Sisyphean

Those darn Sisyphean tasks!!!

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506 Responses to Sisyphean

  6. leoNard says:
    January 11, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Exploitation. Builders push rocks. My ass too. :cool:

  7. lividemerald says:
    August 14, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    I always thought Sisyphus was a dung beetle.

  8. lividemerald says:
    August 14, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    Keeping up with comments here is a sisyphean task.

  9. doothemad says:
    July 20, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    Indeed I’ve had a sisyphean task. I worked on radar in the navy and keeping it functioning was always a game of one step forward and zero to three steps back. Another good video. How about the origin of dregs, scum, or villany. Thanks.

  10. bbowen says:
    July 19, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    I was wondering where tittyfucking came from?

  11. ukrfriend says:
    July 19, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    What is the origin of the word sin?

  12. Raymond Borowiak says:
    July 19, 2008 at 8:47 am

    I agree with prospero811. This matrix borg life is sisyphean, resistance is futile.

    73 and 88
    N8ZU

  13. tiger13cd says:
    July 18, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    yea its called a relationship. you get so close, only for it to bad again…

  14. protac6 says:
    July 18, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    How come this is under the Interviews section :?:

  15. afanti1 says:
    July 18, 2008 at 9:42 pm

    everyting is sisyphean when you lose your heart .

  16. shawnmnorris says:
    July 18, 2008 at 11:14 am

    I have a sisyphean task every day trying to do everything that my mom and my aunt want me to do – the works! :!:

    Marina, I’d like to know also how shirk and shark are akin, would you please do a video on them so I can know, because dictionary.com doesn’t have an answer as to how they’re obscurely related to each other.

    Thanks!
    -Shawn :smile:

  17. juancarlosjones says:
    July 18, 2008 at 7:32 am

    I am a framing contractor and it seems that with the custom houses it is a sisyphean task to get the house completed. There are always tons of changes at the end and the home owner just can’t leave things alone. What do they pay the architect for? I especially like the 8×10 hand drawn porch detail.

  18. ghost222 says:
    July 18, 2008 at 7:25 am

    :!: :?: :neutral: :arrow: :twisted: :idea: :oops: :roll: muy bueno por q dice las cosas como son :mrgreen: :razz:

  19. Prospero says:
    July 18, 2008 at 5:45 am

    My life feels like a sisyphean task! Aaaaarrgh!

    Well, thank God it’s Friday!

  20. matalexwolf says:
    July 18, 2008 at 5:13 am

    :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:
    Thank you M, never new about this word before……

    Sisyphean life M !!!!!!! Seem-idly 95% of the task done then, as you say, back we go to the start, over and over and over and over and over and over again and again and again……….after a few swift Ales, a re-cap on self, a good meal, plenty of walks and sleep, it’s Next! Keep trying i guess. One day M, i WILL get there, one day…..

    Take now for instance. You are thinking about a car over the rent, well, im either going to keep Duko (new found dog), home, wheels and possible new contract or I could be buskin’ the streets pitching a tent some place…..AAAAHHHHHHGGGGGGG……exhausting at times but NEVER stop!

    At Josephs 7th B-day party yesterday, we all went Bowling, he beat everyone, then reminded us of it, alot, quite ofton……. however, all the wee lil gals ‘N guys were finding the task a challenge, lifting those heavy balls followed with a very sloooow bowl down to the pins. After a few attempts all were hitting strikes becoming most competitive. So there Sisyphean missons were completed.
    Sadly, there is always one who ruins it for everyone by being the ball trying to be clever in causing mayhem as the machine stopped with yours truly stuck under the pins. :grin: Wasnt allowed to play for the remainder so had to declare a void. TUT! It was worth the laughter with the looks on their happy faces 100% :lol: :roll:

    Anyhoo, got my boots back on so best get busy with it. Keep on rocking M, you make the best music in the world :wink:

    143, as always….
    Be…., you :smile:

    :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

  21. pe says:
    July 18, 2008 at 1:42 am

    This is a word that actually dl.tv podcasters (Robert Heron) wants to know the origin and made the request for viewers to let him know. So I am sort of requesting for them. The word is “Fanboy” Thanks Marina

  22. gayle1661 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 11:24 pm

    I was wondering about a word actually, not one word… 2 words, since when did the words Yours truly (usually written in a letter) come to refer to the person whom is writing it?

  23. Sub-][con says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    “HECK” where does this word come from? and why do we use it as slang for “Hell”? my last name is Heck and from my understanding its German.

  25. danjf says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    I saw you asked us to resquest words in one of your videos, so where does the word request come from?

  26. vaximore says:
    July 17, 2008 at 8:54 pm

    Well im not exactly sure if this would be appropriate but I saw the balls to the walls video so it couldnt be much worse..

    Im curious of the origin of the word: Masturbation

    Its a really strange word and it would be kinda cool to know where it came from.

  27. tedt says:
    July 17, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    Hum, just a background question.

    As people say there is no god, there were none and there won´t be any, how it came to the story of Sisyphus, who made this story, and why, what reason or idea stands behind it ?
    He/she just wanted to tell us that we have to keep on doing no matter how hard it gets, or was it a treatment for people ?

    Any proposals ?
    (I just ask because I want to know what people belived in the past, and what they lived for——-> What they belived when someone told them a story or “vision”, however you will call it. It formed what we have now, that´s why I want to know it)

  28. sabre120 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    I just realised you’ve already done nightmare, I haven’t seen that one. sorry :smile:

  29. sabre120 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    I indeed have had a sisyphean task. I was once working On a car with my dad and it seemed ok at the start, we listed what would need restoration as so on and began. Though as we went on we found more and more problems which would set us back. after replacing many part on the engine, a vital piece was still found to be faulty meaning we had to dismantle the engine again…it was a nightmare…actually thats a point. Whats the origin of the word nightmare? thanks Marina =)

  30. colorpencils says:
    July 17, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    How about the word restroom?
    We don’t really rest in there, its just a place for you to do your “business”.

  31. protac6 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    Hi Marina and everyone :grin:

  32. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Miss M. I just got this again. All I was doing was hitting reload to refresh the program waiting for the new video.
    &�iw8�

    • CheVolay says:
      July 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm

      It’s Jack hacking you Tee hee :smile: :grin:

    • HotForWords says:
      July 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm

      Could you email me the code.. as it looks like nothing to me when you make it a comment.

      • pedanticKarl says:
        July 17, 2008 at 5:42 pm

        Marina & capman911,
        Capman, the characters issue in your browser is a browser encoding problem and the source of the problem can be anywhere along the line from the hosting site, network packets dropped, your OS settings & changes, and on it goes.
        ref: encoding issues UTF-8 versus ISO-8859
        The HFW site pages uses a metatag encoding of UTF-8.

        Here is a URL that discusses the issue, but it still may not resolve specifically yours.
        http://www.ccs.uottawa.ca/webmaster/templates/faq/weird-characters.html

        If you still need help capman, I’ll help you off-line. Send me a message at YT where the username is the same as mine here..

      • pedanticKarl says:
        July 17, 2008 at 7:41 pm

        Marina & capman,
        Another quick note. The original code for the search box in the upper right of the page was originally coded for ISO-8859-1, where the page is coded for UTF-8. That search box code is now commented out, so this is a non issue for normal operation.

        However, since capman was doing page refreshes, it is possible that he disrupted the normal flow and caused a perturbation in the browser rendering. This is especially noticeable on slower PCs, / slow DSL connections. Therefore, cached page corruptions can affect normal viewing until cache is cleared and sometimes also cookies.

      • Captain Jack says:
        July 17, 2008 at 10:13 pm

        pedantickarl, That was my thinking also when he was refreshing quickly but I wasn’t sure if that was the case or not. I think your right on thinking that it was cached page corruptions from slower connections. I’ve see this before with 56k connections. I didn’t think I was still possible to get such corruptions with DSL speeds.
        Thanks for the info Pedantickarl.

    • Captain Jack says:
      July 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm

      Looks like there was an error in the code. I think we are looking at raw data. I think its just a bug in the browser. Just try refresh again.

      • Capman911 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 5:03 pm

        Thats what I was doing when it put up the code was refreshing.

      • pedanticKarl says:
        July 17, 2008 at 11:00 pm

        Thanks for the comment up above Captn. Also welcome back from your modem mishap.

        Normally, if it was a browser mis-config, the characters would look differently. The broad definition of a slow Win PC can also imply many things including HD not defragged, spyware infections, corrupted files and so on.

        The host (i.e http server, page coding) can also be an issue occasionally, especially when it comes to unicode and PHP programming. Capman’s issue and I think James’ may have occured when the voting thumbs were invoked, and then later revoked. People who were online at that time may have then seen the char issues.

        By the way, I loved your photo album and also the website & map of your surroundings. Great stuff.

      • Captain Jack says:
        July 17, 2008 at 11:36 pm

        I saw it was many characters so I didn’t think it would have been encoding issue. Some time new plugins can affect php files if not properly written. There are lots of spaghetti programmers out there if you know what I mean. Thanks for the lesson. I’ve fallen behind the times because Im doing maritime work now. I might have to call on you sometime if I run into a problem that I can’t find a solution to.

        Glad you like the photos. That was just a small sample of the city I’m living at. I like the town but I have not close friends here. Gets a bit lonely living in a town you don’t have good/smart friends to chat with.

        @ HFW users, The photo album that pedantickarl was talking about is here: My photos of Kirkland, Wa and other things. Oh and my buddies on the “Time Bandit”. What a hoot that party was. I should have taken more photos. I was a bit… well intoxicated! :oops:

    • CheVolay says:
      July 17, 2008 at 5:05 pm

      That half of page of jiberrish is now gone

    • pedanticKarl says:
      July 17, 2008 at 7:44 pm

      Capman, I just added some more info to Marina’s comment below.

  33. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    I am Jack three tabs to be exact :wink:

  34. burnedtubes says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    The word Existential

    Have a nice day Prof. Marina

  35. retlaw0001 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Dear Hot for words,
    I’d like to know the origin of the phrase “with baited breath”
    Thanks
    Retlaw0001

  37. Captain Jack says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    Oh new video is up……. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

  38. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    Its #24 on YT!! New vid coming soon then

  39. mintymax says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    How bout ‘shampoo’? Its a funny word!

  40. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Signing out now.. watch new vid tomorrow whatever it may be Interestingdf

  41. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    New idea for a video.. Me singing shut up and let me go.. but instead calling it shut up and let me vogue.

  42. catsarefreaks says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Duh, I meant like where “IT” came from.

  43. catsarefreaks says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    I have long wondered why we use the word sandwich and where is came from. Thanks Catsarefreaks in AR

  44. school_dean_hot4.u says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    Sisyphean=dog knot=wild radish=genus Raphanus – radish=wild radish

  45. Bob says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Hey! Where did all the thumbs go?
    Come on guys, you’re all too old, take your thumbs out of your mouths.

    • Capman911 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 3:09 pm

      I don’t know, I switched to three different browsers thinking something was wrong with each one. I glad I am not the only one to see this. :???:

    • Captain Jack says:
      July 17, 2008 at 4:01 pm

      Well I have to suckle on something. Make me feel secure. Where’s my blanky! Waaawww. I want my blanky…

      Hey, I notice the blog is loading faster. I wonder if the plugin was the cause of it? I don’t think it would be. Because its on Marina’s server side and not some remote site.

  46. Captain Jack says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    How Good Is Your Vocabulary?

    I found this link in my Gmail bar. Enjoy….

  47. commoncunninglinguist says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    Hey capman, you been going to Bikes, Blues and BBQ regularly? Did you hear The Allman Brothers are gonna be there this year? Should be a great time! :grin:

  48. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Is anyone else running firefox 3.0. Some of my gravatars aren’t showing up. Any help. :???:

  49. origamitube says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    The word i want to request for is “ORIGAMI”
    It’s been associated with the Japanese but i think it is dated all the way back to the Chinese.
    Thanks

    • Capman911 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:11 pm

      With a name like you have do you do a lot of origami :?:

    • animalntaz says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:33 pm

      I’ve read that word ‘origami’ started in the 19th century, when a European merchant tried selling paper in Japan, that was colored on one side. And paper folding had been going on for centuries before then, where folding techniques went by a number of different names, was rectangular shaped and white on both sides. I guess this merchant thought it would help sales, by making it square shaped and naming the paper itself ‘origami’. Which that name later adapted into paper folding when square shaped folds, such as the crane, became popularized. As to why he called it ‘origami’ or what it means, I don’t know. I’m not sure how well I did to explain what I know, but Marina or someone else might need to clear up a few things. :smile:

    • animalntaz says:
      July 18, 2008 at 8:14 am

      :oops: Sorry, I screwed up the facts a little. My reading comprehension has always been low. It wasn’t a European merchant, it was a paper dealer in Tokyo that had the colored paper IMPORTED from Europe, before he cut them in small squares and sold them as sets called origami. And I may have gotten it backwards of which was named after the other, so it’s probally best if I just leave it at that.

  50. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    There is a virus going around called the Hallmark Card virus. If you get one from someone you don’t know or if you know them then don’t open it. It does something to your hard drive. I got this info from Microsoft anti virus protection site.
    Mike

  51. korpiniski says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    :lol: hey i got a hot word for you one i would like to see in your next video :wink:
    its ( DUO PRIMA ) :idea: and i would like to know what it means and where it came from :arrow: ? :?: (I’m a new comer to your web site)
    Cnacn6o yours truly ( Travis Korpiniski )

  52. sonofstorms says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    Greetings….I was wondering if you could check out the phrase “Son of a gun”…i’ve heard different answers and was curious as to what you could find out. thanx.

    • Captain Jack says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:03 pm

      That’s a very difficult one to determine. I found one example in a nautical sense of the phrase. “Son of a Gun”: In days gone by, it was often very difficult to find and keep crews to man sailing ships. For this reason, when many of these ships returned to their home ports, the captain was very reluctant to grant shore leave, just in case the crew decided to make a run for it.
      However, many of the sailors often had wives and /or girlfriends (i.e. prostitutes) ashore so, by way of compensation, the captain would often allow the ladies to come and stay on board the ship.
      While certainly not approved of, some of these ladies where perhaps a little freer with their favors than would normally be considered appropriate. Inevitably some became pregnant. This , of course resulted in occasions when the father may not have been known.
      Now, the main sleeping quarters on board a navy sailing ship were shared by most of the crew on the gun deck , and so where the fathers of a child was uncertain, he became known as the son of a gun-deck crew, which was eventually shortened to son of a gun.

      Whether this is accurate or not, I do not have the resources to confirm this. Having to deal today with crew leaving the ship. I can understand captain’s not wanting to grant leave of the ship. Not that they would stay in port but they would get into trouble with authorities and end up in jail. Or they would be to drunk to remember to get back to the ship at first sailing. My old boss has left crew on the beach. 32 paying passengers are not going to wait for a crew member to get back to the boat. This has happened twice in the 3 years I worked with Fantasy Cruises. Both times it was the chef (and different ones each time), and we had to go back and get them. Boat can’t leave without a chef.

      This might be something Marina could investigate. But I fear that she will come up with the same conclusion. The origin is still undetermined. :smile:

  53. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Here’s a little joke to lighten things up, I hope :???:

    TRAILED BY 15 KIDS
    A woman walks into the downtown welfare office,trailed by 15 kids… ‘WOW,’ the social worker exclaims, are they ALL YOURS???’ ‘Yep, they are all mine,’ the flustered momma sighs, having heard that question a thousand times before. She says, ‘Sit down, Leroy.’ All the children rush to find seats. ‘Well,’ says the social worker, ‘then you must be here to sign up. I’ll need all your children’s names.’ ‘This one’s my oldest – he is Leroy.’ ‘OK, and who’s next?’ ‘Well, this one he is Leroy, also.’ The social worker raises an eyebrow but continues. One by one, through the oldest four, all boys, all named Leroy. Then she isintroduced to the eldest girl, named Leighroy! ‘All right,’ says the caseworker. ‘I’m seeing apattern here. Are they ALL named Leroy?’ Their Momma replied! ‘Well, yes-it makes it easier.When it is time to get them out of bed and ready for school, I yell, ‘Leroy!’ ‘An’ when it’s time for dinner, I just yell ‘Leroy!’ an’ they all comes a runnin.’ ‘An’ if I need to stop the kid who’s running into the street, I just yell ‘Leroy’ and all of them stop. It’s the smartest idea I ever had, namin’ them all Leroy.’ The social worker thinks this over for a bit, then wrinkles her forehead and says tentatively, ‘But what if you just want ONE kid to come, and not the whole bunch?’
    ‘I call them by their last names.’

  54. duerbo says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    Dear Marina . . . I’d like to request a lesson on the word “ratchet”. I think its origins are onomatopoetic, which also leads to interesting spinoffs like “Tom Cratchett”.

  55. ukrfriend says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    Can you find the origin of the word Jesus?

  56. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 11:57 am

    RRR is online..! But his posts don’t look too hopefull

  58. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 11:34 am

    I have never had a report card before… What are they like ?

    • Capman911 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 12:28 pm

      James are you making any money for advertising for Cocommnets. :?: If you do then I’ll find me a gravatar to advertise for. like Microsoft oe Apple, or Hot For Words. You know I never thought of putting up a gravatar of Marina or something from her site. :idea: Must investgate. :???:

  59. Capman911 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 11:14 am

    Hi Marina, this new system with the karma keys hopefully will and has helped. But the big question is if someone gets to many bad numbers what will happen to them?
    Mike

  60. snow859 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 11:00 am

    hey marina for your new word you should do prick i have no idea where it comes from or wat it means thanks

  61. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:37 am

    I went onto the contact page to ask if every comment could have a reply button underneath it (so you never end up having to reply to yourself) and this came up

    Don’t know if anyone else is getting this. I clicked on contact then clicked the wrong page, clicked back and then got this :arrow:

    �������….. etc…

    • foxbow says:
      July 17, 2008 at 10:56 am

      i had the same yesterday when i wanted to watch the new video..only thing that helped was using IE instead of firefox, after a few minutes I was ably to use firefox again…:S

    • Capman911 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 11:00 am

      I just had it happen to me also. It has done that quite a few times. I just go back to the log in page and start over.

    • HotForWords says:
      July 17, 2008 at 1:02 pm

      James.. how do I replicate what you say you got?

      • James says:
        July 17, 2008 at 1:16 pm

        I clicked contact then website problems then i pressed back then clicked it again i think. I also got it when i click on the vodka like water video. but i signed out then back in and it seems all all right now. What I wanted to ask was if it would be possible to have a reply button under every comment that way you don’t have to crawl around for ages looking for a reply button on long threads, and also sometimes you end up only being able to reply to a post you started. Take care, cant wait for next video

        xx

    • HotForWords says:
      July 17, 2008 at 1:22 pm

      James… there is a reply link under every comment… except for the comments that are 2 deep.. then I turned it off… that way the comments don’t get too nested. But what exactly are you asking for as there is a Reply link under every comment.

      • James says:
        July 17, 2008 at 1:35 pm

        I have found an example

        chevolay on July 17th, 2008 7:23 am
        Good Morning
        Peace and Love
        to all of you

        [Reply]

        capman911 replied on July 17th, 2008 9:24 am:

        I’ll have to say good afternoon Chevolay. It’s past 1200 here now. And the same back to you :wink: :cool:

        [Reply]

        pennsyltucky9 replied on July 17th, 2008 10:29 am:

        That would be about Beer:30 round about these here parts. Meet me back here with a frosty lager!

        If I wanted to reply to pensyltucky9 I couldn’t as there is not a reply button under the comment

        Whenever I get a reply Hotmail pops up and says I have a new message from hfw.l so if i wanted to reply to PT9 I would have to click reply under capmans or chevolays comment, thus sending my reply to them. This happened to me a couple of days ago when I thought someone was taking the mickey out of me but it was only yesterday after checking back I realised they weren’t. No worries about this anyway.. Just a suggestion.. Error seems to have gone now, will let you know if it comes back

        James
        xx

      • pennsyltucky9 says:
        July 24, 2008 at 4:29 pm

        My ears have been burning for a week! I just knew someone was talking about me, and here I finally find James using my lame comment as an example… Jeez, he could at least have selected one where I maintain some semblance of self-respect! Beer:30? Too funny. Guess I’ll have to be more judicious when jabbering with Mike. He’s such a teddy bear.

        Marina, I have a confession to make: I sometimes use the third-tier comment area when I don’t necessarily want to hear peoples’ responses directly but feel an urge to voice an opinion nonetheless. This makes it a little harder for them to maintain the thread; if they want to reply directly to me they cannot, and so they must go search for another comment of mine and then respond in the dissociated location where it’s just a little less likely that they’ll have the entirety of the original comment to draw upon for inspiration (or ammunition, as it were). But I’m also learning to re-read at least twice and always, always make an effort to reconsider how my comments may impact others. More often than not (the truth here), I realize that what I thought might be a funny response is the opposite, and in those events I backspace it out before canceling my reply so it doesn’t inadvertently reappear in my next comment. School is hard, even this one. I’m always learning, and I have nothing but admiration and gratitude for your perseverance and diligence in maintaining our forum. Thank you my dear teacher.

  62. mofunz says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:33 am

    Never had a sisyphean task…but I do wonder the origin of the words “guacamole” + “knapsack”

  63. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:25 am

    I can’t seem to find an origin for fire, I am on about fire used in ” My house is on fire! the mother-in-law is in there… oh well” NOT “fire your weapons”

  64. gcardinal says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:17 am

    How a word become numbers ?
    Request a word:

    1337

    In the “geek” world :)

    Love your videos :) Ti prosto super!

  65. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 10:10 am

    Marinas youtube comment page is mostly just for spam and abuse:

    lovelove347 | July 17, 2008
    you are shit and gay so back a way you dum freck your gay like shit and a bich your ass is so big you cant say a word because you are a big bich so dont be my friend but put comets ok bich bye ass dam and fuck your girlfriend bye gay bich

    FuryofYungkilluh | July 17, 2008
    you are not hot….. you have yellow teeth and a huge head like an asian but nice ( )( ) ‘s

    How could someone say things like this.. GRR. I would like to see them do what marina does

  66. CheVolay says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:51 am

    Pee Pee Monger – one who advocates the looking at the bulge in a man’s pants; this is the polar opposite or the feminine version of Chi Chi Monger – One who advocates the looking at a women’s breast.

  67. commoncunninglinguist says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:50 am

    Hey! My gravitar works! How y’all are today? Hello most beautiful and intelligent teacher we all love. Listen, I just wanted to ask for a word. It’s an expression that may be a regional thing but here ya go; BUMFUZZLED :lol: Maybe capman has heard it around his location. I used to live in his vicinity so he may have heard it a time or two in his travels.
    May you all have an excellent day, prosperous in body and soul. Bass players thump!

  68. fashion paris says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Where does the expression You Silly Goose come from?

  69. fashion paris says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Hot For Words

    I was outside and I heard someone yell at there child saying ” get in its ranning cats and dogs ! ”

    Where did u expression its ranning cats and dogs from ? :?:

  70. timothia21 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:44 am

    Request a word: I don’t think it’s obscene or too risque, kind of a cute word. How about:

    canoodle

    v. intr.
    To engage in caressing, petting, or lovemaking.

    v. tr.
    To win over or convince by cajoling or flattering; wheedle: “his matchless ability to charm, bamboozle, or canoodle most of his political associates” (Timothy Garton Ash).

  71. tanathos23 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:39 am

    WOW, holy cow, now we can rate our comments :twisted:

  72. niq says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:12 am

    could you explain the meaning behind the word “Season”

    both in terms of television seasons and seasons of the year, maybe even behind seasoning

  73. magigg says:
    July 17, 2008 at 9:05 am

    Hey Marina,

    as requested on youtube pleaaaassseee explain “Onamatapoetry” to us. Thank you very much,

    magigg

  74. labbatt78 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 8:58 am

    I forgot to add that the modified small picture on the left by any body’s user’s name including mine is totally cool! :wink:

  75. sirzodxx says:
    July 17, 2008 at 8:38 am

    the story of my life lol peace to u all

  76. irisheyes says:
    July 17, 2008 at 7:54 am

    I’m interested in learning the origin and meaning of the word “dote”, as in to “dote upon”.

  77. ferasbayern says:
    July 17, 2008 at 7:45 am

    why the people say about something incredible or awesome WOW when the people started say this word W :shock: W can you find out the answer for me Marina … PLEASE :grin: :razz: :shock:

  78. CheVolay says:
    July 17, 2008 at 7:23 am

    Good Morning
    Peace and Love
    to all of you

  79. yvanovicz says:
    July 17, 2008 at 7:08 am

    Word request

    Hi,
    I would like to know if it is just a coincidence that wigwam and teepee sound similar to wig and toupee. It may be that, because as the first two are tents and the latter hair pieces, they both cover your head. No one else has managed to answer this query so please, please, please help me, hotforwords! :mrgreen:
    Thanks in anticipation, yvanovicz

  80. tedt says:
    July 17, 2008 at 6:48 am

    :smile: The login is nice now………what about those karma buttons ? Can you explain that Marina…are you about to kick the “bad guys” ?

    (give me +10 please :!: :smile: )

  81. redbaby20 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 6:38 am

    Can you explain the meaning and origin of the phrase “chip on your shoulder”

  83. wetsuit5 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 5:30 am

    HotForWords,

    Eureka, I done figured it out. :idea:
    I had to sleep on it and it came to me at 3 am in the midst of a thunderstorm. :roll: :roll:
    (This Greek Mythology stuff is hard) :???:
    The video really helped and had the answer. :grin:
    Sexy Marina rolling a rock. :shock:
    Sexy Marina rolling a rock. :shock:
    (No Comments on Wet Dreams) :evil: :evil:
    Rolling Rock. :smile:
    Rock Rolling. :grin:
    Rock-N-Roll. :lol:

    THAT’S IT!! :idea: :idea: :idea: :!: :!: :!:

    Sisyphean task is the genisus of Rock-N-Roll. :wink: :wink: :wink:

    For your homework, What would a Ancient Greek Mythology Rock song sound like (Harp, Pan Flute, etc…) :twisted:

  84. Bob says:
    July 17, 2008 at 5:19 am

    Does a sisyphean task necessarily have to be unpleasant or a chore? Since Sisyphus was condemned to perform his task as a punishment, it would seem so.
    If not, we all have that most agreeable of repetitive tasks, watching and responding to Marina’s videos – before you’re finished with the current one, there’s a new one uploaded by our prolific professor.

    I must say, I like the thumbs up/down rating system. Let’s hope that people just use that to show disapproval of other’s posts, instead of shooting their mouths off in flame wars.

    • pennsyltucky9 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 10:44 am

      Excellent observation, Bob. I had mixed opinions about it at first, but the utility is apparent, especially if it’s anonymous. Keeps us from wasting valuable time as well as comment space on people who will probably never get the point if argued in personal comments. Plus, we’re still free to put our thoughts to words should we so choose, getting the best of both! I hope it streamlines things a bit. Let’s face it; there are definitely some personality clashes amongst the student body from time to time.

    • James says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:38 pm

      BOB!! you caught me out… I suppose you have seen me telling people off for doing that, and are now doing it to me for being a hippocrite …. :oops: :oops:

  85. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:41 am

    Haha. I very rarely laugh at things on the net or the tv when I am on my own, but I laughed at this ” that would be a cat ”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8xLFtSJkvQ&feature=related

  86. okay4now says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:30 am

    Bravo! The new rating system matches the theme and could very well work, especially if not over-used, abused or turned into just a game—karma is real.

  87. purrington says:
    July 17, 2008 at 4:21 am

    Dear Teacher:

    A friend of mine recently said: “Hotforwords is the Bee’s Knees.”

    That made me wonder where the expression “Bee’s Knees” came from.

    Could my trusty Hotforwords solve this mystery for me?

    Thank you

    Purrington

  88. thxeleven38 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:57 am

    My top 10 Sisyphean tasks (the 2nd five):
    6. Shopping, there’s just too many stores and things to look at and buy.
    7. Surfing the Internet, I won’t live long enough. Search engines are know it alls! Who’s got the best indexer?
    8. Avoiding government bureaucratic interaction at any level.
    9. Earning enough money to not have to.
    10.Answering the question: “Are we there yet?”

  89. thxeleven38 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:56 am

    Dear Teacher:
    My top 10 Sisyphean tasks (the 1st five):
    1. Any household chore.
    2. Building sandcastles on the beach.
    3. Upgrading and maintaining my computers(their worse than babies).
    4. Reading all comments posted to your videos,(you just had to go and find co-comments!)
    5. Chasing women, I’m just too slow and getting slower. (Don’t know if I’m chasing them away or trying to catch them, I’ve forgotten which or its a case dependent decision.)

  90. clik-clak says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:51 am

    where did the word masticate come from

  91. bikerbuurboy says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:36 am

    Hello my dear teacher :wink:

    a sisyphean that everyone has is … learning. That’s why you got those sayings as: You are never to old to learn and Every answer brings a new question.
    So, I guess that would be mine sisyphean.

    Regards, :cool:

  92. annuddermale says:
    July 17, 2008 at 3:08 am

    i think the announcer is Joe Cipriano…is this off of GarageBand?…

    from http://learninginhand.com/blog/archive/2006_12_01_archive.html :

    Also included are 17 professional voiceover tracks by Joe Cipriano. You’re sure to recognize his voice as he’s done voiceover work for broadcast networks like ABC and FOX. His recordings are short segments like, “Now, welcome back to the show,” [note: my bolding - annudder] and “Coming up next in our show…”

    anywho, announcing for HFW would be a gig i’d love… :cool:

  93. that_dude64 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:22 am

    I was watching the Military Channel on tv and they was talking about how fast the average Military boat travel and they kept saying this boat goes 40 knots and this boat goes 50 knots and hour but why dont they say this boat goes 40 or 50 miles per hour why the word knots.

    HOT FOR WORDS MUST INVESTIGATE

    • James says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:25 am

      Because its nautical! Really we need to ask CaptainJack!

    • orion_ss1 says:
      July 17, 2008 at 4:35 am

      Knots is short for Nautical Miles per hour; a nautical mile being 2,000 yards ( 6,000 feet ). The reason for this is the distance between lines of latitude ( and longitude at the equator ). Instead of asking why sailors use nautical miles the real question should be why does every one else use the 5,280 foot mile.

  94. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:12 am

    That gives me a thought. I would like to know why fiery is not spelled firey even though they both relate to heat.. actually scrap that idea, I would just like to know the origin of the word “fire” I can see it now.. HotForWords is on fire..

  95. foxbow says:
    July 17, 2008 at 2:02 am

    Getting to sleep last night seemed like a sisyphean task-.- I went to bed at like 1 am and the last time I looked at the clock it was 3 am :lol: must have been arround 3.30 am when I finaly fell asleep :???:

    • James says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:14 am

      I know! I fell asleep at 2

    • Chemikal says:
      July 18, 2008 at 1:24 pm

      When having trouble sleeping… read up on more of HFW’s past comments… that’ll knock you right out! :) )
      That works for me.(most of the time) — I’m on here now for more than 30 hours… can’t sleep… gotta read, gotta comment. :shock:
      Eh, don’t worry about me though, I rather browse HFW website then lie motionless for 8 hours at a time. :D
      I’ll be going into re-examination session soon, so I guess I’m trying to get as much as I can out of the little free time I have left. :grin:

  96. foxbow says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:53 am

    since when can you rate comments….kinda weird that you can rate your own one…

  97. hamid6724 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:46 am

    My sisyphean task is to watch a naked teacher. Meaning I get so close to it, for example in your “naked” video, but I never get it. Also, I would like to know the origin of the word “big time” as in “I got you big time”.

  98. Captain Jack says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:42 am

    Hey everyone! Im Back online! Did you miss me? Oh… :sad: you didn’t … Ok.. I’ll go back to my little cubby hole.

    Homework: Yes, my current Sisyphean task is getting a class going. I have had to cancel my last 3 classes for the lack of turn out. I’ll get about 3 to 6 students register and then only one will show up for class. Im going broke spending $$$ for room rentals. I now have 4 students registered for my next class. Will I actuality get to start a class this summer? Will find out Aug 18th. :???:

    Good lesson Marnia! I’ll to add this word to my vocabulary. I think it a word I can find useful. Good job my dear teacher :!:

    Always learning, always learning… :grin:

    __/)____

  99. richierich says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:42 am

    I was in a sisyphean relationship! no matter how hard we tried to make things work something always came up and stopped it from happening lol. i dunno if that makes sense but if it doesn’t i guess i’m talking to the right girl!

  100. James says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:25 am

    Ratings.. ? arrgh I don’t like change!!! Is this because, RRR & myself got into a flame war yesterday, and now anyone who gets a thumbs down is sent to the fiery depths of hell :!: :!: :sad: :sad: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

    I DON’T WANNA GO

    I’m sorry

    :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

    ooh, btw hope you like my new gravatar :cool:

  101. bluezoe says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:16 am

    Hello Marina

    I have enjoyed your website and become a member a few months back. I have a special Request today, I’m sure you can help us.
    I’m sure you can have more visibility worldwide than a simple Texan in the south texas region.
    I belong to a non-profit association called “Los Caminos del Rio” , I’m the Community & Historical Preservation Chair in LCDR(raciel@loscaminos.org) and we been active since 1989. Our mission statement is to Preserve and Promote the Environment, History and Cultural Heritage of the Rio Grande Corridor(corridor border between the US and Mexico exactly in the South Texas Area only).

    Since the Begining of the year our concern it’s been with the Border wall political issue, we are worry because we use the natural river(Rio Bravo) to practice Kayak and canoe on the weekend with the local Community, boy and girl scouts, we want to pick the interest and the attention of a Major international singer, celebrities or bands to help us have a fundraising concert(U2, cold Play or Bruce Springfield) in the middle of Anzalduas Dam(Mission TX) all for a good cause and opportunity to fund raise for our association that is close to disapear, a binational festival with a musical free concert is being plan for a November first River Festival; close to the Presidential elections where the main topics at the time will be war in Iraq, Border fence and Immigration and we look this as a soft way to protest against the border wall, I remember once Bono had a concert on the Berln Wall during destruction of it and why not have one on the start up of a Border Fence, that really doesn’t make any sense.

    In Texas the border wall will slice through the heart of the Rio Grande wildlife corridor. US Fish & Wildlife has spent 30 years and $100 million to buy and revegetate lands to recreate habitat.

    Ocelots, numbering less than 100 and listed under the Endangered Species Act, live in the area’s remaining habitat. Because so few are left in the U.S. they must have access to mates in Mexico to avoid inbreeding and access to the river for survival.

    http://www.notexasborderwall.com and http://www.loscaminos.org(recent website) are fighting to generate and eco awareness around the U.S. perhaps you could help us get there.

    We have the youngest and southest latest white water section in this river where we practice free style kayaking, this is a natural area and we want to preserve it for the best of our community. I just need your help in any way you can think to help us generate wawareness in your website or use your influential skills and talents to help us get there into the ears of a good heart artist or Band that can help us.

    could you do the word “brick” and “Ocelots”

    Your Friend

    Raciel juarez
    Community Chair
    956.533.3646

  102. devined says:
    July 17, 2008 at 1:11 am

    I was wondering where the word comedy came from.

  103. bobsully says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:51 am

    So many tasks are an on-going effort, where to start? Protecting our network against vulnerabilities is such a task. Steps to protect are greeted daily with new methods to damage.

  104. thegr8est1 says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:44 am

    I would like to know the meaning of Yorkshire (dog), i know theres a city in england and thats all. Got that dog, its so cute, always tries to disturb me when im watching your vids or something because, he wants to play ^_^.

    Also i would like to know the meaning of ain’t, it was weird when i first time heard it (because english aint my 1st language) and its strange because, it doesnt sound like others english words cut.

    • James says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:24 am

      ain’t is from haven’t but shouldn’t be recognized on here by the red line on the comments, because as far as I know ain’t is not a word

      from wikipedia

      Ain’t is a contraction originally just for “am not”, but can include “is not”, “are not”, “has not”, or “have not” in the common vernacular. In some dialects it is also used as a contraction of “do not”, “does not”, and “did not”, as in I ain’t know that. The word is a perennial issue in English usage. It is a word that is widely used by many people, but is generally considered nonstandard English.

      Ain’t on Wikipedia

    • James says:
      July 17, 2008 at 9:59 am

      I copied and pasted the last piece from that wiki article, and by the way. you said

      just because it ain’t in the dictionary (didn’t look) doesn’t mean it’s not a word.

      If it is not in the dictionary, then then means that it doesn’t exist. Otherwise a dictionary that does not list all of the words is a pretty stupid idea. And, I could say that dfjientoeng is not in the dictionary but it is still a word. But it isn’t

      • aLx says:
        July 17, 2008 at 10:27 am

        nah, dude.

        “dfjientoeng” is not, and can’t be, a word because it does not follow the phonological rules by which an english word is formed.
        you can make up your own words. like, hillorean. this is a possible word. it can be a word in the future if someone uses it, assigns a meaning to it, and eventually it will spread and many people get to use it.
        i’m german. no one knows how many words we have. i think the biggest dictionary over here lists about 180.000. estimated amount of words: about 500.000 or so.

        consider languages that are only spoken. not written languages. so, do they have words? they ain’t got no dictionary. ;)

        just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. :)

      • James says:
        July 17, 2008 at 10:33 am

        Well, English is a written & spoken language that does have a dictionary If its not in the complete OED then it isn’t a real word.

        And if “ain’t ” is a real word and you say they aint got no dictionary. if you aint got nothing it means you have got something!!

      • aLx says:
        July 17, 2008 at 10:55 am

        try to think more abstract.
        try to see the bigger picture. it’s hard to find a definition of “word”. and, no linguist will say something like, a word is something you can find in the oed.
        does the oed list inflected word forms? if not, are inflected forms no words?

        if you aint got nothing it means you have got something!!

        no. natural languages are not like math. – and – doesn’t make +.

      • Capman911 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 11:51 am

        James Alx is very wise. :smile: He will debate you all day and is hard to beat. I have had some good debates with him, no fire fights though, but good ole debates. So look your info up good cause Alx has his in his head. :wink: It’s going to be a toss up at the end or maybe even a tie. So good luck. :smile:

  105. lofkc says:
    July 17, 2008 at 12:39 am

    Cleaning a house work area seems like every time you turn around as if you have never done anything. :!:

  106. tun tun says:
    July 16, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    My almost sisyphean task is trying to teach chemistry to my high school students,
    Thanks to your initiative of teaching in a new language in a different way I will do the same (make it interesting).
    Muchas gracias.

  107. framedforlife says:
    July 16, 2008 at 11:10 pm

    can you the word nonchalant

  108. tun tun says:
    July 16, 2008 at 11:07 pm

    I am from Puerto Rico and your name is Marina are these related in some way,
    De todas maneras (any way),
    since we are both foreigners, please investigate the word origen for gringo (refering to a north american person, US) there are many versions but yours must be interesting. similar word in Japaness is gaigin.

  109. duke veritas says:
    July 16, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    First, I like what you’ve done lately. You’re asking people a lot of opinion questions and things that can get anyone involved to set off discussion. I think that will help people get involved, even though we’re not expert etymologists like you are :smile:
    In case you don’t recognize me, I’m JDI180 from YouTube who’s been commenting a lot lately. :cool:

    What’s YOUR sisyphean task, :roll: Marina?

    Seems like dating is a sisyphean task :???:
    Not complaining, just saying. A person tries to find out if they have found someone great, then it’s all back to the beginning when either one of us figure out it doesn’t work.

    The good news :mrgreen: is that I learn something new every time from each girl I date and I catch myself making the mistakes sooner and sooner. Yet, the task remains the same and it’s seemingly endless :!:

    • Captain Jack says:
      July 17, 2008 at 2:10 am

      OMG Duke. I think we are in the same boat on this one. Dating is a Sisyphean task. Im getting to the point that Im going to make my next date fill out an application with references. Then have them take a 200 question test, an I.Q. exam, and a 4 mile walking test. I just refuse to lower my standards. I’ve just about given up the whole game. :sad:

      • Capman911 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 9:53 am

        It’s because you love the sea to much. You are engaged to a wonderious and mysterious ebb and flow of time that never gets boring, a different adventure each time you sail. So the women in your life have to live up to that standard. :wink: I don’t blame you abit. It’s a wonderful life “the sea”. :smile:

  110. hebgbs says:
    July 16, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Requesting “heebie jeebies”, please. Thanks for making wordplay fun!

  111. labbatt78 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Another good task. Listen to some techno late at night before I fall asleep.

  112. jarkaruus says:
    July 16, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    :twisted: Just a test of the gravatar

  113. PageDoll says:
    July 16, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    It seems all is quite on the home front tonight…from some of what I read over on the skinny dip lesson, I sure am glad I was at the Journey concert last night, it was great! Pagey loved it too, even though one song made her tear up a bit. :cry: Of course after I saw that I followed suit. :sad: But, thats another story. …next stop, Jack Johnson in Irvine Aug 29th! Then, back home to SD to see him again AUG 30th!… ought to be a blast! :grin: …I sure hope I can keep up with Page! :???:

  114. bhallmed says:
    July 16, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    I am a new member to your site. Its always a pleasure to hear you on the Stretch show on Sirius Radio. May I please request the word “Laboratory”
    thanks, Bryan

  117. soulshadow says:
    July 16, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    perhaps the sisyphean is essential

  118. leoNard says:
    July 16, 2008 at 9:03 pm

    rock end roll roll end rock task of music :razz:

  119. versusx says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    I don’t remember picking this avatar….

  120. versusx says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:58 pm

    Trying to keep a woman happy…is a sisyphean task :P

  121. errin says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Hey! I’m no sissy… phean. :razz:

  122. quagmier8 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:19 pm

    Getting rid of my Ex-wife is a sisyphean task. My dog keeps digging her up.

  123. danielpool52 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    HI MARINA I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD INFAMY HAVE A NICE DAY :lol: :lol: :lol:

  124. smokey36bear says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    laundry every time i think i’m done i turn around and there is yet another load.

  125. thebigwazoo says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    I would like to know the origin of the word ‘flippant’
    Thanks!

  126. waiter says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    well , hell , when you are out of words maybe you will try to investigate for the word : waiter ! i’m waiting …

  127. cjwood says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    rebuilding our house and getting our lives back in order after Hurricane Katrina…almost three years…totally a sisyphean task…

  128. euromax says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    cleaning my room…or to make it worse..the house

    definitely a sisyphean task

  130. okay4now says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:06 pm

    HmWk:—> FRENCH! The same text book for 20 years–it’s a famously hard one & I refuse to switch methods–it’s killin’ me, German sucks, Spanish sucks and now I’m suckin’ in my Native tongue too.

    Also, there was a girl situaion that I’d describe as sisyphean, but I think she’d say the same about me…come to think of it the book’s easier.

  132. rafalillo says:
    July 16, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    My request word is… DAMN!!!!!!! :lol:

  133. annuddermale says:
    July 16, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    sisyphean task?…well, so far, taming the apple trees, grapes, & blueberries that were left to their own devices for 15 years or so while this place was a rental property…

    and getting the shed up to snuff…

    and keeping liquid…

    but Life goes on… :cool:

  135. seesixcm6 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Dear Marina, No, I’ve never had a Sysyphean task. At the University, some crochet-monger instructors would devise overly complex problems or experiments in Physics, Chemistry or Engineering. We’d eventually see the value in taking many different approaches to solving a previously unsolvable problem. Congratulations on another nice video, which I’d rate five stars, of couse. I’ve never seen the act of Sysyphus so well-illustrated as that photo of yourself in black, working against that giant boulder. You also managed to convey that very tragic ancient story with humor and good spirits. It’s good to see a video of yours after I’ve had a difficult day, myself. Please continue to provide your videos! Your dear student, seesix CM6

  136. protac6 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Hey Marina,

    My story down there got me thinking, where does “working out” come from relating to building muscle? Does it mean “working” or exercising “out” or outside? If so, why were gyms created then?

    Help!!

  137. memetic100 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Could making videos to keep your students happy be called a sysyphean task? Don’t work too hard, even dedicated teachers need holidays some time!

    Anyway, my first word request, or actually three similiar sounding words with different meanings. Brazier, brasserie, and a word which I’m sure is close to your heart, brassiere. Do they just sound the same, or do they have a common meaning? A brazier and brassiere both contain something ‘hot’, but where does brasserie come into it? Yours in confusion, memetic100

  138. pennsyltucky9 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    I guess to the purist, a basic qualification of a real sisyphean task would have to involve the perennially unfinished nature of it.

    My sisyphean task would have to be finishing my university education. I feel like I’ve been in school forever! One more semester, I keep telling myself. Just make it through one more semester. Living on student aid funding, scholarship and grant money, and finally a student loan, I learned to take life as one-day-at-a-time as I possibly can and try to keep all my i’s dotted and all my t’s crossed, taking what small enjoyment and relaxation I can glean here and there without really going anywhere far or spending any cash, subsisting on an absolute bare minimum of income so I can concentrate on my studies. I’m finally just one semester away. Let’s see whether I survive the process, or whether it’s truly sisyphean and continues to pester me the rest of my days…..

    • Capman911 says:
      July 16, 2008 at 4:54 pm

      Whaaassssuuuup my friend. :wink: I felt the same way after thirty three years in the fire service. We had to have a minimum of 3 hour a day of fire training. It had to be logged in the computer every day as training. There was no cheating on that because we were checked all the time by our Batallion Comander. I probably have about 4000 certificates from all of the sisyphean work. But only 6 diplomas.Take care and study hard. :smile:

      • pennsyltucky9 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 11:17 am

        Thanks, Mike. Wow, I had no idea you were such a diplomat! Study hard? Yes, I do but first a small request: Mind if I wait ’til school starts? I’m still picking up the pieces after Spring session.

        btw, I made the Dean’s List again regardless of all those razzberries from you guys, so WOOHOOOO! Or maybe it was DUE to all those razzberries…..hmmmm.

        In your, case, it was more like helpful encouragement. You the man, Mike. Even if you DO wear a funny hat!

    • annuddermale says:
      July 16, 2008 at 5:32 pm

      oh, i have something like 24 years of education (elementary-jr. high-high school-university-grad school), then add in a couple for computer certs & annudder one or so for an accounting cert, and…

      i still haven’t gotten anywhere…

      but i’m happy enough, ’cause i’m near my kids…

      and that’s all that counts… :cool:

      • Capman911 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 9:37 am

        That is what counts is family and especially our children. :wink:

      • pennsyltucky9 says:
        July 17, 2008 at 11:32 am

        Hi Tom,

        I have 26 and a half years of school under my belt at this point, but some of those were spent trying to upgrade skills and get certificates I no can longer use due to partial disability. Argh! I have 2 Associate degrees, a Career Certificate, and a Certificate of Competency, but still no Bachelor’s. Soon come, as the Rastas say. Or I get hit by a bus, one or the other! It’s all good.

    • Bob says:
      July 17, 2008 at 5:44 am

      Cheer up penn, if you’re feeling down you can always have a Rolling Rock. :lol:

  139. tanathos23 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    keeping up with cocoment :mrgreen:

    it’s awfully fast XD

  140. mello-g37 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    sisyphean task……when i was a Postman…….Putting junk mail through a letter box….every week….

    Looking back on it now…..many customers would say tthe mail would go straight in the bin !
    i got a better job now…..LOL…..could say its ….sisyphean…..But i like the job better…… :cool:

  142. wetsuit5 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Oh no Greek Mythology, run away, hide. :sad:
    Eyes rolling back in my head, eyeballs glossing over :roll:
    Mind dumb, I’m a Duh, as in the original meaning of Duh. :neutral:
    (I did pay attention and learn something)

    OK it’s our teacher HotForWords she won’t hurt, I’ll peak from my Greek Mythogoly hiding place. :cool:

    Scared, OK some Greek nut job is rolling rocks around.
    OK, last time I was in Greece I saw a lot of rocks all over the place. :shock:
    And the rocks are rolling back down on teacher wearing a black (sexy)something. :mad: Hey rock, leave teacher alone :!:

    OK, Sysyphean tasks = Futile work efforts. :?:

    That discribes trying to clean anything. It only gets dirty again.
    OK, now I’m getting it. :smile:
    Mailman delivering the mail. There’s gonna be more mail tomorrow..
    Trying to lose weight at BlueJam. Yum!! and More Yum!!
    Cutting the grass. It only grows back.

    Hey teacher, how am I doin? :?:

    Sysyphean tasks, I hope I sound intelligent when I use that term. (If not will I sound sexy?)
    But my biggest wonder,,, Does this video have any connection to the ad on the side that says “Hate Your Job?”

    Whew, survived Greek Mythology for another day. :twisted: :razz:
    That was a sysyphean task.
    Am I sexy now or is it a real sysyphean tasks :?:

  143. commoncunninglinguist says:
    July 16, 2008 at 4:02 pm

    I can’t really say I have any unusual sisyphean tasks. I did however, enjoy this lesson. Please be careful sweet teacher so as to not scratch up those beautiful legs pushing that boulder up the hill. When I first saw that photo, I thought for a minute that you too had caught whatever it is that makes Miss America contestants fall while wearing high heels :!: Here’s a word, I’m not sure if it’s a made-up word or not but ( if I can spell it correctly ) “Splendiferous” :grin:
    Love and Blessings to you dear Teacher :wink:

  144. melora says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    Word request: Jay-walking.

  145. alexisexy says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    I got a good one….why is it called Peanut Butter, i mean its not made from peas?? this confuses me :???:

  146. CheVolay says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    There was this very, very rich lady I met once, her mission in life was to save all the animals and give them a good home on her ranch. We’re talking thousands of big animals like old dairy cows, crippled horses, three legged dogs and wild donkeys to name a few.

    The task for about 25 ranch hands was to go around three or four times every day and shovel the manure into giant roller bins that where later hauled away to an organic farm.

    I would joke with the ranch hands and say, “Mucho caca de vaca hoy!” They all were happy as pigs in…….. The money was good.

    This will go on forever the trust fund is in the billions.

  147. Patrick Jouannès says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    God ! Life is a sisyphean task, and endless circle, be born, bear, die and so on without end.
    I hope reincarnation does exist ??? :shock:

  148. orion_ss1 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    How about paying off a mortgage?

    After a few years you either move or improve, either way you find yourself with a new 30 year mortgage, usually significantly higher than the one before.

    You get closer and then someone wants to go to college. If you don’t have kids it would be something else. Poof: new mortgage.

    The only relief is the day you die.

    See what you have to look forward to?

  149. tedt says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    You look just great…*kiss* *kiss* *boom* bang* :oops: ………….ever thought if I just should place a joke comment including you look sooooo “fine”, once. :razz:

    …….but when i think about the end of the story I just will get slapt…. :oops: ….and will be forced to shell the onions…. :cry:

    :lol:

    Hum, my sisiyphean task……..hum, I guess it is a A in Maths, always get A- if I don´t get a A- I get a realy bad one (darn head is kidding me).

    How about if I roll the stone for you ? You could go free……..I will keep on doing the bad job, but that´s Love I guess :wink: :mrgreen:

  151. thedragon says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    yes I have had many sisyphean tasks in my life. the one i remember the most came while I was still in high school. I worked on a dairy farm where I milked cows day and night non stop it seemed like it was hell. I never wish to work on a dairy agin. which brings me to a word request where did the word, “Dairy” come from? Would you please tell the me beautiful teacher.

    Love
    The Dragon

  152. quiggles says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    Dear Teach,

    Great lesson!! I have often confused Sisyphus (the father of fruitless toil) with seraphim (the most beautiful form of angel). After watching your instructive lecture I will no longer make this mistake. :) BTW, might you be related to Professor Seraphim A. Orlov, the celebrated Russian philologist and Scottish literature scholar?

    Spasibo, Q

  153. socksandviolins says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Where did “word” come from?

  154. James says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    My Sisyphean task is trying to sign out of hotforwords.com for a day

  155. melora says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Catywampus. Does it have anything to do with cats?

  156. melora says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    Origins of Cathedral. Is it from the same roots as Catholic?

  158. melora says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    Kitty-corner. It might make a good guess the origin. And what do cats have to do with diagonals?

  159. protac6 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    Or also a while back when I would do my crunches workout, I would eat to build lean muscle, then sleep. I never saw any results because I realized after 3 weeks that you must wait at least 3 hours before sleeping after eating.-_- What a waste of time, but I changed it up.

    Stupid me. :oops:

  160. Bob says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    My sisyphean task is cleaning up the kitchen after my wife has been cooking. :sad: I swear she uses every item of hardware we possess, every time she cooks.

  161. the shaun says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    I had a dream where I continuously ended up at the starting point upon reaching my destination. That got annoying fast.

  162. sparkyinseattle says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Taxes and Shopping come to mind…

  163. protac6 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    I felt I was having a sisyphean task when I would clean my shoes but then in about 1 week it would just get scuffed up again. :cry:

  164. Capman911 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    Yes we had an old 15,000 square foot building on fire and it took us a week to finally get it put out it was full of old tires.

  165. danielpool52 says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    that was a good one 5*all the time :lol:

  166. James says:
    July 16, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Marina, I have spotted an error I dont mean to be pedantic but under the video you have written

    Those darn sysyphean tasks!!!

    and on the picture with you scraping yourself rolling a rock up a hill it says

    sisyphean

    here is my Marina book Air video I made for you

    Those darn sysyphean tasks!!!

    James
    xx

  169. foxbow says:
    July 16, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    no… I have never had a sisyphean tasks :wink:

Author: HotForWords

Not your typical philologist! Putting the LOL in PhiLOLogy :-)