A melange of mellifluous morphemes

1. Miller - a person who owns or works in a corn mill

2. Milliner - a person who makes or sells women's hats

3. Millionaire - a person whose assets are worth one million pounds or dollars or more

4. Millenarian/Millennialist - a person who believes in millenarianism (ie the doctrine of or belief in a future (and typically imminent) thousand-year age of blessedness, beginning with or culminating in the Second Coming of Christ. It is central to the teaching of groups such as Adventists, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses)

5. Millerite - a person who believed in the specific form of Millenarianism connected with the teachings of William Miller (1782-1849), who in 1833 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844

6. Millennial - a person reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century

7. Militarist - a person who believes that a country should maintain a strong military capability

8. Militant - a person who favours confrontational or violent methods in support of a political or social cause

9. Meliorist - a person who advocates meliorism (ie the belief that the world can be made better by human effort)
10. Melancholic - A person who feels or expresses pensive sadness
[PS Minimalist - a person who advocates or practises minimalism (ie in art, a movement that arose in the 1950s, characterised by the use of simple, massive forms or in music, an avant-garde movement characterised by the repetition of very short phrases which change gradually, producing a hypnotic effect)]

The millenarian miller was militant in his advocacy of Millerite views.
The millionaire milliner was, politically, a militant militarist.
The melancholic millennial was something of a meliorist.

Recent spelling mistakes, etc

I know the idea of correct spelling and such like strikes some people as a rather pedantic. Perhaps it is but my fear is that inattention to such minutiae is symptomatic of a deeper malaise. Here is an example from my recent reading.

The Story of Everything by Jared C Wilson published by Crossway, page 13. Just over halfway down there is a reference to a "stunning climatic scene" in a film. A "stunning climactic scene" surely. See here.

More controversially I was surprised to see in Grace Alone Salvation as a gift of God by Carl Trueman published by Zondervan, page 128, that Luther strived for many years to gain assurance. I would have thought the strong form strove the obvious word to prefer there but I may just be out of sync there.

PS We have plenty of typos on this blog, which I try to correct but these are mistakes (or not mistakes in the case of the second example) not typos.

(I was going to include here Martin Luther Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper published by Bodley Head, page 346 . At the beginning of the section on Anabaptists comes a reference to "ideas of millenarian violence". I thought it should be millennarian (as in Millennialism) but apparently not.

10 Seaside Words

1. Port
2. Harbour
3. Haven
4. Dock
5. Wharf
6. Quay
7. Mooring
8. Anchorage
9. Waterfront
10. Slipway

Banksman

I saw this sign in Regents park today. It uses a word I did not know - banksman. Wikipedia explains it thus - In British civil engineering, a banksman is the person who directs the operation of a crane or larger vehicle from the point near where loads are attached and detached.

The great writer, the great artist, the cleanser and renewer

"It is the Holy Spirit in particular who brings the change about. ‘No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 12:3). He is the great writer, the great artist, the cleanser and renewer of hearts. It is the Spirit of the living God who writes, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts to reveal believers as a letter from Christ. The transforming art of changing people into Christ’s likeness with ever-increasing glory so that they reflect his glory comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. He is the one who brings about the new birth itself (2 Corinthians 3:8, 18; Titus 3:5-6)."

From my book What the Bible teaches about being born again, p 94

10 negative adjectives beginning with V

1. Vain
2. Vile
3. Viperous
4. Vicious
5. Violent
6. Villainous
7. Vituperous
8. Venomous
9. Vindictive
10. Vengeful

10 defeat words beginning with V

1. Vulnerable
2. Victimised
3. Vexed
4. Vitiated
5. Vicissitudinated
6. Violated 
7. Vanquished
8. Vandalised
9. Vaporised
10. Vermiculated (in the old sense of worm eaten)

Burmese Days Glossary 4

1. Shok de  Untrustworthy  (Burmese)

2. Thugyi  Headman  (Burmese)

3. Ingyi  Long sleeved shirt  (Burmese)

4. Jaldi  Quick, fast  (Indian)  Chapter 23: "To the station, jaldi!"

5. Wallah  (in combination) person in charge of or employed at a particular thing (e.g. book-wallah)    Chapter 23: "grass-wallahs"

6. Min Gyi  Term of respect (Burmese)  Chapter 22: "We have no quarrel with you, min gyi", Burmese man to Mr Macgregor 

7. Puttee  Bandage for a covering for the lower part of the leg from the ankle to the knee  (Indian)  Chapter 22: "Their pagris were gone and their puttees were trailing yards behinds them, but they had no damage worse than bruises."

8. Pagri  Cloth worn wrapped around the head or headdress Chapter 22: "It was the Military Police subahdar, a Rajput, very fat, moustachioed, with his pagri gone.";

9. Subahdar  Indian officer of a company of sepoy

10. Rajput  Highly dominant and renowned royal warrior caste

Burmese Days Glossary 3

1. Thakin Master (Burmese). Eg Chapter 9: "She turned a face full of fury and despair towards Flory, screaming over and over, 'Thakin! Thakin! Thakin! Thakin! Thakin!' 

2. Salaam  A very low bow; literally "peace"  (Arabic)

3. Maidan  An open space in or near a town

4. Pariah  Very low caste; outcast

5. Memsahib European woman spoken to or of by Indians

6. Kit-kit  Nagging (Indian) Eg Chapter 9: "But I would sooner serve ten years under Colonel Wimpole sahib than a week under a memsahib with her kit-kit."

7. Tuktoo  Lizard Chapter 4: "A tuktoo clung to the wall, flat and motionless like a heraldic dragon."

8. Paso Burmese item of clothing. Eg  Chapter 25: "There were Burmese officials in blazing Mandalay pasos, and Indians in cloth-of-gold pagris, and British officers in full-dress uniform ..."

9. Durbar  Ceremonial court assembly full of pomp and circumstance 

10. Sowar  Private soldier of the Indian cavalry  (Indian)  

Burmese Days Glossary 2

1. Chokra Young man, boy "The invisible chokra who pulled the punkah rope outside was falling asleep in the glare."

2. Eheu! fugaces labuntur anni Alas! our fleeting years pass away (Latin) "Ah well, eheu fugaces! Those days are gone for ever, I am afraid."

3. Havildar British Indian Army rank equivalent to Sergeant, next above Naik (Indian)

4. Bo-kadaw A white man's wife (Burmese)
5. Machan  A safety platform in a tree used when hunting big animals such as tigers and leopards Indian)

6. Catlap Milk or weak tea, "only fit for the cat to lap" (English)

7. Dudh Milk? (Indian)

8. Talab Payment; wages? (Burmese?) "...wail something about his 'talab', which was eighteen rupees a month."

9. Civis Romanus sum I am a Roman citizen (Latin) "Good gracious, no one would believe anything against ME. Civis Romanus sum. I'm an Englishman - quite above suspicion."

10. Durwan A live-in doorkeeper (Indian)

(Also Pax Britannica The British Peace (Latin); Pukka Genuine; authentic (Indian) B.F. Bloody Fool? (English) "With the curious air of spite that some men can put into their tiniest action, he re-pinned the notice on the board and pencilled a tiny, neat 'B. F.' against Mr Macgregor's signature.")

Burmese Days Glossary 1

I'm currently reading George Orwell's Burmese Days. He uses quite a few unfamiliar terms. Here are a number from Chapter 1

1. Dak Bungalow - A traveller's rest-house (for a postal service)

2. Topi - A light-weight hat

3. Sahib European man spoken to or of by Indians

4. Burra Great, used as title of respect; e.g. Burra sahib: important official, manager, chief. (Indian)

5. Pwe Burmese dance (Burmese)

6. Punkah Large fan consisting suspended from the ceiling

7. Longyi/Longyi Coolie  Sheet of cloth worn around the waist/Unskilled labourer (Burmese)

8. Dah Large knife with curved blade?

9. Sepoy Private soldier of the Indian infantry

10. Mali Gardener

(Also Rickshaw Two-wheeled cart for one passenger; pulled by one person; Dacoit Armed robber)

10 Italian musical terms

1. Calando (getting softer, dying away)
2. Giocoso (playful, humorous)
3. Incalzando (getting quicker)
4. Legato (smoothly)
5. Ostinato (persistent)
6. Rallentando (gradually getting slower)
7. Rubato (with some freedom of time)
8. Sforzando (forced, accented)
9. Stringendo (gradually getting faster)
10. Volti subito (turn the page at once)

Purfle, purfling

1. To finish with an ornamental border.

2. to decorate (a shrine or tabernacle) with architectural forms in miniature. noun

3. Also called purfling. an ornamental border, as the inlaid border near the outer edge of the table and back of a stringed instrument.

Crumpets or Pikelets

Crumpets for tea is a treat I reckon. My mother always called them pikelets.

Crumpets are griddle cakes made from flour and yeast and are apparently an Anglo-Saxon invention. There is a Middle English reference to them in Wycliffe (1382). He mentions the "crompid cake". Early crumpets were hard pancakes cooked on a griddle without yeast, rather than the soft and spongy crumpets of the Victorian era and beyond.

The term itself may refer to a crumpled or curled-up cake, or be Celtic with links to the Breton, Cornish and Welsh words meaning a "thin, flat cake" (in Welsh crempog) a type of pancake.

In Britain crumpets are generally circular, roughly 8 centimetres (3 in) in diameter and 2 centimetres (3⁄4 in) thick. Their shape comes from being restrained in the pan/griddle by a shallow ring. They have a characteristic flat top with many small pores and a chewy and spongy texture. They may be cooked until ready to eat warm from the pan but are frequently left slightly undercooked so that they may be cooled and stored before being eaten freshly toasted. They are often eaten with a knob of butter (the only way as far as I am concerned) or an alternative, such as jam, honey, Marmite, etc.

A regional variation of the crumpet is the pikelet, whose name derives from the Welsh bara piglydd or "pitchy [i.e. dark or sticky] bread", later shortened simply to piglydd; the early 17th century lexicographer, Randle Cotgrave, spoke of "our Welsh barrapycleds". The word spread initially to the West Midlands, where it became anglicised as "pikelet" and subsequently to Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other areas of the north. The main distinguishing feature of the Welsh or West Midlands pikelet is that it contains no yeast as a raising agent, and was traditionally cooked without a ring, making it rather flatter or thinner than a crumpet.

American English