Category Archives: Found Words

New and Interesting Words

Found Words: “Ramen Profitable” also “Sirloin Profitable” and “Ferrari Profitable”

By Ian | July 29, 2009

Paul Graham has a excellent writeup on the term “Ramen Profitable” : “just enough to pay the founders’ living expenses”.
Which leads us to “Sirloin Profitable” and “Ferrari Profitable” as additional milestones in a business, who’s definition should be self evident.
or maybe that should be “Sushi/Lexus Profitable” or “Toro/GT-R Profitable”, to keep it [...]

Also posted in Startup | Leave a comment

Canadian 2008 Word of the Year : Prorogue

By Ian | December 4, 2008

Prorogue :

1. To discontinue a session of a parliament. Prorogations not related to the conduct of an election are unusual.
2. To postpone; defer.
3. To scamper (run) away, with smelly pants, from a scheduled vote of confidence you where going to lose. See Stephen Harper.
4. Parlamentary equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del re mikeknox

“Prorogue” [...]

Also posted in Canada, Canadian Politics | Leave a comment

Words that don’t mean what they say : “In Camera”

By Ian | April 23, 2006

From the Latin “in chambers”, a legal term meaning “in secret”. Ironicaly something “In Camera” is not done with the camera’s on.

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The Richness of Hong Kong, and Cantonese

By Ian | March 26, 2006

In today’s New York Times is a great travel piece about hiking in Hong Kong’s, not something that first comes to mind we someone thinks of Hong Kong, in Green Trails Along a Chinese Frontier, which also introduces Danish Michael Hansen and his website Hansens Hikes for many beautiful images as well a info [...]

Also posted in Hong Kong & China | Leave a comment

Found Words: Spring

By Ian | February 6, 2006

Sping : a spam ping that is a fake or bogus notifications that a blog has been updated; in some cases, these spings can amount to a denial-of-service attack, as coined(does anyone have a earlier usage?) by Technorati CEO David Sifry’s in his February 2006 State of the Blogosphere address, also posted on the technorati [...]

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A tale of Taramissu / Tiramisu

By Ian | October 25, 2005

I miss-spelled Tiramisu, but in doing so became the top link in Google for Taramissu. (french spelling?) Such are the dangers of spelling by search engine!
Also known as Tuscan Trifle or Zuppa Inglese, Tiramisu’ means “pick-me-up” in Italian, the literal translation of “tirami-su” due to the strong espresso coffee.
I was recently introduced (Thanks [...]

Also posted in Food | Leave a comment

Found Words: Boycott

By Ian | September 16, 2005

Boycott : A boycott is a refusal to buy, sell, or otherwise trade with an individual or business who is generally believed by the participants in the boycott to be doing something morally wrong. It may sometimes be labelled as an “embargo” by its proponents.
Ok, I knew this word, but watching Jeopardy I learned something [...]

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Found Words : Splogs

By Ian | August 25, 2005

Splogs : short for blog spam, “automated” blogs that point to other blogs with the goal of driving up search engine results, or as they call it, “search engine optimization” (SEO). Also Blogs which do not add value, and exist for no other reason than making cash from click thur web adversiting [...]

Also posted in Web | 1 Comment

Found Words: ExoCortex

By Ian | July 7, 2005

ExoCortex : From Greek “exō” for outside; and from Latin “cortex” for bark, the cortex is the outermost layer of the brain. My ExoCortex is my Brain outside my Brain. Hardware or Software. Clear? Early examples include 6,620 B.C.E. and 2,700 B.C.E., slide rulers, and HP and TI pocket calculators (see also social [...]

Also posted in Code | 4 Comments

Found Words: Apophenia

By Ian | January 27, 2005

apophenia: the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena. The term was coined by K. Conrad in 1958 (Brugger). Or to take the subtitle of this blog “making connections where none previously existed”. Spotted in The Intimate Planet
Category:Words

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