Yogee

Today, Blake played "yogee" in Words with Friends. As I did a few days ago, I looked up this "word" in the dictionary but it wasn't in there! So I asked Blake what it meant and he said it was in the urban dictionary and he thinks its a term for a white guy who raps. According to urbandictionary.com, the definition of yogee is: "White kids who act like they are black gangster rappers. Less offense form of wigger." Hahaha. I guess I need to start using the urban dictionary or more slang words in Words with Friends...either that or Blake can start using real words!


My next question is, how on earth does Blake know that term?


What I Learned: I learned what "yogee" means, as well as the fact that Blake apparently has a wide vocabulary of slang words that are accepted in Words with Friends.

Fer

Today in Words with Friends, Blake played the word "fer." I had never heard of this word before and was wondering what it meant, so I looked it up, only to find out that it's just the slang/informal term for "for." What?! Here I thought Blake was using a word I didn't know and lo and behold, it's just another word that's been added to the dictionary due to improper pronunciation by enough people. Lame.

What I Learned: "Fer" is apparently an accepted form of the word "for" now.

Sublime

Tonight we were playing a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit for my mom's birthday and the question was thus: What happens to a solid when it sublimes?

I have never heard this term before. I mean, I have heard of the word sublime, of course, but always as a noun or adjective, but not in this context (as a verb). So I was surprised to hear the answer: that it turns into a gas. Upon further research I found that the exact definition states that not only does the solid turn to gas upon heating without ever liquefying, but it also implies that it then turns back into a solid upon cooling. How have I never heard this before? Then I remember who I had for a chemistry teacher in 10th grade and am no longer surprised.

What I learned: When a solid sublimes, it turns into a gas when heated and turns back into a solid when cooled.

Ephod

I was doing my daily Bible reading today (in Exodus) and I came across the term ephod a number of times. I don't know if it's because I was tired or not reading carefully, but I couldn't grasp from the reading what exactly an ephod was or what it looked like, other than the fact that it was an article of clothing worn by the priests. So I looked it up here. It most likely looked something like this:

What I learned: That an ephod is like a priestly apron.

Proletariat

I started to read the Communist Manifesto while here in North Carolina since I finished the other book I brought. Now this might make me sound stupid but I had never really known what proletariat meant. Let me clarify-I might have known at one time but have forgotten and always assumed it had a complicated meaning and never bothered to look it up because I thought I would just forget the meaning anyway if it was long and involved. So I never have. But because I was going to read the Communist Manifesto, I figured now would be the time to look it up so that I would understand what I was reading. So I looked it up and it means: The working class. That’s pretty much it. Really? Man, I feel stupid now that I never bothered before. I mean, there can be more specifics, like usually it refers to workers who do manual labor or who work in industry as opposed to other areas of work. And it can also be even more specific than that and can refer to the absolute poorest class and/or people that don’t own any property and have to sell their labor to survive. But more or less, it just means working class. From now on, I guess I’ll always look up words that I’m not quite sure of the meaning.

What I learned: Proletariat refers simply to the working class.

Qi

My grandparents seem to know every two letter word in the English language thanks to their addiction to playing games like Upwords. When playing Quiddler with them once, my grandmother used the word "qi" which of course we all confidently challenged, sure that this was not a word. So we looked it up and sure enough it wasn't in the dictionary. "Well, it's in the scrabble dictionary!" So we asked her what it meant.  Now, not to make my grandma seem unintelligent, because not only is this not true but she usually knows the meanings of every word she plays. In this case unfortunately, she did not remember what qi meant.  I remember thinking that I should look it up and find out...

...a few years later, I'm playing Words with Friends on my phone and often play "qi" as a word when I get the letter Q with no U. It's a very useful word to play. But I realized that I still don't know what it means. So I looked it up. The word is not in any of the three dictionaries we have at home (merriam webster, oxford, or american). According to dictionary.com, it's a noun meaning Ch'i. That word is also not in any of the three dictionaries we own. But again, according to dictionary.com it means: one of two dynasties that ruled in China a.d. 479–502 and, as the Northern Ch'i, a.d. 550–77. In other words, it's another term for a proper noun, so how is this word allowed in scrabble?  I can't believe after all this time that it has such a boring definition and is like a slang term for an illegal word.  I am so disappointed.


What I learned: I learned what the word qi means.