JB's new words interactive section

^JB^ wrote:

I may hafta (cool word^_^)

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panzade wrote:

^JB^ wrote:
I may hafta (cool word^_^)

:wink:

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Quote:

Scientists have tried many techniques to locate the world's estimated 60 million land mines, from training rats to sniff out explosives to using honeybees to collect chemical samples. As yet, says Reid, "there is no silver bullet."
National Geographic

1. "As yet". I find the meaning of "Yet" varies greatly under different circumstances. What does it mean here?

2. "Silver bullet"??

Thanks. Smile

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^JB^ wrote:

1. "As yet". I find the meaning of "Yet" varies greatly under different circumstances. What does it mean here?

In this case it's a shortened form of "as of yet" or, at this moment

Quote:

2. "Silver bullet"??

Something that acts as a magical weapon or is an instant solution. I always thought it came from the story of The Werewolf who could only be killed by a silver bullet.

http://mysite.verizon.net/pulps.fan/Art-Nocturne/werewolf.jpg

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Seems all the stories of the werewolf is related to the moon.

Where does this kind of practice originate from?

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http://members.tripod.com/alam25/printer/first.htm

One of the sources for the werewolf legend is thought to be an incident in the late 16th century near the city of Cologne. But it starts much earlier in the Greek myth of King Lycos who was condemned by Zeus to spend his life as a wolf. From that we get the scientific name Lycanthrope or werewolf. All part of man's fear of the dark I suppose.

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That's cool Smile

Werewolf, also a cool word :wink:

Quote:

However, he(Oppenheimer) was also known for being too enthusiastic in discussions, sometimes to the point of taking over seminar sessions, a fact that used to irritate a few of Born's pupils.
Wikipedia

take over? Just one person who dominated the whole session?

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Quote:

However, this relationship was nipped in the bud when Pauling began to suspect that the theorist was becoming too close to his wife, Ava Helen

nip? Like pressing the finger upon a bug and crushing it?

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^JB^ wrote:

take over? Just one person who dominated the whole session?

Yes

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^JB^ wrote:

Quote:
However, this relationship was nipped in the bud when Pauling began to suspect that the theorist was becoming too close to his wife, Ava Helen

nip? Like pressing the finger upon a bug and crushing it?

No, more like pressing two fingers together to pluck the beginnings of a flower(the bud)

To stop something at the very start.

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Thanks Panzade Very Happy

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What is a "parking lot"?

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^JB^ wrote:

What is a "parking lot"?

The thing that has replaced all the trees, grass, and wildlife in the USA.

No, really, it's a paved area where you park your car. Around here, it's where you park your pick-up truck. Wal-Marts have a few acres of parking. Shopping malls are surrounded, also, by acres of paved parking lots.

Strip malls have 3 parking spaces for 38 stores (a strip mall is a few small stores/businesses lined up together on the side of a highway, all under one roof).

Parking lots are ugly, but necessary.

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So "lot" here means an area?

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Quote:

It produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over parts of the western USSR, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia.

Plume?

Quote:

The now separate countries of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have been burdened with continuing and substantial costs for decontamination and health care because of the Chernobyl accident.

How to understand substantial here? Enormous?

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^JB^ wrote:

So "lot" here means an area?

specifically a plot of land

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http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02fire/background/plumes/media/fig2_566.jpg

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^JB^ wrote:

Quote:
The now separate countries of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have been burdened with continuing and substantial costs for decontamination and health care because of the Chernobyl accident.

How to understand substantial here? Enormous?

Exactly. Big.

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Thanks Kitten and Panzade Smile

Here are more:

Quote:

The expert's words are being used to halp promote an electronic gizmo that plays the latest CDs-not music, or books on tape. Just odors.

Gizmo?

Quote:

lbs?

Quote:

collagen?

Quote:

epidemiologist?

Is that an expert who deals with epidemics?

Quote:

Our manager at the restaurant where I worked was a much beloved, jovial man. But there was one subject you didn't dare discuss in front of him--his height. Or, should I say, his lack of it. One day, he stormed through the door and announced angrily, "Someone just picked my pocket!"
Most of my fellow waitresses and I were speechless, except for the one who blurted out, "How could anyone stoop so low?"

Why is "Shoud I say"? Not "I should say"? Did he want to enphasize on something?

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Gizmo is a slang word that means a gadget or device.

"lbs" is an abbreviation for pounds, as in weight

Collagen is a protein in the skin and an ingredient in many skin care products.

Epidemiology: a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population

I prefer "should I say" in that context, but either one would be understood.

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JB's new words interactive section

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