Micawber – An incurable optimist: from Dickens’s Mr. Wilkins Micawber (David Copperfield). Notwithstanding his ill success at “bubble schemes”, Micawber felt certain that something would “turn up” to change his fortunes. After failing in every adventure, he eventually migrates to Australia, where he becomes a magistrate.
Lesbian is derived from the name of the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 6th-century BCE poet Sappho.From various ancient writings, historians have gathered that a group of young women were left in Sappho’s charge for their instruction or cultural edification.Sappho’s poetry reflect women’s daily lives, their relationships, and rituals. She focused on the [...]
Schadenfreude – From the German, Schaden (damage), and Freude (joy), it means the enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others. It is the easiest, and often the most fulfilling, enjoyment available. From the laughs generated by the clown slipping on the banana peel to the guilty viewing of “Cops” and other ‘caught on tape’ shows, [...]
Son of a gun. This familiar designation implying contempt but now used with jocular familiarity derives from the days when women were allowed to live on naval ships. The “son of a gun” was one born in the ship, often near the midship gun, behind a canvas screen. If paternity was uncertain the child was [...]
Sensex or Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index is a value-weighted index composed of 30 stocks started in 01 of Jan, 1986. It consists of the 30 largest and most actively traded stocks, representative of various sectors, on the Bombay Stock Exchange. These companies account for around one-fifth of the market capitalization of the BSE. The [...]
Fiscal Deficit – When a government’s total expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates (excluding money from borrowings). Deficit differs from debt, which is an accumulation of yearly deficits. A fiscal deficit is regarded by some as a positive economic event. For example, economist John Maynard Keynes believed that deficits help countries climb out of [...]
Aphasia is a language disorder in which there is an impairment (but not loss) of speech and of comprehension of speech. Depending on the area and extent of the damage, someone suffering from aphasia may be able to speak but not write, or vice versa, or display any of a wide variety of other deficiencies [...]
Wiccans, as followers of Wicca are now commonly known, typically worship a God (the Horned God) and a Goddess (the Triple Goddess), who are sometimes represented as being a part of a greater pantheistic Godhead, and as manifesting themselves as various polytheistic deities. Other characteristics of Wicca include the ritual use of magic, a basic [...]
Word (n): Any sound or combination of sounds (or its written or printed symbol customarily shown with a space on either side but none within it) forming meaningful element of speech, conveying an idea or alternative ideas, and capable of serving as a member of, the whole of, or a substitute for, a sentence