al-in-chgo's definitions
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Altering or adding to a prior word or term term that must be further defined in the light of later developments or technical innovation.
Example: No one called "World War One" that until there was a "World War Two" with which to contrast it. The going term during the 1914-1918 war and up to 1939 was "The Great War."
Altering or adding to a prior word or term term that must be further defined in the light of later developments or technical innovation.
Example: No one called "World War One" that until there was a "World War Two" with which to contrast it. The going term during the 1914-1918 war and up to 1939 was "The Great War."
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Other employment of term retronym:
Telephone becomes "rotary-dial phone" to distinguish it from the push-button phones that became widespread in the 1970s and early 1980s (although rotary-dial phones still work if all you want to do is place a call and don't need to access features like querying a bank account balance).
Similarly, telephone also becomes "corded phone" to distinguish the traditional hard-wired telephone from those that are wireless in some way, such as cordless phones.
"Regular" coffee to distinguish it from decaffeinated coffee; some people say "caffeinated" coffee but strictly speaking this is a grammatical back-formation, not a retronym, because "to caffeinate" would mean to ADD caffeine to traditional coffee.
Note, though, that Coca-Cola is a "caffeinated" or "caffeine-containing" soft drink in its usual red-can form. Now that there is a Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola "caffeinated" could find use as a retronym for "the real thing."
"Manual" or "standard" or "stick" transmission on a car, none of which terms was necessary before automatic transmissions on cars became widespread and assumed to be the norm.
And, of course, "acoustic" guitar.
Other employment of term retronym:
Telephone becomes "rotary-dial phone" to distinguish it from the push-button phones that became widespread in the 1970s and early 1980s (although rotary-dial phones still work if all you want to do is place a call and don't need to access features like querying a bank account balance).
Similarly, telephone also becomes "corded phone" to distinguish the traditional hard-wired telephone from those that are wireless in some way, such as cordless phones.
"Regular" coffee to distinguish it from decaffeinated coffee; some people say "caffeinated" coffee but strictly speaking this is a grammatical back-formation, not a retronym, because "to caffeinate" would mean to ADD caffeine to traditional coffee.
Note, though, that Coca-Cola is a "caffeinated" or "caffeine-containing" soft drink in its usual red-can form. Now that there is a Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola "caffeinated" could find use as a retronym for "the real thing."
"Manual" or "standard" or "stick" transmission on a car, none of which terms was necessary before automatic transmissions on cars became widespread and assumed to be the norm.
And, of course, "acoustic" guitar.
by al-in-chgo March 6, 2010
Get the retronym mug.Typically a Mutual Fund is an investment fund aimed at individual investors sponsored by an investment (or "mutual fund") house like Fidelity, Vanguard or T. Rowe Price. Each fund holds a "market basket" of stocks or bonds and individual investors buy into the fund by buying a share at "Net Asset Value," which is the total worth of the fund's holdings, calculated every day, divided by the number of shares outstanding. In other words, a mutual fund whose portfolio (value of all holdings) is worth a million dollars that has a hundred thousand shares outstanding will value those shares at ten dollars apiece. A typical stock-based mutual fund can earn its investors money in three ways: the dividends and capital gains that stocks pay out, and possible appreciation of the fund value per share.
For an individual investor, the advantage of owning a mutual fund is that s/he achieves diversity -- mutual funds own more than fifty stocks, on average -- that could not be achieved by buying a typical hundred shares of stock in only a few corporations. The disadvantages of such funds are that the "load" (sales commission) involved in buying or selling such funds can be considerable, and all funds incur some sort of service fees; that's how the investment house earns its money. Also, no "equity" or stock-based investment is guaranteed.
For an individual investor, the advantage of owning a mutual fund is that s/he achieves diversity -- mutual funds own more than fifty stocks, on average -- that could not be achieved by buying a typical hundred shares of stock in only a few corporations. The disadvantages of such funds are that the "load" (sales commission) involved in buying or selling such funds can be considerable, and all funds incur some sort of service fees; that's how the investment house earns its money. Also, no "equity" or stock-based investment is guaranteed.
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"My broker wants me to buy shares in something called an "open-end fund" but I don't know what that means."
"That's just a way to describe the majority of mutual funds, which remain open to all new investors who have the money to invest in them."
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"My broker wants me to buy shares in something called an "open-end fund" but I don't know what that means."
"That's just a way to describe the majority of mutual funds, which remain open to all new investors who have the money to invest in them."
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by al-in-chgo March 25, 2010
Get the Mutual Fund mug.1. To slack off or waste time with the implication that the time is better spent at something to hand (like one's job);
2. Semi-euphemism for "masturbate."
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2. Semi-euphemism for "masturbate."
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-After school, Sam was downtown as usual, the typical small-town Drugstore Cowboy, goofing off.
-In the movie THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971), the coach's remark to the basketball team, "If y'all boys didn't jack off so much, you might amount to something," was replaced by "If y'all boys didn't goof off so much, you might amount to something," for the TV release.
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-In the movie THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971), the coach's remark to the basketball team, "If y'all boys didn't jack off so much, you might amount to something," was replaced by "If y'all boys didn't goof off so much, you might amount to something," for the TV release.
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by al-in-chgo August 18, 2010
Get the goof off mug.Origin probably military. A book soldier is a person caught up in details and procedures, but lacking in experience and insight. Typically used disparagingly, a book soldier typically is a bureaucrat or official of small import enforcing petty rules that the objects of his/her decision see as virtually meaningless. As a result of, or in compensation for, this focus on minute details, the book soldier secures his or her reputation by being, or described as being, head-smart not street-smart, or educated fool, or drone, lacking empathy and grace.
"Second Lieutenant Johnson" was the classic book soldier: He knew ROTC protocol but nothing about actual warfare, or how to handle a platoon for that matter. If he can't find it in the manual, he freaks out. That's why Sarge calls the shots."
"Jason is a sweet person in real life but at work, in Human Resources, he is a total book soldier. He told me once that one of the staff missed making Employee of the Month because of a two-minute discrepancy between the time clock and the sign-in sheet. I guess in a job like that, it pays to be anal, but fortunately that's not the Jason I usually see."
"Jason is a sweet person in real life but at work, in Human Resources, he is a total book soldier. He told me once that one of the staff missed making Employee of the Month because of a two-minute discrepancy between the time clock and the sign-in sheet. I guess in a job like that, it pays to be anal, but fortunately that's not the Jason I usually see."
by al-in-chgo September 10, 2010
Get the book soldier mug."Pre-ejaculatory fluid" is the clnical medical way to say what most of us call "pre-cum" or "precum": the usually clear and viscous liquid seceted by the Cowper's Gland (a tiny gland inside the male's genito-urinary works) that precedes actual orgasm and ejaculation of semen ("cum").
The amount secreted as pre-ejaculatory fluid varies from nothing or next-to-nothing to a great amount. See basketball player.
The amount secreted as pre-ejaculatory fluid varies from nothing or next-to-nothing to a great amount. See basketball player.
The most popular brand of condom-safe sexual lubricant mimics very well the clearness, thickness (viscosity), slipperiness and slight stickiness of pre-ejaculatory fluid.
by al-in-chgo May 31, 2010
Get the pre-ejaculatory fluid mug..
Jerry Garcia was a grizzled and bearded band leader in the decade before his death, but he still had a comparatively young face.
Jerry Garcia was a grizzled and bearded band leader in the decade before his death, but he still had a comparatively young face.
by al-in-chgo May 24, 2010
Get the grizzled mug."Wink wink nudge nudge" followed by "say no more, say no more," is a statement popularized by Eric Idle in his Monty Python days in the early 1970s. The winks and nudges are verbal explications of gestures people make when they want to pass on something sly (a wink of the eye and an elbow in the other person's side, nudging). The "say no more" extender means, rather literally, "You don't have to tell me anything more."
This buzz term (or terms) was used when Idle played a character (usually opposite fellow Pythoner Terry Jones as a stuffy Brit), who persistently (and wrongly) tried to put a sniggering sexual implication on perfectly ordinary situations:
-- Idle: "Your secretary, she's a bit of a goer, isn't she?"
-- Jones (perplexed): "Umm, perhaps."
-- Idle: "Wink wink nudge nudge. Say no more, say no more."
Within the past 30 years "Wink wink nudge nudge" has also taken on almost its exact opposite meaning, used sarcastically to mean something along the lines of "I'm sure it's painfully obvious to us both."
This buzz term (or terms) was used when Idle played a character (usually opposite fellow Pythoner Terry Jones as a stuffy Brit), who persistently (and wrongly) tried to put a sniggering sexual implication on perfectly ordinary situations:
-- Idle: "Your secretary, she's a bit of a goer, isn't she?"
-- Jones (perplexed): "Umm, perhaps."
-- Idle: "Wink wink nudge nudge. Say no more, say no more."
Within the past 30 years "Wink wink nudge nudge" has also taken on almost its exact opposite meaning, used sarcastically to mean something along the lines of "I'm sure it's painfully obvious to us both."
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"Look at her, do you think she runs, do you think she runs?"
"I'm not sure what you mean."
(Very broadly): "Wink wink nudge nudge say no more, say no more."
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"Did you have any idea that Senator X was closeted and gay?"
"Oh, wink wink nudge nudge. Anyone gay, or anyone working in official Washington (D.C.) knew it already."
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"Look at her, do you think she runs, do you think she runs?"
"I'm not sure what you mean."
(Very broadly): "Wink wink nudge nudge say no more, say no more."
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"Did you have any idea that Senator X was closeted and gay?"
"Oh, wink wink nudge nudge. Anyone gay, or anyone working in official Washington (D.C.) knew it already."
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by al-in-chgo March 25, 2010
Get the wink wink nudge nudge mug.