fearman's definitions

he had a tremendous singing voice

Expression used of someone detested and now safely dead, to damn them with faint praise. From the 1989 movie version of Batman, directed by Tim Burton.

Joker (Jack Nicholson) on TV address:

Joker here. Now you fellas have said some pretty mean things. Some of which were true, under that fiend Boss Grissom. He was a thief, and a terrorist. On the other hand he had a tremendous singing voice. He's dead now, and he's left me in charge.

by Fearman March 4, 2008

boarding school

Same essential mistake, only taking up four times as much of the day. Also a place that tries four times as hard to take the credit when a former student takes over his daddy's job.

He used to attend a day school, but that wasn't disastrous enough so he went to boarding school instead.

by Fearman May 28, 2008

might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb

Expression used in resentment as a reason for doing something deemed unethical when one knows one is going to be accused of doing that thing anyway, particularly when there is much to be gained by doing it.

They are going to accuse me of doing nothing and/or of working and drawing the dole at the same time, so I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

by Fearman December 28, 2007

West Brit

Derogatory term used in Ireland to describe anyone who believes British (i.e. English) culture, goods or whatever to be invariably superior to their Irish counterparts. Not necessarily living in Dublin, although the capital boasts at least its fair share of them.

Nicola is a right West Brit. She has been living in County Cork for the last nine years and she still gets her milk and bread direct from Surrey.

by Fearman October 31, 2007

cable hair

One of those hairs often found growing in facial hair that seem to consist of at least ten normal hairs welded together and that you simply can't resist the urge to pull out; fortunately, frequently an easy operation.

Oh, look. Cable hair. (Pinches and pulls.) Oooohh ahhh, that's lovely.

by Fearman August 30, 2007

necro-reiteration

Mental experience in which you come to believe on numerous occasions that someone must have died a while back, often persisting for many years until you hear for certain in the media that they have just actually died.

I had necro-reiteration about Joan Miro and Evel Knievel for at least a decade before they popped their clogs.

by Fearman January 6, 2008

Mars

1. Fourth planet from the Sun. Diameter 4,220 miles. Called the Red Planet from its colour as seen through a telescope; colour varies from butterscotch to dark brown. Much of this is from iron oxide (rust) in surface rocks. Surface gravity 38 percent that on Earth, about the same as Mercury, an effect jointly of Mars' larger size and lower density. The least dense of the rocky terrestrial planets in the system. One tenth of Earth's mass. Atmosphere mostly carbon dioxide, surface pressure varies by location and season between about 5 and 7 millibars. Surface features include Mariner Valley, a canyon system that would stretch across the United States on Earth, and four large shield volcanoes on the highland area known as the Tharsis Bulge, the largest of which is Olympus Mons, the largest mountain on any major planet in the system, three times the height of Everest and covering an area about the size of Romania. Has been visited by numerous space probes, including the Viking landers, the Sojourner rover and the Spirit and Opportunity Rovers. Currently being orbited by the Odyssey, Express and Reconnaissance Orbiters, making it the planet with the most artificial satellites beyond Earth. Although the surface is almost certainly sterile, Mars has often been imagined as an abode of life, appearing as such in works by, among others, C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs. There is some evidence of liquid surface water in its early history, although the atmosphere has grown too thin to allow this any more. Appears in some ways earthlike, with dust storms (especially at perihelion passage, the closest passage to the sun), growing and shrinking (largely carbon dioxide) ice caps and even, at 24 hours and 40 minutes, the most earthlike length of day of any other planet in this system. Two moons, Phobos and Deimos, both asteroids, circle the planet, the former the lowest-orbiting moon of any major planet in the system and set to run smack into Mars in about another 40 million Earth years.

2. The fourth planet's namesake, the ancient Roman god of war. Bit of a meathead, but then it was his job. Had an affair with Venus ... well, who wouldn't? Greek equivalent was Ares.

3. Chunky nougat-caramel-chocolate bar, or the company that makes them.

In the previous few months, Mars had been getting brighter in the night sky.

Oh Mars, let my armies surround those of my enemy Calipurnius and righteously whup his ass.

Got a Mars Bar?

by Fearman May 10, 2008