[BITList] I bet that you didn't know this one!

[John Feltham]

G'day folks,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.




Begin forwarded message:

From: "Wordsmith" <wsmith at wordsmith.org>
Date: 24 April 2009 2:18:32 PM
To: wulguru.wantok at Gmail.com
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--borborygmus

  Wordsmith.org	The Magic of Words

This week's theme
There is a word for it

This week's words
perendinate
moirologist
prosopagnosia
xanthodontous
borborygmus

Next week's theme
Words for him and her

Roll the dice
Get a random word from
A.Word.A.Day archives
  Discuss
  Feedback
  RSS/XML
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

borborygmus


PRONUNCIATION:
(bor-buh-RIG-muhs)

MEANING:
noun: A rumbling noise caused by the movement of gas through the  
intestines.

ETYMOLOGY:
 From Greek borborygmos (intestinal rumbling), an onomatopoeiac word  
to describe the sound.

NOTES:
Borborygmi are usually harmless, they are simply a result of gas  
movement around the stomach. And the rumbling sound doesn't mean one  
is hungry either. We can't really do anything about the sound of a  
stomach growling, but we can take comfort in the fact that at least we  
know a fancy word to describe it.

USAGE:
"And the piece de resistance:
'He was woken early by borborygmus as his insides fermented and his  
intestines ballooned with gas beyond their capacity.'"
Ruth Dudley Edwards; Book Review / Straying Into A Dark, Ugly And Sick  
World; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 21, 1994.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is  
perilous. -Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

Sponsored by:

Try the Visual Thesaurus!
See a map of your word in the Visual Thesaurus. 145,000 words. Audio.

What is Scrabble missing?
Tens of thousands of words all playable in WildWords. See how.

Unsubscribe | Subscribe | Update address | Gift subscription | Contact  
us

© 2009 Wordsmith.org

ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20090424/1aaf7855/attachment.shtml