omphaloskepsis (om-fuh-lo-SKEP-sis) noun

[soaring crane]

Hi,

 

this was the word of the day at "A Word A Day" and it made me smile to think that there's a word for it

 

Even better that it starts with "Om", although that may apply better to contemplating the Baihui.

 

here's the rest of the post:

 

[From Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination).

Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is

also the ancestor of suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer),

despise, espionage, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.]

 

Piece,

 

SC

[KnightoftheBlackRose]

Quite interesting I didnt even know that there are people to would conduct such actions enough to develope a means to desribe it. I will have to commit this to memory so I am not in the dark if I ever hear it agian, thank you

[Taomeow]

I thought at first Om- was derived from "omnis," the Latin for "everything," and then -Phalo = related to the phallus, and then -Skepsis = mistrustful or critical attitude... so Om Phallo Skepsis must mean something like "universal mistrust of the male principle."

Edited March 1, 2007 by Taomeow

[Uncle Fester]

.

Edited September 28, 2021 by darebak

[VCraigP]

I thought at first Om- was derived from "omnis," the Latin for "everything," and then -Phalo = related to the phallus, and then -Skepsis = mistrustful or critical attitude... so Om Phallo Skepsis must mean something like "universal mistrust of the male principle."

 

Taomeow

Nice made up definition.

 

You are demonstrating how to play one fo my favorite parlor games , "Fictionary" (not to be confused with Pictionary).

 

Take a word out of a good dictionary which no one knows the real definition off the top of their head.

Everyone writes their own fictional definition and turns it in to the person holding the dictionary who adds the actual definition to the list (dumbing down the description a bit to not give it away as coming from the dictionary.)

 

You get one point for guessing the actual definition and you get two points for every person who guesses that your fictional answer is the correct one. Very fun and funny game.

 

omphaloskepsis is a perfect Fictionary word. Now to find someone to play...

 

Craig

[soaring crane]

 

omphaloskepsis is a perfect Fictionary word. Now to find someone to play...

 

Craig

 

 

Hi Craig,

 

you may enjoy a browse through the Wordsmith archives:

 

http://wordsmith.org/awad/themes.html

 

Cast a glance at the third category under Februrary 2007

[Taomeow]

Craig,

 

yeah, I know, I played this game! A long time ago... The additional kick was provided by the fact that the people I played with were all highly educated recent immigrants with very limited command of English. You could fool them with "cat" or "dog" (almost) but anything Latin-derived rang a bell, so made-up definitions could get arcane -- and hilarious.

 

I like to play a word game with myself where I trace a word to its "elemental forces of origin." I posted once about "remember" being the opposite of "dismember" -- which makes "remember" transpire as meaning "make whole again."

Or take "understand" -- it means "stand UNDER," I picture knowledge like an umbrella over the head of someone who under-stands... shielding her from the rest of the perceivable phenomena. Or "deserve" -- SERVE jumps out at me, obviously a servant's attitude, a slave's virtue... And so on.