Words

Eminence Grise and other words from The Perfect Prey

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:09:00 +0000

éminence grise

An éminence grise (French for "grey eminence") is a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates secretly or unofficially. This phrase originally referred to François Leclerc du Tremblay, the right-hand man of Cardinal Richelieu. Leclerc was a Capuchin friar who wore grey, or rather brown, robes.
Usage
Hazelhoff has watched as ABN Amro bankers increasingly worked for their own

Séance
A séance (pronounced /ˈseɪ.ɑːns/) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit."
Usage
The board wanted to shaw that for the top it was about similarities... They had seances at which managing directors introduced themselves to the rest of the company. A standard question was always about their ambitions.

Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms. These symptoms can be physical, emotional, spiritual or social in nature.
Rijkman Groenink ... regularly arranged high profile hospice structures: rescue operations in which healthy pasts of the companies were severed from the rest and the sick parts were allowed to go bankrupt.

Nous (pronounced /ˈnuːs/, Greek: νοῦς or νόος) is a philosophical term for mind or intellect. Outside of a philosophical context, it is used, in English, to denote "common sense," with a different pronunciation (/naʊs/).
Usage
The 51 year old Meys combined nous and charisma. Two qualities the new chairman of the domestic division sorely needed.

Turcopole and other words from 'The Templar Knight' by Jan Guillou

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Other words from 'The Templar Knight' by Jan Guillou

Turcopole
Locally recruited mercenaries by Crusaders during the time of Crusades. Most used to be still Christian children of local tribes, some used to be Muslims also but fighting for Christian armies for the sake of money.

To close ranks
To move closer in military formation (bring ranks closer).
Also means, to unite forces with others and work together towards a goal

Jarl
A scandinavian nobleman/ chieftan in medieval times

Deul Vult!
God wills it. Knights' war cry.

Mead
An alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey & water

Wimple
The medieval women, specially nuns of certain orders used to cover their head with a cloth piece that would also frame their face. That's wimple.

Ting/ Thing
Community assembly of free people in Scandinavian tribes, acting as governing body. The term lives on as name of few parliaments in these countries.

To mull a drink
A spice up and heat. For example mulled wine.
Also, the think over something extensively

Crepuscular
Related to dawn, twilight

So some insects that become active at that ungodly time, they are called 'Crepuscular' insects. A few of my friends come in this category.

The shrill,... sound from the unbelievers screeching out their prayers over the crepuscular city woke him up ....

from The Templar Knight, by Jan Guillou

Pater Noster
'Our Father' literally in Latin.
The main Christian prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples. Starts with 'Our father in heaven, hallowed by thy name...'

I read often about the priest asking a confessor to say ten Pater Noster. Now I know what exactly it is.

Al Quds

Name of Jerusalem in Arabic.

Surcoat

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:55:00 +0000

The loose gown (tunic) the knights wear over their armour.
Basically a outer coat.

Tack

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:17:00 +0000

As an object,
- A small sharp nail, such as one used to hook carpet in place.
- A rope used in sailing to change direction

As an action
- In sailing it means changing direction of the boat by tying the sail here and there, as needed.

Example
"I wished to reach you without loss of time, and I did what people will do in politics, or on the sea when the wind is against them, -- I tacked."
Johan de Witt to his brother Cornelius de Witt, in The Black Tulip by Dumas

Guerdon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:38:00 +0000

Reward for an accomplishment or service.

John de Witt... too received a noble recompense for his devotedness to the best interests of his country, taking with him into the retirement of private life the hatred of a host of enemies, and the fresh scars of wounds inflicted by assassins, only too often the sole guerdon obtained by honest people, who are guilty of having worked for their country, and of having forgotten their own private interests.
from The Black Tulip, by Duma.

Mosey On

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:02:00 +0000

Walk slowly, as in leisure.

Example: There is one Calvin Hobbes strip with this word. Too good really.
Another, Lets mosey on home after dinner.

Boondocks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:08:00 +0000

Rural place; more intense word than 'backwoods', or 'woods' or 'hinterland'.
The word comes from Philippino language, in which it means mountain. When American occupied the land towards the end of 19th century, they used this word to denote the mountainous hinterlands in Philippines.

Example
One of the few drawbacks to living out in the boondocks is that public services, such as litter collection, are less available than they are closer to the city.
Don't sweat the small stuff, by Richard Carlson

Au pair

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:31:00 +0000

A young foreigner who remains with a family as a surrogate family member, takes care of some of the house work such as baby-care etc. and in turn gets boarding, food and other amenities of being with a family, plus the learning of local language and culture.

Comes from the French au pair, meaning "on par" or "equal to". So the relationship with the person is on equal terms, he/ she is member of the family not a servant. Though the relationship is supposed to be temporary, its expected that they will remain in touch and on good terms years after the 'au pair' has left for his home country.

Example
One memory of that visit was of Jackie, the plump and pretty au pair at 18 Queens Road, who was huggable and on whom I had a crush.
Two Lives, by Vikram Seth

Shellacking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:42:00 +0000

To beat decisively
To coat with 'lac'

Examples:
... Schwartz helped the Titans defeat Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Included in that run was a 31-14 late-December shellacking of the Steelers.

Busking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Performing (usually music) for free at public places, aiming to get tips. Like you would see being done at train stations etc.

At least in London 'Tube' I know that proper license if given for busking and the 'Tube' administration even recommends giving tips to buskers. And mostly I have found these artists to be talented enough to deserve some tips and respectful listening.

One interesting case, that I got to know recently is from New York, where a celebraty Violanist played as an incognito busker and got 32 dollars after performing about an hour. Teaches something about perceptiont and shows how much beauty we ignore while rushing through our rut race. Read on Pearls Before Breakfast.

Recce

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Recce: Short form of reconnaissance, specially the verb form of reconnaissance.

Example
The police also revealed that one of those arrested had allegedly done a recce of one of Gandhi’s lawyers house in the Capital.
HT news about underworld shooters' arrest in New Delhi

Caterwaul

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:36:00 +0000

To wail like like a cat.
To fight like screeching cats, having noisy arguments etc

Example
As always, he caterwauled at the sheer size of the shocking verdict, and blamed it on the undue passion created by Baker's attorneys that inflamed the jurors.
The Appeal, by John Grisham

To take a rain check

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Background: Suppose you bought costly ticket to a match and then it got canceled due to rain. To save you from the loss of money, the match organizer can give you ticket-stub along with the ticket- the stub can be used as ticket when the 'replacement match' is played.

So now, taking a rain check would mean opting to leave main opportunity but still keep the option of availing it in future.

Another meaning of the term is option given by companies to avail of their promotion (sale, free-gift etc.), when they run out of stock.

Examples
- Dinner at your place this weekend? I hope I can take a rain check.
- During the 2007 Christmas season, demand for Nintendo Wii was so strong that Nintendo was forced to issue rain checks to customers
from book Strategic Innovation: New Game Strategies for Competitive Advantage

Sow your wild oats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 May 2009 11:43:00 +0000

Read the term in Neil Strauss' The Game- "The pickup thing was never about sowing my wild oats". As one can understand from the worrding itself, it has something to do with 'spreading seeds' :).

Roughly speaking it means-
to have wild sex life,
to have sexual relations with multiple partners,
to have one's fling of affairs,

I think the wording itself makes it clear that the term is intended more for males. The term is mostly used for indicating a young male's fun-filled life, before he gets married.

There is exact idiom for this 'phenomenon' in French- "jeter sa gourme". Trying to dissect this one literally, one understands the meaning much more graphically.