Oh shit I wish I'd known before now, Oh shit that you were such a cow

[venta]

Today's word from The Calendar:

vitulation

Which means:

"a rejoicing like a calf"

(from Henry Cockeram's Interpreter of Hard English Words, 1623. It's apparently derived from the Latin, vitulinus, meaning of or belonging to a calf.)

So there you go. Vitulation. Use it three times in conversation today, and once in your LJ.

I'm impressed. As a word, it's so unlikely that even I'm not sure I can think of a conceivable use for it.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

"You've finished your thesis ? Will you be vitulating now, sir ?"

Out of interest, I went to see if dictionary.com knew "vitulate", and it didn't, but I found this:

vir·gu·late
adj.
Shaped like a small rod.

Now. What I don't understand: how can something be shaped like a small rod, and not actually be a small rod ?

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

/

[venta.livejournal.com]

More a picture-of-a than a shaped-like, but I see what you mean.

But really, would anyone actually need to say "shaped like a small rod" ?

Not that I'm suggesting the word shouldn't exist, of course. Just I'm rather surprised it ever came into being long enough and usefully enough to make it into the dictionary.

[broadmeadow.livejournal.com]

> But really, would anyone actually need to say "shaped like a small rod" ?

I think that would be a blokes thing. Locker room banter.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I see. And the word virgulate gets used a lot in such conversations, does it ?

:)

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

how can something be shaped like a small rod, and not actually be a small rod ?

Also, how do small rods differ in shape from large rods? What's the word for "shaped like a medium-sized rod"?

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

how can something be shaped like a small rod, and not actually be a small rod ?

Breadsticks, for example, are virgulate ! (And breadsticks rate highly in my life of late, due to their capacity to silence angry hippoes !)

[venta.livejournal.com]

No, breadsticks *are* rods. They're just rods made of bread.

I think.