English words
In 2004 I moved from the Netherlands to the United States, and it’s been great to experience a new culture from up close. I like to keep track of new English words and expressions that I learn over time.
Some of these words were completely new to me and for others I wasn’t very sure about their precise meaning.
| Word | Description |
When found |
|---|---|---|
| Town and gown | Town and gown is a term used to describe the two communities of a university town; “town” being the non-academic population and “gown” the university community. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_and_gown | 06/17/2007 |
| to play it by ear | If you play it by ear, you don’t have a plan of action, but decide what to do as events take shape. http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/play+it+by+ear.html | 06/15/2007 |
| cooties | Cooties is a slang word in American English, used by children, referring to a fictional disease. Cooties are believed to be a highly contagious disease or condition, generally carried by members of the opposite gender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooties) | 06/15/2007 |
| (lemon) zest | Zest is the outer, colorful skin of citrus fruit. See also http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/LemonZest.htm | 06/07/2007 |
| to hawk | someone who travels about selling small goods; a peddler/pedlar (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hawker). “beer hawking” | 06/03/2007 |
| insidious | sneaky; treacherous | 06/02/2007 |
| coil |
spoel in Dutch. |
06/01/2007 |
| obloquy | Abusively detractive language or utterance | 05/29/2007 |
| getting the skinny on something |
What’s the skinny? What is the story, what is going on, what is happening, what is the background. Origin: This is a shortened version of the “skinny naked truth” which comes from WW2. Skinny in this case meaning “resembling skin” and being redundant with naked. This phrase literally is asking for the naked, unobscured truth. |
05/24/2007 |
| harangue | A noisy or pompous speech; a rant. | 04/25/2007 |
| stupor | 1. a condition of greatly dulled or completely suspended sense or sensibility (“a drunken stupor”) 2. a state of extreme apathy or torpor resulting often from stress or shock (From http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/stupor). | 04/19/2007 |
| oodles | A great amount or number | 04/19/2007 |
| to steal someone's thunder | 04/18/2007 | |
| cop a squat | To take a seat (informal) | 04/11/2007 |
| goslings | young geese before fledging | 04/11/2007 |
| to shoo away | drive away by crying `shoo!’ force to go away | 04/11/2007 |
| CliffsNotes | Literature study guide series, summarizing books. Frequently used by (high school) students. | 04/11/2007 |
| "Is it bigger than a breadbasket?" | To ask about the size of an object. From a 1950’s TV show entitled “What’s My Line? On that long-lived program, the panelists tried to determine the occupation of a guest. This often involved guessing at the nature of a product with which the guests might be identified and, to that end, finding out the size of the product. The commonest question along this interrogative route, heard so often that it became a running gag, was “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” | 04/11/2007 |
| fowl | a term for certain birds often used as food by humans | 04/08/2007 |
| stupendous | Of astounding force, volume, degree, or excellence; marvelous. | 04/08/2007 |
| felicity | 04/08/2007 | |
| smarty pants | a classic Americanism for a know-all who, like others of his type, often knows less than he thinks he does or would like us to think he does | 04/06/2007 |
| double-wide | A double-wide manufactured home (also called mobile home). | 04/06/2007 |
| dram | used (informally) to mean a small amount of liquid, especially Scotch whisky | 04/06/2007 |
| craggy | rugged and uneven | 04/06/2007 |
