buce's definitions

Poofter

Male homosexual, but the particular nuance is not easy to isolate. On the surface, it is clearly a term of opprobrium. But no one can say it with a straight face, and so it takes on the air of cheerful self-mockery that we associate with Dame Edna or Crocodile Dundee.

Nobody out there but poofters sand sellers of loose joints.

by Buce August 8, 2005

cad and bounder

This phrase is worth noting precisely because it does not belong in this dictionary: it makes sense in a moral universe that has utterly vanished. The last "cad and bounder" died, perhaps, about 1947 (see London Daily Telegraph obituaries for further evidence).

Although they are appropriately linked, the precise meanings differ. A "cad" is one who does harm to a woman's honor or sense of self-worth as, for example, by taking her for a garden walk when he has no intention of marrying her. A "bounder" is a presumptious upstart, seemingly ignorant of, but perhaps merely indifferent to, fundamental norms of propriety.

You, sir, are a cad and a bounder.

A cad perhaps, but no bounder. My family goes back to William I.

by Buce August 9, 2005

You want room?

Pacific Northwest localism for: do you want room for cream in your coffee? Unaccountably, it seems not (as of this writing) to have spread down into Northern California.

I'd rather say 'you want room?' than 'you want fries with that?'

by Buce August 9, 2005

nfm

Well, I thought it stood for "no further message"--something to add to the subject line to an email, when the subject line is the email, to save the recipient the nuisance of opening the, um, message. If it does not mean this, it should.

And the mule you road in on, NFM

by Buce August 26, 2005

cigar

Sometimes, only a cigar.

Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar.--Freud

by Buce August 26, 2005

pandersnatch

A riff on "bandersnatch," rom Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll. Also, variously, a band, an Ed McBain novel, a satirical e-journal, etc.

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

by buce September 5, 2005

fisk

'Fisk' is developing a meaning that is broader than definition #1 but more constrained than definition #4. It's coming to designate any point-by-point (attempt at) refutation of the other guy's argument. Haven't seen it with a small "f" yet, but surely that will come soon.

Brad deLong did a nice fisking of the NYT's analysis of the employment numbers.

by buce September 5, 2005