Colporteur

: a peddler of religious books

Example sentence:
When she was working as a colporteur, Lena found some people to be more receptive to her offerings than others.

Did you know?
In 19th-century America, the word "colporteur" (a French borrowing meaning "peddler") came to be used especially of door-to-door peddlers of religious books and tracts, and it has carried that specific sense into the 21st century. The word traces to the Latin prefix "com-" ("together") plus the verb "portare" ("to carry"), two elements that were brought together to create "comportare" ("to bring together"). Middle French speakers tucked that word into their linguistic pack as "comporter" ("to carry" or "to peddle"), giving rise to "comporteur." Over time, perhaps influenced by the phrase "porter à col" ("to carry on one's back or neck"), the term's spelling shifted to the form now used.

Panic

1 *a : a sudden overpowering fright; also : acute extreme anxiety b : a sudden unreasoning terror often accompanied by mass flight c : a sudden widespread fright concerning financial affairs that results in hurried selling and a sharp fall in prices
2 slang : one that is very funny

Example sentence:
Jennifer experienced a sudden panic at the thought of failing all of her classes.

Did you know?
"Panic" comes to us from French "panique," which in turn derives from Greek "panikos," meaning literally "of Pan." Pan is the pipe-playing, nymph-chasing Greek god of fertility, pastures, flocks, and shepherds. (His name is a Doric contraction of "paon," meaning "pasturer.") He also has a rather dark side — his shout is said to have instilled fear in the giants fighting the gods, and the Greeks believed him responsible for causing the Persians to flee in terror at the battle of Marathon. "Panic" entered our language first as an adjective suggesting the mental or emotional state that Pan was said to induce. The adjective first appeared in print at the beginning of the 17th century, and the noun followed about a century later.

Lèse majesté

1 a : a crime (as treason) committed against a sovereign power b : an offense violating the dignity of a ruler as the representative of a sovereign power

*2 : a detraction from or affront to dignity or importance

Example sentence:
Some family members view Ty's criticism of his grandfather as an act of lèse-majesté.

Did you know?
"Lèse-majesté" (or "lese majesty," as it is also styled in English publications) comes into English by way of Middle French, from the Latin "laesa majestas," which literally means "injured majesty." The English term can conceivably cover any offense against a sovereign power or its ruler, from treason to a simple breach of etiquette. "Lèse-majesté" has also acquired a more lighthearted or ironic meaning, that of an insult or impudence to a particularly pompous or self-important person or organization. As such, it may be applied to a relatively inoffensive act that has been exaggeratedly treated as if it were a great affront.

Apropos

: being both relevant and opportune

Example sentence:
Sean interrupted our conversation about politics and, apropos of nothing, asked who we thought would win the basketball game.

Did you know?
English borrowed "apropos" from the French phrase "à propos," literally "to the purpose." Since it first appeared in 1668, "apropos" has been used as an adverb, adjective, noun, and preposition. Left alone, the word probably wouldn't have gotten much attention, but in 1926 noted language expert H. W. Fowler declared that "apropos" should always be followed by "of." Since then, most commentators have felt compelled to take note of the term. Some take Fowler's recommendation to be virtually a commandment, but others note that "apropos" is sometimes used by itself in professionally edited prose, or, more rarely, followed by "to."

Scintilla

: spark, trace

Example sentence:
After the witness's frank and bruising testimony, neither my brother nor I was left with a scintilla of doubt that the defendant was guilty.

Did you know?
"Scintilla" comes directly from Latin, where it carries the meaning of "spark" — that is, a bright flash such as you might see from a burning ember. In English, however, our use of "scintilla" is restricted to the figurative sense of "spark" — a hint or trace of something that barely suggests its presence. The Latin "scintilla" is related to the verb "scintillare," which means "to sparkle" and is responsible for our verb "scintillate" ("to sparkle or gleam," literally or figuratively). In an odd twist, "scintilla" underwent a transposition of the "c" and the "t" (a linguistic phenomenon known as metathesis) to create the Vulgar Latin form "stincilla," which is believed to be an ancestor of our word "stencil."

Hospitalist

: a physician who specializes in treating hospitalized patients of other physicians in order to minimize the number of hospital visits by other physicians

Example sentence:
Naomi worried that as a hospitalist she would have to work harder to achieve personalized relationships with her patients.

Did you know?
"Hospitalist" refers to what is rapidly becoming a new specialty in medicine, perhaps due in part to the rise of organized health care. These days, the care that you receive during a hospital stay may be coordinated and monitored by a doctor who is not your regular doctor or the referring physician. The word "hospitalist" itself first appeared in print in 1996 and derives, of course, from "hospital," which in turn can be traced back to the Medieval Latin "hospitale," meaning "hospice" or "guest house."

Grok

grok \GROCK\ verb

: to understand profoundly and intuitively

Example sentence:
No matter how many times I try to explain it, my grandmother just can't grok what a blog is and why anyone would want to read one.

Did you know?
"Grok" may be the only English word that derives from Martian. Yes, we do mean the language of the planet Mars. No, we're not getting spacey; we've just ventured into the realm of science fiction. "Grok" was introduced in Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. The book's main character, Valentine Michael Smith, is a Martian-raised human who comes to earth as an adult, bringing with him words from his native tongue and a unique perspective on the strange, strange ways of earthlings. "Grok" was quickly adopted by the youth culture of America and has since peppered the vernacular of those who grok it, from the hippies of the '60s to the computerniks of the '90s.

《雙面薇諾妮卡》與《情書》的命定與偶然

◎羅展鳳

　　「我一直覺得，自己同時在兩個地方，既在這裡，又在那裡。」──薇若妮卡

　　奇士勞斯基的《雙面薇若妮卡》（The Double life of Veronika，1991/港譯《兩生花》）與岩井俊二的《情書》（Love Letter，1995）不約而同地觸及一個共同題材──如果人世間有兩個外表完全相同的人，那會有怎樣的事情發生？兩者間可會有著怎樣的微妙關係？共同 的題材落在相異的導演手上，如何說與怎樣說則大為不同，兩部電影均有論及感性、預感、死亡與人際關係等的種種問題，著墨起來卻大大不同。
　　
　　對於命定這母題，奇士勞斯基與岩井俊二均以死亡揭開（或推陳）故事，《雙面薇若妮卡》以波蘭女孩薇若妮卡的突然死亡來帶出同名同樣的法國女孩薇若妮卡 的生命敘述（均由Irene Jacob飾演）；《情書》則以男主角藤井樹的死亡讓渡邊博子與外型相同的女子藤井樹（均由中山美穗飾演）來個（以信件為主的）交錯式的相遇。兩位導演對 命定與偶然等問題有著不同的理解，相對來說，岩井俊二對生命傾向一種因果式的解釋，而奇士勞斯基卻多了一重不能說的神秘主義，兩人引申對其他生命元素也有 輕重不一的描繪，但同樣具有懾人的魅惑......。　　

High ground

High ground is a spot of elevated terrain which can be useful in military tactics. Fighting from an elevated position is easier for a number of reasons. Soldiers will tire more quickly when fighting uphill, will move more slowly, and if fighting in formation will have little ability to see beyond the soldiers in front of them. Likewise, soldiers fighting downhill won't get tired as quickly, will move faster, and will be able to see farther when in formation, aiding them in making smart tactical maneuvers. Furthermore, soldiers who are elevated above their enemies can get greater range out of low-speed projectiles like rocks and javelins. Likewise, rocks and javelins will have less range when thrown uphill.

Imprimatur

"Imprimatur" means "let it be printed" in New Latin. It comes from Latin "imprimere," meaning to "imprint" or "impress." In the 1600s, the word appeared in the front matter of books, accompanied by the name of an official authorizing the book's printing. It was also in the 1600s that English speakers began using "imprimatur" in the general sense of "official approval." The Roman Catholic Church still issues imprimaturs for books concerned with religious matters (to indicate that a work contains nothing offensive to Catholic morals or faith), and there have been other authorities for imprimaturs as well. For example, when Samuel Pepys was president of the Royal Society, he placed his imprimatur on the title page of England's great scientific work, Sir Isaac Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, in 1687.

Irène Jacob

Irène Marie Jacob (born July 15, 1966) is a French-born Swiss actress.

Irène Jacob was born in Paris, France, the youngest child after three brothers. She comes from a highly educated and intellectual family, her father is a physicist, her mother a psychologist, and of her brothers, one is a musician and the other two are scientists.

As an infant, she moved with her family to Geneva, Switzerland where she became interested in the arts and made her stage debut at the age of 11. She attended the Geneva Conservatory of Music, earned a degree in languages (she speaks English, German, Italian and French), studied acting in Paris at the prestigious Rue Blanche (the French national drama academy) and at the Dramatic Studio in London, England.

Three years after Jacob's return to Paris, the then 21-year-old drama student obtained her first movie role in the 1987 film Au revoir, les enfants followed by several more minor roles until her big break came when Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski cast her in the lead role of his 1991 motion picture, La Double vie de Véronique. For her performance, Jacob won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

An introvert by nature, Jacob has the remarkable ability to express the emotional turmoil of her characters with very few words. This was very evident when Kieślowski used her again to star alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant in Three Colors: Red, the third part of his highly acclaimed masterpiece, the Three Colours trilogy. The film, and her performance, gained huge international recognition bringing many offers from major American motion-picture studios. Her highest-grossing US picture as of 2004 was U.S. Marshals (released 1997), in which she starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones.

Cupid

According to Roman mythology, Cupid was the son of Mercury, the messenger god, and Venus, the goddess of love. In Roman times, the winged "messenger of love" was sometimes depicted in armor, but no one is sure if that was intended as a sarcastic comment on the similarities between warfare and romance, or a reminder that love conquers all. Cupid was generally seen as a good spirit who brought happiness to all, but his matchmaking could cause mischief. Venus wasn't above using her son's power to get revenge on her rivals, and she once plotted to have the beautiful mortal Psyche fall in love with a despicable man. But the plan backfired: Cupid fell in love with Psyche, and she eventually became his immortal wife.

Billet-Doux

The first recorded use of the French word "billet doux" (literally, "sweet letter") in an English context occurs in John Dryden's 1673 play Marriage a-la-Mode. In the play, Dryden pokes fun at linguistic Francophiles in English society through the comic character Melanthe, who is described by her prospective lover Rodophil as follows: "No lady can be so curious of a new fashion as she is of a new French word; she's the very mint of the nation, and as fast as any bullion comes out of France, coins it immediately into our language." True to form, Melanthe describes Rodophil with the following words: "Let me die, but he's a fine man; he sings and dances en Français, and writes the billets doux to a miracle."

Concinnity

The Romans apparently found perfect harmony in a well-mixed drink. The cocktail in question was a beverage they called "cinnus," and so agreeably concordant did they find it that its name apparently inspired the formation of "concinnare," a verb meaning "to place fitly together." "Concinnare" gave rise to "concinnus," meaning "skillfully put together," which in turn fermented into "concinnitas." English speakers added the word to our mix in the 1500s as "concinnity."

Metadata

It's easy to find data on the source of "metadata": the word was formed by combining "data" with "meta-," which means "transcending" and is often used to describe a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one. "Meta-" was first used in that way in "metaphysics" and has been extended to a number of other disciplines, giving us such words as "metapsychology" and "metamathematics." "Metadata" takes the "transcending" aspect a step further, applying it to the concept of pure information instead of a discipline. "Metadata" is a fairly new word (it first appeared in print in 1983), whereas "data" can be traced back to the middle of the 17th century.

Askance

1 : with a side-glance : obliquely
*2 : with disapproval or distrust : scornfully

Example sentence:
"How demurely the little urchins look at him askance as he surveys them when they are all seated, with a glare of the eye peculiar to beadles!" (Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz)

Did you know?
Etymologists have been scratching their heads over the origin of "askance" for centuries. Sources from Italian and Old Norse, among other languages, have been suggested, but, today, dictionary editors look askance at all of these explanations and simply label the word "origin unknown." What we do know is that the word was first used in English in the mid-16th century with the meaning "sideways" or "with a sideways glance," and that writers over the years have used the suggestion of someone looking askance at something to express a number of feelings from disapproval and distrust to jealousy.

Mediocre

Mediocrity (/ˌmidiˈɒkrɪti/) is a noun; mediocre (/ˌmidiˈoʊkər/) is an adjective, which comes to us successively from ME, from MF, from L mediocris, from medius middle; + OL ocris, mreaning stony mountain; akin to L acer, sharp, more at edge, (ca. 1586)

It means of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance: ordinary, so-so.

ESP

Extra-sensory perception (ESP) refers to the anomalous and ostensible acquisition of information as suggested by such terms as telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition, such as is not wholly explainable by known sensory processes, nor the cognitive processing of prior sensory information.^[1][2] The term implies sources of information currently unexplained by science. Extra-sensory perception is also sometimes referred to as a sixth sense (as in coming after the five senses). The active agent through which the mind is able to receive ESP impressions has been named psi.

Little Johnny

看來『小明』不是台灣人的發明，很多國家都有...

Little Johnny jokes are about a small boy who likes to ask embarrassing questions and has a very straightforward thinking. At times he is well educated in the terminology of sex (then he is known as (Little) dirty Johnny or other unprintable names) while at others he is all too innocent. As mentioned in particular jokes, his full name is Johnny Deeper. He also has a cousin Dirty Ernie.

Joke characters similar to Little Johnny are known across the world:

• Armenia: Vartaník
• Brazil: Joãozinho
• Bulgaria: Ivancho
• China: 小明 (little brightness)

More.

Vademecum

A handbook is a small manual, reference work, or other collection of instructions, intended to provide ready reference. A vade mecum or pocket reference is intended to be carried at all times.

Vademecum, a Latin word that roughly means “to carry along”. In the Middle Ages, traveling clerics carried pocket-sized books, excerpts of the carefully transcribed canons, known as Vademecum. In the 19th century a medical publisher in Germany, Samuel Karger, called a series of portable medical books Vademecum.

Chaos Party

KTV聯誼之後，總是留下雜亂不堪的心情。

又度過一個寂寞的日子。越來越不適合擁有這樣的心情了。儘管當下是很歡樂的，尤其是和一群來自音樂系的女生 (國師，北師，北藝...)，雖然說不同世界，但身為台灣學子總有些有趣的交及。也欣賞了她們的思維模式與歌曲偏好。

散亂的餐具與吃不完的食物，一次又一次地，印證了『狂歡，是一群人的孤單 ; 孤單，是一個人的狂歡』這句〈葉子〉的經典歌詞。

PS. 不要問我：合照圖勒！那是件殘忍的事情。

Parsimonious

English isn't stingy when it comes to synonyms of "parsimonious." "Stingy," "close," "penurious," and "miserly" are a few terms that, like "parsimonious," suggest an unwillingness to share with others. "Stingy" implies a marked lack of generosity, whereas "close" suggests keeping a tight grip on one's money and possessions. "Penurious" implies frugality that gives an appearance of actual poverty, and "miserly" suggests avariciousness and a morbid pleasure in hoarding. "Parsimonious" usually suggests an extreme frugality that borders on stinginess.

HeadWear

The Zub 360 is the latest in multifunctional headwear. It is made of high-tech micro-fiber for ultimate performance. It is designed to provide the best in comfort, wickability, breathability and wind resistance. The micro-fiber technology creates a structure made of many microscopic filaments that provide a layering effect, in cold weather, the breathable material actually expands creating a layer of insulation that maintains body heat while keeping cold wind and air out. For extra protection the user can fold the micro-fiber sleeve to create extra layers for added protection. The Zub 360 has a fleece extension that will keep cold wind from going into your clothes if you use it around your neck. Or provide extra protection for your ears and head. The Zub 360 is a multifunctional product can be used in a wide variety of ways. Because all these and other outstanding features the Zub is perfect for all around protection! Excellent to wear with or without helmet with the comfort of the light, elastic and soft micro-fiber material. The Zub 360 the best head gear for the motorcycle rider!

Einstein-Cartan theory

Einstein–Cartan theory in theoretical physics extends general relativity, to handle spin angular momentum correctly.

As the master theory of classical physics, general relativity has one known flaw: it cannot describe "spin orbit coupling", that is, exchange of intrinsic angular momentum (spin) and orbital angular momentum. There is a qualitative theoretical proof showing that general relativity must be extended to Einstein–Cartan theory when matter with spin is present.

Experimental effects are too small to be observed at the present time.