sambarnes's definitions
(noun) a dog fancier. Cynophiles often participate in dog shows and dog sports. They may prefer owning purebred dogs who have a pedigree, rather than adopting mongrels from shelters, but this is by no means always true. They may be annoyingly obsessive about their dogs, spending exorbitant amounts of money on them, or may simply consider dogs ideal companions.
My friend is a real cynophile; he takes his dog to compete in conformation shows, the kind they show on Animal Planet.
by sambarnes February 28, 2008
Get the cynophilemug. He blinded himself at the age of 3 by stabbing his eye out with an awl. He invented what we now know as braille for both writing and musical notation when he was fifteen. He was a talented church organist, and became a professor at the paris school for the blind. Two years after his death the braille code was adopted by France for teaching the blind. Braille was the first system that allowed blind people to read quickly and easily, and the first system ever to allow blind people to write. In the 50s his body was moved to the pantheon alongside other heroes of France. The United States treasury has issued a commemorative coin honoring him, and he has schools, and even an asteroid named after him.
What's the moral of the story? Contrary to what your mom always told you, playing with sharp metal objects isn't just good fun, it may just make you famous!
What's the moral of the story? Contrary to what your mom always told you, playing with sharp metal objects isn't just good fun, it may just make you famous!
by sambarnes April 2, 2009
Get the Louis Braillemug. (noun) The act or practice of eating dog flesh. Generally considered taboo in most western countries, cynophagy is accepted in eastern and south-east Asia.
I went to a Korean place last night, and I ordered something that turned out to be dog. Cynophagy seems OK to me, it tasted great with rice and pepper sauce.
by sambarnes February 28, 2008
Get the cynophagymug. The leader of an autonomous Eastern Catholic church, usually a patriarch such as the Maronite patriarch of Antioch. Some churches are led by a major archbishop. Minipopes have a large degree of freedom to safeguard the traditions and theological emphases of their particular church, but they still recognize the authority of the bishop of Rome, who is the patriarch of the Latin church. Many minipopes, like the churches they head, have a counterpart in the Eastern Orthodox or Oriental Orthodox communions. A notable exception is the Maronite Patriarch, who, along with the whole Maronite church, never split with Rome. Some churches, like the Russian Catholic church, do not have a minipope, or even a hierarchy.
by sambarnes February 29, 2008
Get the minipopemug. A somewhat derogatory name for someone who can see well, used by blind people. This term implies that the person so named takes his vision, and the activities that it enables him to do, for granted.
A sightling thinks nothing of hopping in his car on a Saturday morning and taking a quick trip to the grocery store to buy some milk. The same task, for a blind person, takes at least a day of advanced planning, and possibly involves a long bus ride, hours of waiting, or a large cab fair.
A sightling thinks nothing of jogging across the middle of a street during a lull in traffic to get to the Wallgreens on the other side. A blind person must wait at the intersection, listening for a favorable traffic flow pattern for him to cross. This waiting and listening may take as long as an hour at a single corner, and may involve several light cycles before paralell traffic is heavy enough to ensure the person safe passage.
A sightling can drive less than two minutes to a salon or barber shop for a haircut. A blind person, assuming they know the location of a salon or barber shop, must hike the three miles to get their.
A sightling can drive his car to pick up a bag of dog food for his lazy, overfed, understimulated dog. A blind person must walk a mile to the pet store, and pick up a 10 kg bag of dog food, and carry it back to his house for his hard working dog guide, which he couldn't take along to the pet store because he couldn't carry the food in one hand and handle the dog in the other.
A sightling thinks nothing of hopping in his car on a Saturday morning and taking a quick trip to the grocery store to buy some milk. The same task, for a blind person, takes at least a day of advanced planning, and possibly involves a long bus ride, hours of waiting, or a large cab fair.
A sightling thinks nothing of jogging across the middle of a street during a lull in traffic to get to the Wallgreens on the other side. A blind person must wait at the intersection, listening for a favorable traffic flow pattern for him to cross. This waiting and listening may take as long as an hour at a single corner, and may involve several light cycles before paralell traffic is heavy enough to ensure the person safe passage.
A sightling can drive less than two minutes to a salon or barber shop for a haircut. A blind person, assuming they know the location of a salon or barber shop, must hike the three miles to get their.
A sightling can drive his car to pick up a bag of dog food for his lazy, overfed, understimulated dog. A blind person must walk a mile to the pet store, and pick up a 10 kg bag of dog food, and carry it back to his house for his hard working dog guide, which he couldn't take along to the pet store because he couldn't carry the food in one hand and handle the dog in the other.
by sambarnes April 12, 2008
Get the sightlingmug. (Catholicism) The act of leaving Mass early, typically between receiving communion and the concluding rite, without a justifiable reason for doing so. The Judas shuffle is named after Judas Iscariot, who left the Last Supper (the first Mass/Divine Liturgy) early in order to summon the guards to arrest Jesus.
by sambarnes February 28, 2008
Get the Judas shufflemug. In general, someone or something having the qualities of a genius and an ignoramus. Specifically, it may mean one of the following:
1) Someone who is very intelligent but who lacks tact and common sense. Someone who is book-smart but who has poor social skills.
2) An intellectual person who lacks the communication skills to articulate his or her knowledge in a sophisticated or even coherent manner.
3) Someone who sometimes seems very smart, and at other times very stupid.
4) A person with great intellectual potential who squanders his or her mental gift for the sake of popularity or convenience.
5) An intelligent person who uses his or her gift inappropriately. Someone who is smart, but not smart enough to stay out of trouble, or who uses his or her gift to get into trouble. For example, a dog who knows how to open doors or drawers to get at food, or knows how to root through a trash can without spilling it.
1) Someone who is very intelligent but who lacks tact and common sense. Someone who is book-smart but who has poor social skills.
2) An intellectual person who lacks the communication skills to articulate his or her knowledge in a sophisticated or even coherent manner.
3) Someone who sometimes seems very smart, and at other times very stupid.
4) A person with great intellectual potential who squanders his or her mental gift for the sake of popularity or convenience.
5) An intelligent person who uses his or her gift inappropriately. Someone who is smart, but not smart enough to stay out of trouble, or who uses his or her gift to get into trouble. For example, a dog who knows how to open doors or drawers to get at food, or knows how to root through a trash can without spilling it.
My dog knows enough to open the cupboard door, slide open the lid to the bread box, and open the bag of bread without knocking anything onto the floor, but he's not smart enough to stay out of trouble in the first place. He's such an genioramus!
by sambarnes February 28, 2008
Get the genioramusmug.