petabyte

petabyte - noun - One quadrillion (10 to the 15th power) bytes

I found this word in this wonderful email signature:

"Peta" is Greek for fifth; a petabyte is 10 to the fifth power, as
well as fifth in line after kilo, mega, giga, and tera.

However notice the mistake: 10^5 is 100000 which is less than mega, quite a bit less than giga and a huge amount less than tera. The correct reference should have been 1000^5. Interestingly, since we deal in powers of 2 (binary) for digital computers, the actual number of a petabyte is 1024^5 (2^50) or 1,125,899,906,842,624. Given the discrepancy between 1000^5 and 2^50, it has been suggested that petabyte be equal to 1000^5 while pebibyte be equal to 2^50, but this isn't widely used. In reality, most people probably don't know what comes after terabyte anyway.

Here is some extra history about the prefix 'Peta' which is interesting:
Adopted in 1975, it comes from the Greek πέντε, meaning five, because it is equal to 1000^5. It is based on the model of tera- (from Greek τέρας = 'monster', but looking like tetra- from the Greek for "four" with a letter missing, and so peta-, coming from penta-, omits the third letter, n.

cavort

cavort – v - To prance or caper about; to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner; make merry.

I've been getting precious little of this done lately.

via media

via media – n - A middle way; a mean between two extremes.

C. S. Lewis believed Anglicanism to be the via media between Catholicism and more standard forms of Protestantism. Today, Anglicanism (and its American offshoot Episcopalianism) seems to be the via media between Unitarianism and paganism.

About ten years ago I read an article by Christopher Buckley in which he fielded the question, "Is sex still sexy?" Back when today's featured exquisite, Yvette Mimieux, was making the rounds it was. Here she is with Rod Taylor in George Pal's Time Machine (1960), where she played Weena. (Some time we'll have to discuss the ways in which movie-makers keep getting H. G. Wells wrong. Pal missed the point too, but he gave us an entertaining movie.)

edgewise

edgewise - adv - with the edge forward; in the direction of the edge; sideways

Exactly how I'm trying to get my words in these days. I've been fairly busy.

unconscionable

unconscionable – adj - Not guided by conscience; unscrupulous; not in accordance with what is just or reasonable; excessive; extortionate.

I'd write more but I'm too blinded with rage after squirting away 22 irreplacable minutes on our daily time-waster, scrum.

plebiscite

plebiscite - n - A direct vote in which the entire electorate is invited to accept or refuse a proposal: a vote in which a population exercises the right of national self-determination.

Natalie beat me to the punch on "plebian," so here's a derived word.

rake

rake - noun - an agricultural implement with teeth or tines for gathering cut grass, hay or the like or for smoothing the surface of the ground; a dissolute or profligate person, esp. a man who is licentious

I received an email with an attachment from a friend which was a movie clip of a particular Jeopardy game in which the contestant used the word rake in the context of the second definition presented here.

culpable

culpable - adj - Deserving blame or censure; blameworthy.

From my Latin mass days:

Mea culpa!
Mea culpa!
Mea maxima culpa!

(Through my fault! Through my fault! Through my most grievous fault!) The reference is to Christ's atonement for the sins of mankind through his death on the cross.

Today's example shows yet again how even a little knowledge of Latin (and Greek) helps build our English vocabulary. Wolf, you already knew that, but will you deny that most English speakers would benefit greatly by taking a page from our book?

corpus delicti

corpus delicti – n - The basic element or fact of a crime, as, in murder, the death of the murdered person; the object, as the body of a murdered person, upon which a crime has been committed and that serves as evidence proving that the crime was committed.

Playing catch-up. Busy, busy, busy.

forage

forage - noun - the act of searching for provisions of any kind

I use this word frequently when I don't bring my lunch from home and have to go looking for it.

reductio ad absurdum

reductio ad absurdum - noun - a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead


At some level, this word (phrase) seems appropriate given the post to the youtube video about the answer why most Americans can't find their own country on a map. However, this word was inspired by this item on: reddit. If you read the article referred to by the comment, make sure not to miss the point of the article - which isn't to call Java programmers stupid.

supererogatory

supererogatory – adj - Going beyond the requirements of duty; greater than that required or needed; superfluous.

No, this is not a useless word; I've often seen it in print.

And now, here's a product of our public schools favoring us with her opinion. (I almost hate to post this. She really is a beautiful girl, and her smile lights up every room she enters. She long ago learned that a guy will do just about anything for her, but now she's a worldwide figure of fun. That's her on the right.)

manumit

manumit - verb - to free from slavery or servitude

A mandate during the year of jubilee.

pukka

pukka - adj - authentic; genuine; good of its kind; first-class

mulct

mulct - verb - to punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine or demanding forfeiture; to defraud; to swindle

So, if you have been punished by having to pay a fine, you have been swindled. Remember that the next time you have to pay a traffic ticket.

melodrama

melodrama – n - A dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.

Very popular, especially in Victorian England - but not only there by any means, and not only then either. Still, I grow nostalgic for a time I never knew when I think of Varney the Vampire, Sweeney Todd (the demon barber of Fleet Street), Sawney Beane and his cannibal family, etc.

tout court

tout court - adv - Briefly: without qualification or additional information.

A foreign term for the reading vocabulary.

And now - humor a middle-aged fat man with trifocals - another modern who strikes my fancy, Charlize Theron. She does a great Georgia accent, and she gave one of the gutsiest answers I've ever heard in an interview. When asked why she left South Africa (she's a Boer!), she replied, "It was no place for a pretty white girl." Her one defect, which I find easy to overlook, is that she's only an inch shorter than I am; in heels, she'd be a little taller.

bill of attainder

bill of attainder - n - A legislative act pronouncing a person guilty of a crime, usually treason, without trial and subjecting that person to capital punishment and attainder. Such acts are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

I ran into this term while reading the debates on the Constitution (in 2,000+ surprisingly interesting pages). I'm trying to figure out where we went wrong, and I'm starting my search at the beginning.

Today's exquisite is Connie Nielsen. One of the things I like about her is that she looks like a grownup.

impudent

impudent – adj - Of, pertaining to, or characterized by impertinence or effrontery: The student was kept late for impudent behavior.

A favorite saying of adults in the days of my youth was, "Of all the impudent tricks, that one beats all!"

leave

leave - noun - permission to be absent, as from work or military duty

Yes, I'm going to leave (the verb) so I'll not be updating words that frequently. It's time for my annual two week military duty - so I'm taking (somewhat) leave of this list for perhaps that long. I'll still have internet access, so you may still see words appear here.