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| Thread ID: 33941 | 2003-05-30 07:59:00 | WFTWE #52....Spatilomancy......When insight or intuition fails you..... | Billy T (70) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 148624 | 2003-06-02 01:08:00 | No, I didn't find 52 JM, I think I found 40-odd and started from there with the first numbered version being #41. The earliest true WFTWE may have been June 28 2002, and you are definitely right in one respect, the Candy posts were all wiped so any earlier ones my search found must have been from the old F1 archive. I counted original posts of individual words, i.e. my initial post only. One day when I have a spare week to waste :^O I'll do another countback just to satisfy my own curiosity. Cheers Billy 8-{) [pre][b]OT trivia to while away a holiday morning :D |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 148625 | 2003-06-02 04:48:00 | Just for you, Billy. ;-) :x > The earliest true WFTWE may have been June 28 2002 That would depend on how pedantic you are. We had "Word for the Day" in Candy which became Word for the Weekend once the new forum went live. I saved three of the WFTD/NWFTD (Word for the Day and New Word for the Day) threads from Candy and the earliest one I have was posted on June 14: "Pulchritudinous". There were bound to have been more though. > No doubt either IDG or Susan or someone will know the exact date. It's touching the amount of faith you have in me, JM. Couldn't possibly let you down, could I? :-) Candy went live on 21 June 2002. Check that with Mike and he will be able to confirm it, being a date he is likely to never forget. ;-) |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 148626 | 2003-06-02 06:01:00 | Thank you Sis :x I just knew you would come through for me . With that information I reckon my count is bang on . :D I did a couple of WFTDs, and as you remind me, WFTWE was born when the Forum went live . Pulchritudinous on 21 June 2002 was followed by rebarbative on 28 June, and exactly 50 weeks later we got to last Friday . That plus two WFTDs equals #52 . Cheers Billy 8-{) :) [pre][b]We never did see the Candy T-Shirts did we . ?:| :( Guess its no use complaining, the fun was free . :D :D |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 148627 | 2003-06-05 23:33:00 | One of a galaxy of divination words: we have touched on a couple in previous WFTWEs. We had cepahlanomancy "divination by boiling the head of an ass", and we also raised "omphaloskepsis" - contemplation of one's own (or I suppose, anyone else's) navel. If you're really stuck for inspiration, omphaloskepsis may become omphalomancy - divination from the shape of a navel, or, specifically, according to dictionary.com "Divination by means of a child's navel, to learn how many children the mother may have." But I am stuck on a whole genus of words where the term for the activity is not recorded, only the person who does it. Someone who divines from the flight of birds is called an auspex (hence "auspicious" - fortunate) but what is the activity itself called? Auspacy? auspecy? Dictionary.com draws a blank on both words, and I don't have a physical dictionary to hand. Can anyone help? "Auspice", possibly - though that may be a condiment used in an antipodean curry :-) "Haruspice" (?) divination from the shape of the internal organs of a slaughtered animal; the classic "examining the entrails" thing. A haruspex is a person wot does it, anyway. Or, very generally "sortilege" - divination done by "drawing lots" - by operating any random selection process: dice, the I Ching, the "lucky eight-ball" etc. Whence that curious Biblical pair the Urim and Thummim. No-one seems to know what these were (spinning tops or black and white stones have been suggested), but they were apparently used to indicate the will of God. And, and absolute trivium to finish on: the Hebrew phrase "Urim ve Thummim" (Urim and Thummim) is wriiten across the books pictured on the coat of arms of Yale University. Kinda gives you confidence in their research, doesn't it? Argus |
argus (366) | ||
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