corrocamino

...which shall be a rather unusual mot (bon or non), and we shall task ourselves with using said word in a sentence of accurate historical import.

So, to start:

gulosity: excessive appetite, greediness

And you write...

Son of Cathal

Not a word I've heard before and unsure exactly how it would be used but here goes:

Corrocamino has a gulosity for posting on Historum.

Am I then to post another word?

corrocamino

Feel free!

Gile na Gile

http://www.historum.com/showthread.p...498#post285498

(Maybe this'll work better)

porcupacious; (adj) refers to a superficial regime change depicted as a major political upheaval but same central ruling cabal remains in place.

Paulinus

Wonderful choice and thanks for the thread idea Corrocamino. How about: the Major government was a porcupacious rehash of the Thatcher government? Or do we have to find actual historical sentences where the word was used?

I'm not sure if French faux amis (literally false friends, but meaning the same word or expression which has a totally different meaning between two languages) would count but there are many good ones between English and French. For example, sensible in modern English means sensical and pragmatic, whereas in French it means sensitive. You can see the evolution of the sense of the word in earlier English. For example Jane Austin might have written something like "Miss Harding professed to be sensible to Mr Darcy's circumstances" where sensible means aware of, or sensitive to. Any similar faux amis people might care to try? SoC excuse us for jumping in if you've a word you want to put forward too.

corrocamino

Not at all, Paulinus. I'm not the guv-nuh, and your contribution is excellent.

I'll just add that we (some of us) still use insensible to mean "numb"/"insensate"/"unfeeling".

And, no, you needn't dredge up a quote from the past -- just use the word to make a legitimate historical statement or characterization (though I may be insensible to same!)...

corrocamino

Today's word:

woolgathering: indulgence in idle daydreaming

Do please write a sentence to describe an actual historic woolgatherer!

Gile na Gile

No need here to depart from our chosen theme;

Saying 'society does not exist' was the apogee of Thatcherite woolgathering (though maybe it's up to her heirs-presumptive to feel the full backlash of this presumption)

periclomantic: viewing extraneous events solely from the point of view of how they impact one's own country

Panther

Bon is the very unusual one ever!

corrocamino

Washington is insufficiently periclomantic.

Tintinnabulation: the ringing of bells