I made a vow to myself upon arriving here at DK4... No more fluffing over words whose definitions I didn't know. Look 'em up Nannyboz. No ma'am, it is not good enough to sort of assume you kinda sorta get what that means. Look that sucker up!
You guys are wearing me and my Webster's New World College Dictionary into dust.
Oh, btw, it's the "fourth edition". Who, I wonder, survived the previous three?
In just the last few days I have looked up:
Entropy: 1. a thermodynamic measure of the amount of energy unavailable for useful work in a system undergoing change. 2. a measure of the degree of disorder in a substance or a system: entropy always increases and available energy diminishes in a closed system, as the universe. 3. in information theory, a measure of the information content of a message evaluated as to its uncertainty. 4. a process of degeneration marked variously by increasing degrees of uncertainty, disorder, fragmentation,chaos, etc. specif. such a process regarded as the inevitable, terminal stage in the life of a social system or structure. H/T to facethemusic.
Oligarchy: 1. a form of government in which the ruling power belongs to a few persons. 2. a state governed this way. 3. the persons ruling such a state.
Hegemony: to lead, go on ahead. Leadership or dominance, esp. that of one state or nation over others.
Eschatology: 1. the branch of theology dealing with last things, such as death, immortality, resurrection, judgement, and the end of the world. 2. the doctrines concerning these.
Badoop: 1. Weatherdude's word for "there ya go, there it is". 2. Weatherdude speak for "there ya have it".
This beautifully written science diary that I have no idea about and don't even know how to look up, at all. I do appreciate how totally scientifically challenged I am and thank Ceiling Cat someone understands this stuff.
Hard Rock: 1. loud, fast, blues-based rock music with driving, regular rhythms. Sigh.. why was this in a diary about uranium mining?
Conflated: Combined or mixed (two variant readings combined into a single text).
February Song: Piano recording by our fearless leader, nicely done, I might add.
What are people writing that you don't understand? C'mon, I'm not the only dumb bunny out there, share!
I told the science person that he/she was wearing out my dictionary. But it was getting worn out before that diary.