Friday, November 7, 2008

WOTD

Word of the Day
Stentorian (adjective)
Pronunciation: [sten-'to-ri-ên]
Definition: Extremely loud or having an extremely loud voice.
Usage: Today's word is almost an orphan, with only an awkward adverb, "stentorianly," in its family and there is nothing to confuse it with.
Suggested Usage: "Stentorian" is used almost exclusively in reference to the human voice, "It is difficult to argue with a stentorian male like Garth, who uses his voice to dominate conversations." Remember, the voice must be unusually loud to qualify for the epithet "stentorian," "Then we heard Berty's stentorian voice above the hubbub of the weekend crowd at the pub: 'I'll 'ave anuvvuh one o' vese, gov!'" (Someone please sign Berty up for the Word of the Day.)
Etymology: The eponym of this commonization is Stentor, the Greek herald in the Trojan War whose voice was as powerful as those of fifty other men according to the Iliad. In the 20's, electrical amplification devices used by music ensembles were sometimes called "stentorphones" and the word remains in the terminology of organ-makers, referring to one of the large tubes in pipe organs. –Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com

This describes that loud mouth who you always hear from the far side of the restaurant. Usually they are talking about something controversial or stupid.

4 comments:

  1. LOL; now I have a name for them :)

    enjoy your weekend :)

    betty

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  2. Yes, with the phone stuck in one ear and the kids that are screaming whilst the partner - without moving a hand or foot - says in a pale, nearly unheard voice, "Don't do that, Sweetheart. Don't do that."

    ;^) Jan the Gryphon
    http://gryph-wotd.blogspot.com/

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  3. Or the guy sitting next to you on the plane talking loudly on his cell phone. ;)

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  4. Thankfully I no longer hear the loud mouths. Great new word to learn though. (Hugs)Indigo

    ReplyDelete