daniels and I struggled with the last few pages as a team.

As a result, I can't tell you quite where the word was used. Fortunately, after a little research to become better acquainted with the term, I can tell you what it means.

Noetic:

The term is usually philosophical in its usage, and is broadly defined, though everyone seems to agree that it has something to do with your noggin or whatever is canoodling about inside the old bean.

Okay, I admit, that is a definition of my own invention. Let's turn to some wikimagic for a better description.

In philosophy and religion, the word noetic, from the Greek νοῦς (nous) is usually translated as "mind", "understanding", "intellect", or "reason". Most dictionaries define the term noetic as a synonym of "mental" or "intellectual." From the nous emerges the world soul, which gives rise to the manifest realm.

Hmm. There you have it. Happily, the term is eminently flexible, as you can see by the various, vague definitions offered. For instance, one might readily employ the term to sketch a thoughtful versifier: "What a noetic poetic."

Indeed.

Curious Word: Megillah

Another classic from Prof. U. In class, he dropped the phrase, "the whole megillah." Our blank stares were enough to convince him to explain that it meant something akin to "the whole enchilada" in Yiddish. But Richard had a better explanation, which I also found here.

It’s the Hebrew word for a scroll. In particular, it refers to one of five books of the Old Testament, namely Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, which are read on certain Jewish special days. The most common reference, though, is to the Book of Esther, which is read in its entirety at the feast of Purim.

Though the feast day is a joyous one, the story wanders at great length through vast amounts of detail and it can be a bit of a trial to sit through it all. So it isn’t surprising that the whole Megillah (in the Yiddish from which American English borrowed it, gantse Megillah) came to be a wry term for an overly extended explanation or story, or for something tediously complicated, or an involved situation or state of affairs.

The original scrolls were apparently quite heavy, leading Richard to suggest you'd need a Megillah Gorilla to hold them aloft.

Money.

Curious Word: Majeure

I can't recall where I exactly this word tripped me up, but it sure did send me sprawling. As it turns out, majeure is a word I ought to have known all along. For one thing, it's French. For another, it's not intended to be used solo (at least not typically).

Force majeure (French for "greater force") is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees one or both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such as war, strike, riot, crime, act of God (e.g., flood, earthquake, volcano), prevents one or both parties from fulfilling their obligations under the contract. However, Force Majeure is not intended to excuse negligence or other malfeasance of a party, as where non-performance is caused by the usual and natural consequences of external forces (e.g., predicted rain stops an outdoor event), or where the intervening circumstances are specifically contemplated.

Ah, would that I could remember the context in which I encountered this phrase, for I would certainly return to it and set things right. As it is, I'll have to wait till I encounter it again in the wild.