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Put word/phrase requests between { } like: {dog} or {blah blah blah}
Put word/phrase requests between { } like: {dog} or {blah blah blah}
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Telephone
Some years ago I worked in Italy in an office full of English people (and of course Italians). Anyway I found that Fortnight was used when referring to a vacation….like I will be gone for a Fortnight. I was always told that meant a 15 day period. This of course is not inconsistent with your explanation of 14 nights. So if someone says they will be gone for a Fortnight do they really mean they will be gone 15 days?
I would like to request the origin of the word [verisimilitude].
hello Marina (such a befitting name
) well, I’ve just checked out your website and pics, and suddenly got an irresistable urge to know more about the following words:
[Marina] and [Yacht]
While hoping you will be able to quench my thirst for knowledge, I bid you goodnight, ye fair lady of the word.
Hi Marina, I would like to know where the phrase [None The Less] came from.
Thank you,
Where does the word [Easter] come from?
Where does [Transvestite] come from?
I mean, shouldn’t it be a fourtnight (with a ‘u’)? or else US: fortnite.
haha
Hey Marina!
Fantastic method to keep us all interested in learning!
Can you please investigate the origin of the word [vile]…..which just happens to be my surname…!!!
Don’t feel sorry for me….just think of all the people who don’t know if they should say ‘that’ word when they ask for me!!!
Haha!
Thanks and regards, Rob…
Do you try and cover it up by being one of those idiots that would pronounce it “vyelee”
Actually, i like to use ‘Roberto “Veelay”‘…very European!!!!
Know its off topic, but
I just saw the LA-fires. Are you guys all right?
@Lammerding Cool word! I can totally see the pyrocumulus clouds from my house.. they look like nuclear bomb dust clouds!!
we may have to go and save teacher if things do not improve soon
No, think she can take care of herself.
I can only imagine how worse it is.
We had a fire at a paper-storages burned for 2 day’s but 13 km away you could still smell it and see ashes. Keep your winds closed and animals inside!
Think Capman can say a thing or two what to do.
When it gets smokey breathing can become difficult. People have concerns about their pets too.
You’re right.
You have probably don it already, but just in case: fill up your car.
Two ways to fight fires are to start a back-fire and to have a bucket of sand handy.
Marina is hot enough to start her own back-fire.
I’ve never been convinced that a bucket of sand would do much against a fire, but if it’s big enough, you could always bury your head in it.
I am right there protecting of our Dear Teacher. I have set up camp on her balcony. Click on my Gravatar and you will see why.
Also part of a TA’s job. The best part.
That’s some car you got there, and some balcony
Mind you, grass on a balcony doesn’t seem right.
i know most of the words meaning but can you please give more information on [polyamorous]
I was in my house with my younger sister the other day when she asked me if my Pasta fagioli’ was [gamey], as I thought to myself..hold on a minute..that’s not the proper use of the word. [Gamy] usually refers to the flavor of a game you’re involved in or even something that is smelly. Maybe she was indirectly insulting my cooking, who knows. I would like to know the origins of this word. It seems as though it is a simple word, only four letters but I’m sure it’s much more intricate than that. Please investigate this for me if you can my love.
Regards,
- Tommy
Phrase request [backpedaling]
Ohhhh my gaaaawd, I am LMAO at today’s tweets. Marina, you must have a couple of thousand or more stories of backpedaling. Today alone there must have been at least three.
Examples of backpeddlers:
(tweets have been re-written for my own amusement)
- To clarify: I liked the book despite my snarks to the contrary.
- Is she like a porn star or something,
but, that’s ok Im not big into porn.
- The dress, the dress. Oh, no, I loved your dress.
Huh? But, the Joe Francis marketing. 
WTFun?
There were others on YouTube comments as well
as comments on other sites. People are so funny
when they don’t understand others.
Marina’s humor is extremely intelligent and
sophisticated and lots of people don’t get it.
Even I have to wait like 300 milliseconds sometimes
to let Marina’s humor sink in. I know, I know, I’m slow.
Marina is the absolute best.
She is with it and she is on top of it.
You gotta love her.
Footnote:
Here is a footnote regarding how people stereotype
other people based on how they are dressed.
When it comes to women, looking at other women,
the basis for stereotyping comes from jealousy.
It can be called being catty, spiteful, bitchy and so on.
I’ve talked about this many times before,
where a man stereotypes a woman based
on how she is dressed, a huge amount of hypocrisy
comes into play. He would never call his mother or
sister derogatory names, but men that are
threatened by beautiful women with intelligence,
are incapable of making sound decisions about
that woman, so they resort to name calling. It’s
not a reflection of the woman, but what deranged
thoughts go inside some men’s minds. That is unfortunate.
I would like to request the phrase [ under the weather ] Does it matter what the actual weather is like outside. If so, what if the weather different for the 2 people in the conversation. Why are they “under” it? Does that mean that the rest of us are over it? btw u r adorable and funny. I really enjoy your videos. Mahalo,
-Dante
Hello Marina!
I would like to request the words [economic] and [economical]
Thanks.
hi marina!
i would like to request the word [ sluts ]
I would like to request the word [tractor]
Thanks
can u please do the phrase[ can i be frank with u] and were it came from i mean i dont get it was there like a real rude guy named frank wtf please marina i need ur help thank u 4rm iluvgooddiction99 luv ya
Hi Marina.. i would like to request the word [Racist]. tnx
I am back here again
I have left youtube as well 
I can’t be bothered with that place anymore.
Hey Marina, I just wanted to say that I enjoy all your videos very much. I mainly watch them all on YouTube, and was wondering where the phrase [Vae victis] came from and what it means. Thanks, ~Bowen
Hello Marina,hope your day is going fine for you!This was a good lesson I never knew that fortnight was until this lesson.Thank you for all your great lessons you teach us,and all you do for us!See you later,hope to hear from you soon!
Good Morrow, Marina!
I would like to know more about the origins of the English word “[cartoon]“. While I am no longer a boy, or even a teen or twenty-something, I simply enjoy watching cartoons now and again.
Your etymological aid is much appreciated.
As a popular radio/television host says, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch!”
Ciao
Hello Socraticus.
Marina did a special video last year, not contained on this site, but available to view at the website of the New Yorker Magazine. The topic was Cartoon — just what you have requested!
http://www.newyorker.com/onlin.....n-the.html
And Marina, if you see this – the New Yorker moved the page to the link above. The link on the HFW New Yorker Page needs an update.
Correction:
The link on the ‘New Yorker’ page is fine – I looked at the ‘New Yorker Cartoon’ page in Nov where you link to the magazine main page.
cool
……to tell the truth,,, i cant tell the difference between leopard and snow leopard……
Hey Marina, did you change the bit rate of your videos? This lesson played rather smoothly. It still jerks, but not as bad as it use to. I now get 2 frames every second as appose to one frame every two or three seconds.
Yea, I noticed a difference as well.
I had a tag on all of my new videos that played them in high quality and I realized yesterday that that tag was probably making my videos jerky.. so I did a bulk update and removed the tag from the 100 or so vids that had at and voila.. smooth playing videos! Yea!!!
we’re rocking and rolling now
&in high definition
Brilliant…. George has gone again… I could really have used his smile right now to brighten up my day… Oh well, I guess he will be back soon.
George comes back when you log out… try it.
I logged out and logged back in — did not see any George. How come I don’t get to see George?
By the way, when I am logged out, the second menu line is just one line; but when I log back, it breaks up into two lines (so there are 3 menu lines when I am logged in; and the “RSS box” falls down — http://i28.tinypic.com/9tee5i......jpg).
HAHA!! They will never know!
What’s this ‘George’ you’re talking about? Should I be seeing George Carlin on here? That would be super cool! He always had a way with words.
Looking for George I thought maybe its under Take a peek inside (top right). But where it says click here or on any other spot on the picture no hand, I can’t click ?
I have tested the ad on 3 different pc’s all with Microsoft internet explorer. Even with every security switched off. That ad doesn’t work. The ad underneath it also doesn’t work. The other ads work. Also installed Firefox. Than the ad does work. So it seems to be a compatibility problem with internet explorer. Which version, doesn’t make any difference.
Don’t know if your gone Neuro this one
Who is this George you’re talking about?
My guess is that the system detects if it is displaying to James’ machine and puts up some floating image (of “George”) either when he is logged in or at the time he logs out.
You shall never know!!! He is there for everyone; a bit like god, only George actually exists.
Does George have anything to do with aliens and the thing about being afraid, being very afraid? I noticed that thing about aliens ages ago; just now, I tried to relate it to George, but could find no connection. Perhaps it is aliens in the US and some George in the UK?
Shsss.. James is an alien from some purple and pink planet. If he hears you he might turn green and attack us.
That is so weird! I wonder why that is?
What George? Do you have a screenshot
So do I understand you are able to force feed the quality of the video? Was this a feature of YouTube or WordPress plugin?
Something else. I watch one of your YouTube lesson on the iPhone and the video quality was super grainy/blurry. I could not even see your eyes. It was one big blob for a head. I don’t know if that is an issue on your end or maybe AT&T was not able to stream the video very well.
That’s cuz you ain’t got the suitable hardware for hq vides, capt’n. Get better hw, and the hq vides will jerk less, I tell ya.
I’m not going to replace all the computers in libraries and coffee shops. Or are you that clueless?
@Capt’n J,
Yes, very well said, Capt’n. You are not going to replace all the computers in libraries and coffee shops, are you. Unless you are an extremely charitable capt’n, this would be quite an expensive and time consuming adventure, to say the very least. But you are going to replace your own computer, eventually, aren’t you?
Yes! I had purchased a tower on eBay and was riped off. I never received the tower nor the money back. I lost $1,200 bucks. It was one of those transactions eBay doesn’t guarantee. I guess the recession is making people desperate now days.
So a very good friend of mine is helping me with acquiring a better machine. I’ll be up and running in a few weeks or so.
Captain Jack,
Whatever Marina did, did not affect me.
Go to the Forum Help Desk topic
and look at my graphs. I have always
been able to see videos without stuttering.
Keep in mind that HD is relatively new
and most systems are not able to keep up.
Go to the HotForWords YouTube channel.
That featured video plays in HD by default.
Can you watch it w/o stuttering?
As far as iPhone goes, that is a separate
higly compressed file done by YouTube.
It can take an hour or more after the
standard file is uploaded before seeing the
mobile version. When you watch on WiFi,
then you’ll see a huge difference.
That’s because you have a better video card that can handle the video stream. Do some research on video cards vs onboard video and that will help you understand what some people are going through. Video cards are very expensive. So to reduce the price of a computer to the consumer, companies would just put in a very basic card or put the it on the mother board. It was only enough to drive the monitor and maybe run a game or two. Software keeps asking for more resources that older video cards are unable to provide.
HD is not new. Japan has been using it for over 9+ years. I remember seeing it on the news. PopSci did an article back in 1996 about how Japan built it’s first HD TV. The main reason we didn’t have HD video on computers is was our limited bandwidth on the internet. It’s way behind the curve.
As I said many times before. I can not watch any HD videos. My onboard video card will not support it. Yet I can play DVDs on my computer just fine.
The Youtube video I watched on the iPhone was a about 1 or 2 weeks old. I did not watch the video from HFW site. It was pulled directly from Youtube app on the iPhone.
HD tvs were invented in the 50, it was military that usedm i think.
Yes, 1958 to be exact, and do you know what country had it first? I’ll give you a clue. Ask Marina. She might know.
2 months, you got a lot of catching up to do
Your telling me! It’s more like 6+ months of catching up to do. It’s not going to happen for my other issue is my internet connection is dog slow. I would drag some fiber optic to the docks here but I plan to move again so that’s not going to happen. Oh and Comcast said it would cost me $7,000 bucks to install the fiber. GET REAL! Well I have a plan. On my next move I plan to microwave a fiber connection to my slip. It will end up costing me about $4,000 grand but at least I get to keep the equipment. I just need to find and office that has fiber optic internet connection. From there it’s simple to install a microwave antenna and beam the signal to my yacht. Bam! Problem solved.
Aha. A smart capt’n you are indeed. Yes, your plan to microwave a fiber connection to your slip is the way to go I’m sure. Just make sure you report here once you’re done so we (the uneducated public) become wiser by reading your savvy posts.
It’s all on the internet. Just google it. Besides, you have to have a radio license to use and install it. So it’s pointless for me to post it in the Forums anyways.
@Capt’n J,
Eh, you bet, chief. I’ll google it as soon as I get some spare time. And oh, I didn’t know a radio license was needed here. So yes, in that case, you are absolutely right. It would be best to tell us the details about your radio license first. Then you lecture us about microwaving a fiber connection in our slips. How about that?
I feel much smarter now
$ 4000,- just to have a good connection.
That sucks.
I cant grab the videos, otherwise I would have sent you a dvd.
Could you fill us in on the George thing? Those two above don’t seem to have the slightest intention of sharing that info. That song that Leonard posted with the ukelele just poped in.
Ps in this post I had 0 sec editing time.
And it immediately showed up in the recent comments list
Already had one with 40 sec, but 0, that’s really short.
That’s the cheap homemade version. Satellite versions cost $20,000 before installation for the equipment and about $3-5 per mb (yes, it’s that expensive) with a data rate around 500k to 2.5 mbps. (2.5 is unheard of speeds. The fastest you could get was 700k)
No worries mate. I can hear the lessons just fine. I know where to get them if I really needed them. Hey I just realized something. Marina did say one time she was planning to put her videos on DVD. I guess that project got lost in the shuffle. She is so amazingly busy, I understand how that happened.
Yeah, them two are always sharing little secrets. lol, just kidding.
Hum.. 0 seconds. M will have to look into that.
country starts with us** or cc**
I switched of the firewall and reduced the safety settings of internet explorer. Logged out and in, but no George or what ever. Now it is back to its normal settings. And it is blocking twitpic.com and web9 and web8
Can’t really see any difference.
Can’t be Carlin. ps He actually is on the site
Time for this one 5 minutes, so maybe a hiccup of the site.
shhh.. wanted Jim boy to figure it out.
Since I don’t know what George is I can’t guess what the problem would be.
Yeah, I thought the time setting is just a hick up. Might not be from the site but with your bowser. The page might have loaded and the timer started before you were able to see the page. Browsers still have issues with properly reading html codes.
Then edit my post
And we can call it: George my post 
And put in R*** instead
Don’t think its the browser. I noticed that a post appears in the recent comment box after the edit-time has expired. And this one showed up immediately.
Hello Marina.
I love your story (and, of course, you are easy to look upon
).
.
. It is challenging, but we manage for now while she finishes school.
My beautiful girlfriend is also from Russia we have been together nearly 1 year
Sadly, I see her only 1-2x per month
Her English language skills are coming along great (much better than my Russian) , but I look for additional inspiration I might find for either of us.
… and I think your story is inspiring.
My questions
:
(1) Do you have more information (or parallel website you maintain) in Russian that I could share with my girlfriend (I found one video you actually did in Russian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....jfnt4gw5A)
(2) Do you have any tips for those of us without your language skills trying to learn Russian &/or even English ?
All the best
Shawn
I can answer question #1 for you. The answer is no. But the good news is this site is in English and it may help her out a bit to learn English. Marina has said she decided to study etymology so she can learn English better.
Hello Shawn,
Your link became malformed due to you adding the parenthesis adjacent to the video ID. Always leave a space after URLs.
Here is the the video you referred to that Marina did in Russian.
It is one of my favorites.
GTA IV in Russian!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGjfnt4gw5A
The other video that Marina did in Russian is this one, also one of my favorites.
AK-47 in Russian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....GBQQI-v_08
Hey Marina, love what your doing….i would like to request the word [Emcee] Thanks, stay goregous, and keep using your noodle, noggin and of course your brain. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!
[Conspiracy] My least favorite things in the world…
Force Taxpayers to Subsidize Your Business. First, pick something that makes no real-world, economic sense, like “biofuels” or “green technology.” Then, get the government to mandate and/or subsidize its use — and if possible, to tax and regulate your competition to death. It’s important, however, to mask your intentions by posing as a public-spirited crusader — like Al Gore, whose use of this technique has already built him a fortune of more than $100 million, and who could become a billionaire from the “carbon credit” racket if a cap-and-trade bill becomes law.
Benefit from Nepotism. Not a politician? No problem — just be related to one! Whether you’re the nephew
g00d dAy The Rolls perform at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago.
…hail [Chicago]
it must mean seven nights.
how come european football is called [soccer] here in the states?
Hey seankim,
check out this awesome HotForWords video lesson
on Football – Soccer You will be surprised
as I was, regarding the name soccer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38CaUjCorU
Where does the phrase [Calling a Spade a Spade] come from and what do they mean by a term [spade]? Thank you Marina, I love your website.
Homework: Would it be half a fortnight?? Which would make it seven nights.
I love this HotForWords site.
This site is way tooo awesome.
I love how the navigational links work.
I just enabled google ads on my site — and I am impressed by how they customize the ads to each page! They even put up a “Who is John Galt?” ad for the current lesson on dating advice by Ayn Rand (John Galt is a hero in one of Ayn Rand’s novels, and that question appears in that novel)!
What, you mean there are more?
how random
It’s called a “random act of commenting”.
But, in this case, that might actually not be true, hehe.
Word request [ omnipotent ]. As Q on Star Trek was omnipotent. Does it mean he was impotent?
Loved those shows. Maybe it means arrogant, or powerful.
I only say this because he was both.
I rather be important than impotent.
What about the word [asshole]? Just have to wonder how my favorite word came to be.
here—here—just A joke—HEAR…The Asshole Song- Cover on ukulele
…Chorus: Were you born an asshole? G
Or did you work at it your whole life? C
C C# D
Either way it worked out fine
’cause you’re an asshole tonight. CG
Yes you’re an A S S H O L E…
And don’t you try to blame it on me.
You deserve all the credit.
You’re an asshole tonight.
You were an asshole yesterday.
You’re an asshole tonight.
And I’ve got a feelin’
you’ll be an asshole the rest of your life.
And I was talkin’ to your mother
just the other night.
I told her I thought you were an asshole.
She said, “Yes. I think you’re right.”
And all your friends are assholes
’cause you’ve known them your whole life.
And somebody told me
you’ve got an asshole for a wife
Leonard, your better than this…
I know i’m no [asshole]
This is pretty silly:
The Facebook of Genesis
HA! That is brilliant!
Too effin’ funny, animalntaz.
Thanks for sharing it.
I read somewhere that the pyramids in Egypt were aligned to follow the movement of the star Sirius across the sky to help them keep time at night!
I would like to request the phrase [to eat crow].
Thanks,
Francesco
Marina, this has nothing to do w/fortnight, but it is a word request. First, I know you get to Manhattan from time to time and my wife and I had the pleasure today to visit a most unusual place for ice cream and desserts called Serendipity3 at 225 East 60th Street between 2nd and 3rd Aves.
I’d like to suggest [serendipity] … a funny sounding word.
Here’s an interesting point about this restaurant: it holds the Guinness World Record for the most expensive dessert: an ice cream sundae costing $1,000 (Golden Opulence Sundae).
This place is always hopping with celebs and you’d fit right in!
If you go, you MUST try the Frozen Hot Chocolate. You will be [on Cloud 9]. 
Hi and hello, Serendipity – lucky discovery
the HeadMaster 
at HotForWords 
Serendipity Singers – Don’t Let The Rain Come Down
I love ice-Cream 
…One of my favorites, done by Marina
…have a grand-day
[ Apple of my eye]
[heart of hearts]
I would like to request the word Purr As in hey my animal likes to purr
I would like to request the word [traipse]. As in the lyric ‘we could go traipsing through the ruins’…
That’s a great suggestion, maggiemae!
I’ve often wondered about that, too. I think it may be a corruption of [trespass]. Typical usage from old books and stories I’ve read had people accusing each other of “traipsin’ across my land like you owned the place,” etc. The two words (traipse and trespass) seem interchangeable to me in that regard. So the question remains: how did it get that way? I suspect that the word trespass may derive from the French language.
If you treat the first “s” as in the French, that is, as a silent ‘S’ i.e., “tres bon” (very nice) and hurry through the second (-pass) syllable, dropping the vowel, [traipse] is what you end up with. Just a suspicion, though it might be worth considering. But what the hell do I know? HotForWords must investigate!
it’s official then; good thing nobody owns the internet
Great lesson Marina. I never new what a fortnight meant.
Homework: se’nnight means seventh night.
Not a time but a duration — 7 day week.
Another fine lesson of interest and mystery solved.
How many dozens or hundreds of words that we’ve all heard, and maybe even use – that we don’t know the real meaning of?
If you’re like me, you probably learned most of your vocabulary by ‘picking it up’ through hearing words or reading them – and then working out a meaning by context of usage, or an explanation by someone you weren’t embarassed to ask.
Then somewhere along the line – after you could read and write – you were taught or told to use a Dictionary.
I did this of course – but only for words I THOUGHT I didn’t know the meaning of!
And THEN I’d do a pretty [cursory] investigation to quickly get a definition for the word and move on. 
Sometime in college, I began to realize that this method was not really cutting it, and I would go so far as to looking at the etymology also when I looked up a word, and a whole new level of understanding opened up – not just of the WORD, but to more of the WORLD.
Here’s an example of a misunderstanding I generated for myself, that used to be pretty common from others I’ve talked to. There used to be a popular TV show here in the States called ‘Candid Camera’ where they would hide a camera and play jokes on people to watch their reactions to situations — very funny. I and many of my friends grew up thinking [Candid] meant ‘hidden’ – because the camera was hidden on the show. Imagine what I thought when people said they were speaking Candidly?
I usually have a point when I write these long posts – so here’s one:
I think what Marina is doing here has a value much greater than the obvious things we all enjoy from coming here and viewing the lessons and having a good time. There is Entertainment, Community, Interesting Discussion, Clever Banter, AND its Educational!
What has my thought process at a real excitement level though – is that she is actually popularizing a much neglected fundamental of education – etymology and word origins – that underpin the very basis of how we all communicate and understand one another – across cultural and language boundaries.
No, learning the origin of a few interesting words doesn’t accomplish that – but popularizing the concept of having intellectual curiosity and seeking to find things out – from a really cool, fun, attractive and smart ‘role model’ goes a long way further than just the lessons I think.
WORD REQUEST: Today’s lesson triggered this for me. I’ve been too lazy to really dig into it but it might be interesting.
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address starts with ‘Four [Score] and Seven Years ago…’
We know a [score] is a count – like ‘keeping score’ or the ‘score’ in a sporting match – but what the hell was Lincoln talking about?
I worked out the meaning when I was young by algebra, and it turned out to be correct:
1863 (year of address) – 1776 (year of America founding) = 87 years = 4 X (meaning of Score?) + 7 = WTF?
It would have been so much easier if I’d just known why [Score] meant that!
Of Course I should have said that ‘Candid Camera’ stunts are done all over the world – but I suspect the misunderstanding of the term is unique to English?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....hyJIZ0tEGE
Interesting word “score”.
Using fingers and toes, one can count up to 20. Supposedly shepherds wanting to count sheep would make a notch on a stick for every 20 sheep they counted. They used “score” for that activity; score has roots in the meaning of cutting/shearing and so, based on the notching/cutting of the stick, the shepherds thought “score” would be appropriate.
1) Meaning 20 (as in the Gettysburg address): each mark represents 20.
2) Meaning to scratch (as in score dirty dishes): the stick is marked with a scratch.
3) Meaning to keep track of events (as in scoring in sports): the shepherds were keeping track of their sheep.
4) Slang (succeed at having sex with someone): doubt this usage has anything to do with the etymological roots of score (viz., “to cut/shear”); suspect slang usage is by people wanting to brag about conquests (attempting to achieve a false sense of pride based on how many conquests they have had). So slang usage is just based on the modern use in sports transformed to “keeping-track-of-your or adding-to-your long list of conquests”.
Weren’t gunfighters in the old Wild West supposed to cut a notch on their gun for every man they had shot?
Then it’s a short jump for the imagination to picture more modern Casanovas cutting notches on the bedpost to keep track of each of their conquests.
Good point — the people who came up with the slang term “score” are likely to have known about notching a gun. So now we have this issue: why didn’t they coin an expression involving “notch” (perhaps, “I added a notch today”)? And what would they be putting the notch on? There is also the tradition of fighter pilots painting a symbol on their plane for each hit; and football players painting a symbol on their helmets for each “whatever thing a football player keeps track of (yards? TDs? QB sacks? interceptions?)”
So many questions and so few answers.
I would like to request the word [hoedown].
You prove sexy and smart are not mutually exclusive.
Slick as a whistle, haha. A se’nnight is half a fortnight, which is itself half a moon.
“But the moon’s an arrant thief
and her pale fire she snatches from the sun.”
– William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
I suggested word [gobo] on twitter; but then linked to new word that sounds dirty, but it is not dirty: [cuculoris]
I would like to know about the word [Jacquerie] Could this happen in modern times?
Recently, HotForWords made a comment that involved fiction being inspirational. Aristotle was the first to observe that the power of art lies in the fact that it can show us what life can be and ought to be. Ayn Rand wrote novels under that guiding principle; and one of her fans complained that if her hero was at a date then everything would be very romantic and go smoothly: Ayn Rand would depict the hero’s opening a bottle of champagne and pouring it as being swift, smooth, and efficient and the entire scene would be very glamorous; but if he (the fan) were at a date in “real life”, the champagne cork would be stuck, he would have a hard time opening the bottle, and the mood would be marred. I present Ayn Rand’s answer to this dating question in a two part video, with part 1 being here.
The short answer is: In life, one ignores the unimportant; in art, one omits it; the full answer is here.
Dear Marina,
What a nice dress! It’s not at all low-cut and your shoulders look beautiful. It’s very pleasing to see you like this.
My guess is that “sen’night” means seven nights, but it’s easier for us to call it a “week.”
If it’s German, they would now say “sieben nachts.” Maybe it was different in Middle English?
Seesixcm6
A squire began his weapons training in sword, shield, and lance.
After seven days, he was still weak, but after two weeks, he was one “forte knight.”
You guys knew about this appearance from about 0:25s?
Would anyone but a gay man get away with touching Marina’s breasts in front of a huge audience?
Comment replies might not have been working when I replied to you with this question.
I suppose the meaning will become clear in Part 2.
Of course, since I’ll never be dating either HotForWords or Marilyn Monroe, my interest is only academic.
No, its the camera, carry a provisional size camera say its for tv and you can get away with practically anything.
provisional= professionalYes, Hs4Mm, many of us like me watched the show live on YouTube. There were several comments about that part of the show. Marina had told us ahead of time that there would be a surprise and after the show, Marina commented that it was staged.
This page is on the day of the YT Live event.
http://www.hotforwords.com/2008/11/22/youtube-live-tonight/
This page was started a day before the event, but has comments from the event and thereafter.
http://www.hotforwords.com/200.....nt-page-1/
There are other pages as well that contain Marina’s comments.
Here I thought fortnight was where you get a couple of big boxes and some blankets and make a secret hiding place. Then a treat like popcorn and juice always made fortnight special. Hey Marina, you want to build a fort?
Hey Hotforwords
I always wanted to know were the word ((PLAGUE)) started from
hi hotforwords!
i was invited to an event and want to know the origens for [RSVP] ?
thanks!
I believe it’s short for respondez s’il vous plait, a phrase Romanians use to mean “let me know if you’re coming.” Right, Chemikal?
seriously, who didn’t know this? I’m from Sweden and have probably never used this word, but simple logic made me able to understand what it meant. the origin is always interestign to know, but the meaning, that’s like general knowledge
well i had been wondering about that for the last 30 years. Thanks for finally helping me clear that up!
Word RequestI was reading about President Clinton on that most interesting
day in court when he tried to explain the meaning of [ is ].
http://www.slate.com/id/100016.....2/
What exactly is the meaning of [ is ]
[was]
…more about Eddys dad…
Few Friends at Harvard
Although he made some friends at Harvard-especially among the few Irish students there-and was popular with young Irish women, Kennedy never was accepted by a majority of the students. Anti-Irish, anti-Catholic sentiment was strong. One friend warned Kennedy to be very careful in his behavior because Boston Brahmins were watching for any sign that would justify their prejudices. Kennedy’s determination to ingratiate himself with the socially prominent Protestants was viewed by some as disagreeable and pretentious. He was never invited to join any of Harvard’s better clubs. Friends attested to what they felt was one of Kennedy’s more admirable qualities: his adherence to the tenets of his religious upbringing. His Catholic faith was important to him and he attended mass regularly. On one occasion, he even hired a buggy so that all of his friends could ride with him to church.
Business Success
Kennedy was a shrewd money maker. He showed an entrepreneurial spirit and an appreciation for money at an early age. Kennedy held a number of jobs as a youngster, including candy vendor, newspaper hawker, and play producer. He also performed jobs for Orthodox Jews, whose faith prohibited them from working on their holy days. During his student days at Harvard, he and a friend bought a bus and began operating sightseeing tours. Kennedy negotiated with another tour operator to share working hours. He was successful at this, earning $5,000 over the course of several summers.
GRaSS,switches
Joe Kennedy was a [sabbath goy]?
Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy, Sr. (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was a prominent American businessman and political figure, and the father of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, United States Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and grandfather of US Representative Patrick Kennedy. He was a leading member of the Democratic Party and of the Irish Catholic community. He was the inaugural Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later directed the Maritime Commission. Kennedy served as the United States Ambassador to Great Britain from 1938 until late 1940, including the early part of World War II.
Born to a political family in Boston, Massachusetts, Joseph Kennedy was educated at Boston Latin School and Harvard University, and embarked on a career in finance, making a large fortune as a stock market and commodity investor and by investing in real estate and a wide range of industries. Allegedly these included bootlegging, the illegal importation of alcohol into the United States during Prohibition, though these allegations have never been proven.[1][not in citation given] It has been substantiated that toward the end of Prohibition, Kennedy and James Roosevelt traveled to Scotland to buy distribution rights for Scotch whisky. In addition, Kennedy had purchased spirits-importation rights from Schenley, a firm in Canada.[2]
During World War I, he was an assistant general-manager of Bethlehem Steel and developed a friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Kennedy made huge profits from reorganizing and refinancing several Hollywood studios, ultimately merging several acquisitions into Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) studios. After Prohibition ended in 1933, Kennedy consolidated an even larger fortune when his company, Somerset Importers, became the exclusive American agent for Gordon’s Gin and Dewar’s Scotch. He owned the largest office building in the country, Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, giving his family an important base in that city and an alliance with the Irish-American political leadership there.
…crazy love…hoover….fbi…General DOUG
Love the YouTube title, WTF?
What the Fortnight? hehehe
Marina on the Youtube it says WTF.(above your vid) I think you should put the word fortnight(above the vid), because when I first seen the WTF above the video. I thought you where doing the slang for WHAT THE FUCK.
I hope this helps any other Youtubers first thought of WTF.
Thank ya for that. I was way off. My way of thinking, well, I assumed it meant, When’s The Food?
Hello my dear teacher!
I would like to request the word [halcyon].
I hope you will find tranquility while researching it.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
I look forward to each of your lessons, my dear teacher. Please keep up the good work.
Your faithful student,
nightsky
Excellent lesson Marina!
I didn’t know that fortnight had it’s origin from the Old Germanic.
Hey, Bob, see, I’m not thaaaat archaic.
Homework: se’nnight
Seven days and seven nights also known as a week.
This song sums it up. Don’t bother clicking if
slurpy romantic songs make you want to
douse yourself in gasoline and set your heart on fire.
Seven Days by Helena Paparizou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....LCHB1JPUpI
Good one…here 1…Moody Blues: Isn’t Life Strange-Seventh Sojourn
One of their greatest songs off the Seventh Sojourn album. There’s a leafless tree in Asia Under the sun there’s a homeless man There’s a forest fire in the valley … 
[BeLLS] R dinging
…..
In Thailand they have both Miss Teen and Mistine, but the girls of the night are best handled with caution.
Bob: you kicked my lovin-ass again…
I’m muled…nite, girls 
I’ve known for a long time that fortnight means 2 weeks but I never knew why. Thank you, trusty hot for words.
Oh dear Marina, what has happened here? It seems you have got a pillarbox in the video, but only on one side oddly.. God knows how you managed that!
I liked this lesson though
Somewhat recently, I recall you reporting that you were having some issues with ads appearing on your site. You still having issues? Although I got accepted in google’s adsense program a while back, it was only in the past few hours that I generated the html code and installed them on my site (three ads per page) — and I started seeing ads right away. And the ads kept getting customized depending on which page I loaded — I found it fascinating to see the ads change based on each page’s content!
yeah, my phone and my playstation do it too… werid]
The boy on the left appears to mount a resistance to new words. He’s only a teenager and his mind is freezing up.
Here is the answer(I CHEATED)….
start passing out the canes, for the staff will need ser(p)vants
Day Three The Great Migration and the [[Harlem Renaissance
]]
wOrk
A sennight is what Pedantikarl will become when he gets old and senile.
What do you mean, “when”.
I, the white “ass’n knight” am way beyond old and senile.
Who are all those people and where is my horse
Good one Rijk
That was funny.
I thought “senile” was the view from the pyramids.
(Am I repeating myself again?) 
I’m going to pass on the WasteTimeChasingCars videos. I’m not into that kind of humor. I’m sorry.
Meanwhile, I’d guess a se’ennight is seventeen nights.
[god bless you] In my country we say “die you bastard!” That is in the Czech Republic.
I think I figured out why are all these little men with their vulgar comments on you tube are so obsessed with disrespecting a strong intellligent sexy woman they mustt feel threatned or something
countries such as Pakistan, India, New Zealand and Australia where many wages, salaries and most social security benefits are paid on a fortnightly basis, I never knew that! Hmmm, my friend Ralph McNight from Australia used to always say, he gets paid every fortnight! I thought he was joking or something!
Very informative!
it came from old english, seofon nihta which means seven nights.
And is it true that in Japan, aisukuriimu is a frozen dairy dessert?
Lovely as usual
dearest Marina
MatsRG
seven nights = one week
This spot is the pole position of the comments right?
So why do they call it [pole position]. (love this sound) Is it after the north pole as on top of the world or something else.
Some people feel “on top of the world” if they get the first post on a new HFW video.
Well they didn’t get it this time.
After watching the video and not seeing comments I first thought the site was broken.