board77

One of the great things about the internet is that it provides you with a wonderful opportunity to expand your vocabulary.

No, I'm not talking about words like "LOL", and "pwned", and suchlike, although they have their place.

Think back to five years ago. Back then, (in what we shall henceforth refer to as "The Dark Ages") you could not frame a simple, elegant sentence such as "The meeting was going so well until it got osgiliated." No, back then you had to use such convoluted syntax as "The meeting was going so well until it was sidetracked onto a completely irrelevant topic that was so not totally on the agenda".

Aren't you glad those days are gone for good?

Which brings us to Aagragaah.

What is Aagragaah, you ask? Well, let's let Terry Pratchett explain it to you:

Terry Pratchett, in Jingo wrote:

And now some damn rock had risen up out of the sea and everyone was acting as if Klatch had let its dog bark all night.

"Aagragaah," said Detritus, mournfully.

"Don't mind me, just don't spit it on my boot," said Vimes.

"It mean - " Detritus waved a huge hand, "like... dem things, what only comes in..." he paused and looked at his fingers, while his lips moved "... fours. Aagragaah. It mean lit'rally der time when you see dem little pebbles and you jus' know dere's gonna be a great big landslide on toppa you and it already too late to run. Dat moment, dat's aagragaah."

Vime's own lips moved. "Forebodings?"

"Dat's der bunny."

"Where does the word come from?"

Detritus shrugged. "Maybe it named after der soun' you make just as a t'ousand ton of rock hit you."

So, aagragaah is a troll word for "forebodings". (not that there are any trolls on the internet, oh goodness no, the very idea!)

They say that if you practice something for a month it becomes a habit. So, hippo facto, if you use a word every day for a month, it becomes part of your vocabulary permanently!

So, now is the chance to expand your already-impressive vocabulary! Use "aagragaah" whenever you can, not only in this thread, but every time you see the chance in all the other threads! Let aagragaah permeate this board! Here are some examples for practice:

"You know, I already had a sense of aagragaah that this conversation was going to be osgiliated."

"I'm sorry you're feeling such aagragaah at the moment. Here's a "

"As the Demon Lord of Zxqwy and Queen Bison fixed each other with their ovals of opticulence, the aagragaah was so thick that you could cut it with a jeweled scimitar."


The possibilities are endless! Add one more word to your vocabulary and improve yourself! Have at it!

If it is not easy to spell, then forget it. I am all for simplifying the stupid language, not making it harder to understand. And when I say simplify, I do not mean introducing thousands of stupid acronyms that I can no longer keep up with in even trying to figure out.

But, go on ahead and we will forge new ground on, what is it again?

aagragaah




Is that a word that has any sort of PIA root word that I can dissect?

Just messin with ya, Jude. I read my Pratchett so long ago that I barely remember most of it. In other words, it all gets quite muddled up.

So there I was, at work, minding my own business, happily clicking away at my computer. The assistant supervisors were assisting, the supervisors were supervising, the office manager was managing. Our client was far far away, as all clients should be.

Then one assistant supervisor had a stroke. (!) A second had to have a tonsillectomy. (!!) A third gave his 2-week notice (!!!) The client annoyed us by showing up, and then insisted we hire about 18 new people, who all needed 5 weeks of training before they started work(!!!!) My workload virtually doubled overnight. And because of all the assistant supervisors dropping like flies, I had to supervise, instead of doing my own job. Which meant I had less time to do the double work.

AAGRAGAAH!!!

As I sat in my meeting tonight, interviewing our potential interim pastor, my sense of aagragaah grew and grew as they made plans for the future that I knew--but could not say--were going to get blown sky high after Sunday when my friend would make his announcement before the whole church.



(How's that, Jude?)


Lali

Alright, I surrender.

This month's theme of using weird Pratchett terminology when I am so obviously outdated on my current familiarity with it is making me go "Aagragaah."

I dunno Jude. The whole concept of this fills me with aagragaah. You have been warned...

Your warning fills me with aagragaah

I'm sorry, Jude, it sounds too much like "Aragog".

You have aagragaah about spiders? I don't blame you.

I have aagragaah about going back in to work on Saturday. This week has been....awful.

Tuesday, someone didn't show up for the evening shift, and since I was there I got to work from 11AM to 9:30PM.

I had some aagragaah about going in to work yesterday, and it was confirmed when the manager H (The original one {R} just went on maternity leave and such) showed up with a positive pregnancy test. I had to keep the boys away from the office while she calmed down.

And we have a new employee starting today or tomorrow, so there's a LOT of aagragaah about that.

I bet Saturday one of the snakes will get out. Aagragaah indeed.

I have a slight bit of aagragaah about my end of year recital next week, which counts towards 60% of my whole grade for this year. I'd be less aagragaah if I hadn't had a nasty bout of food poisoning over the last couple of days and had been able to practice instead of being chained to the toilet or the sink (or both at the same time... very unpleasant. ) I have a singing lesson tomorrow, so we shall see whether my aagragaah is as inevitable as the word suggests.

I have aagragaah about finishing TAFE. Going from being a student to being in "the workforce" will be a big transition. Incidentally, the children call me "teacher", which was strange as a student.

MariaHobbit, that picture looks like something I should recognize. What is it? What is Aragog?

If you like vocabulary-building, try this: http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/today.jsp

Is the origin of "osgiliate" what I think it is?

Depends on what you think it is.

Aragog is the head of a tribe of spiders in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Years before, he was rescued by Hagrid, who was then framed for murder by the man who later became Lord Voldemort.

What is TAFE?

Then just a simple "what is the origin," please?

Aragog isn't something/someone I know of, then. I don't read Harry Potter; Master Elrond doesn't approve of it.

TAFE is Tertiary And Further Education. I'm studying the Certificate III in Children's Services, and have one week to go after this one.

I have a feeling of aagragaah about my next few exams. They've been far too nice to date...

Estel Dúnadan wrote:

Then just a simple "what is the origin," please?

It would be better if someone who was actually there at the time would explain it...

Hey m00bies! Explain to Estel Dúnadan the origin of the word "osgiliate"!

I believe there is a link somewhere, from when I asked.

Estel Dúnadan, here ya go!

Going to Osgiliath - the 2004 TORC Edition

(the original expression was "to go to Osgiliath", but it later became contracted to a single verb 'to osgiliate" (noun: osgiliation).

My aagragaah about today was well-founded.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Oh, those are great! I want to see some of them put into the Oxford Dictionary! I read to the end of page 8, and now have to go to bed because it's just gone 1am.