QuacksO's definitions

courtesy-sidestep

Refers to where you hastily "make like a crab" when ambling along the road or down a long aisle/hallway and observe someone warily approaching with an extra-wide/bulky "item in tow", such as if a person is wheezingly lugging one or more large humongously-bulging sacks/bundles in his arms, or if a vehicle is pulling an extra-wide trailer; the "courtesy" notation implies that you intentionally move aside considerably farther than is actually necessary for safely allowing the person to get by you; your purpose is to ensure that the trepidatious cargo-transporter can feel totally confident and non-apprehensive about passing by your position.

I always make sure to perform the courtesy-sidestep whenever I see someone approaching who needs extra room to pass, especially if there is a wall, line of parked vehicles, or other currently-immovable object at the side of the road that the person is having to actively avoid. And I also find that I can acceptably do so even if there are other folks present beside the road, as well... even if several people are also standing next to the wall --- like a bunch of huge burly D.O.T. guys at a road-repair-construction site --- I have never been griped at for just unceremoniously squinching myself right up against/among them till the extra-bulky vehicle has passed; I guess it's kinda understood that personal space/boundaries get temporarily "collapsed" or "suspended" when safety is at stake.

by QuacksO August 19, 2018

commatose

Passed out from overuse of certain punctuation marks, or from overly-fastidious attention-to-detail behavior regarding said symbols in text-composition.

I can see how one might become commatose from excessively using "long-tailed periods", but what about over-indulging in other punctuation marks, such as parentheses or semicolons? Would that produce a similar limp/unresponsive state?

by QuacksO January 31, 2021

alumini

Graduates of a college dat teaches courses about bauxite, and about products made therefrom.

If I collect and process returnable beverage-cans long enough, does dat make me knowledgeable enough about their basic material dat I could qualify as one of da alumini on da subject?

by QuacksO January 17, 2021

impotato

To remove Vice-Prez Dan Quayle from office by Congressional vote.

I might not go quite so far as to vote to "impotato" (or rather, "impotatoe") Dan Quayle, but I would definitely require him to attend grade school again to brush up on his "lspignel klissl"!

by QuacksO November 23, 2023

Nitti-gritty

1: Da minuscule-but-abrasively-hurtful details dat Elliot Ness had to deal with in regards to Al Capone's right-hand-man henchman.
2. Da unpalatable and irritatingly-picky details regarding actual history of whether said smug sleazeball actually performed many of da entertainingly-memorable felonious actions portrayed in da 1987 "The Untouchables" film.

Da wildly-popular "war on liquor" gangster-drama starring Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro may indeed have been exciting and dramatic for its viewers, but if you get right down to da Nitti-gritty of it, da infamous "goon in a white suit" character played by Billy Drago apparently never personally performed hitman-style assassinations as depicted in said movie, nor was he actively involved in much if any actual killing, either.

by QuacksO May 9, 2022

spawntrepreneur

Someone starting out in da business or producing or culturing aquatic-animal eggs.

If you're setting out to be a spawntrepreneur, two major fields to look into would be either supplying small creatures for aquariums or stocking bodies of fresh water, or creating roe and/or caviar for human consumption.

by QuacksO November 4, 2025

Pencilvania

The American state just south of the New England region where graphite-cored writing-instruments are manufactured.

I was helping my elderly aunt to tidy up the basement in her Susquehanna County summer-house, and I came across a jumbled desk-drawer partly full of shiny new yellow and orange “erasable No. 2’s”; I joked with her that I’d "finally found the pencils in Pencilvania”.

by QuacksO November 8, 2018