not easily managed; contrary

The mule is a froward animal.

c. 1300, Old English fromweard “turned from or away,” from from + -weard. The opposite of toward, it was Latin pervertus in early translations of the Psalms, and also meant “about to depart, departing,” and “doomed to die.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for froward

By now, you realize this isn’t a typo. It isn’t “forward,” it’s “froward.” I have two videos today, but only one is from a traditional YouTube search. Obviously, all of the YouTube hits were simple misspellings of forward, but I takes what I can gets.

In high school, I loved when the orchestra and band would play popular music. Frankly, classical bores me, mostly. But a new take on a song I already love? SOLD! What better example of this than Europe’s montage-ready power ballad, “The Final Countdown,” I ask you. The answer is NOTHING! And when that brass riff pounds your brain in all day long, think of me and feel joy!

It’s the Final Linkdown!!!!

And this, well, this is just a perfect illustration of today’s word. It’s wonderful when things like this just fall into my lap. Senor Joaquin Phoenix has lost his mind and his razor. David Letterman is the poor mule owner trying to make his way into town to peddle with a particularly froward mule.

“Are you serious with this? Maniacal linkage? Really?”

Victuals \VIT-uhlz\, noun:

food or provisions, esp. for humans

Before the hurricane hit, we went to the store for victuals.

c 1303, vitaylle (singular), from Anglo-French and Old French vitaille, from Late Latin victualia “provisions,” noun use of plural of victualis “of nourishment,” from victus “livelihood, food, sustenance,” from base of vivere “to live.” Spelling altered by 1523 to conform with Latin, but pronunciation remains “vittles.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for victuals

OK. I’ll be honest. I didn’t know that this was REALLY pronounced ‘vittles.’ I really just assumed the word was VIKchulz or VIKtualz and that it had been Southern bastardized into the separate word of vittles.

You learn something new every day! This is why I do this.

Speaking of educational, take a look and listen at the sad case of the tiny island of The House That Jack Built Macquarie Island, near Australia.

They used the cats to get the rabbits. They used the cats to get the mice. They used the cats to get the link.

OK, Lego minifigs swearing will always make me laugh. ALWAYS! NSFW Language.

“Is this Beef or Link?”
“Both, sir. You ordered the Blink.”

1. of or like a dog or member of the dog family
2. any animal belonging to a group of meat-eaters including dogs, foxes, and wolves
3. pertaining to a canine tooth
4. one of the four teeth next to the incisors; cuspid

Several police departments with canine squads similar in size to the Prince George’s unit reported few — if any — cases of dogs biting officers.
– David S. Fallis and Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post, 2001-12-30

First came Netflix and Zipcar. Now comes a company that plans to rent dogs to Bostonians willing to pay steep fees for a canine friend without worry of commitment.
– Sarah Schweitzer, Boston Globe, 2007-12-17

by 1398 as “pointed teeth,” from Latin caninus “of the dog,” from canis “dog,” from Proto Indo-European base *kwon- “dog.” The adjective is attested from 1613 and the noun meaning “dog” is first recorded 1869.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for canine

Jeez, nothing yesterday and today an embarrassment of riches! I usually don’t post video game content, but here’s the second one in three days. This is from an extremely odd, yet fun, game for the Wii – Wario Ware Smooth Moves. It’s essentially a tech demo for the Wiimote. This is taken from one of the levels and features disco dogs. The music is catchy and the dogs are adorable. You actually get a two-fer here. The first video is far too long at over 10 minutes, but it’s worth watching the first few minutes just to see the cute story that leads into the microgames. The second video has the ending of the story beginning about a minute into it. Both are posted for your pleasure.

Links are Groovy, man. Links are Far Out too, bro.

This one isn’t funny, but it is interesting. It’s about a device, called the Canine Remote Deployment System (CRDS), for use by Canine Search and Rescue teams. Dogs can access people trapped in rubble far easier than other people can and this device is used to deploy a medkit and radio to trapped people to help them survive until further help can arrive. The video isn’t tremendously exciting, but practical demonstration begins about halfway through. There is a practice rubble field used as well toward the end.

Can you find the trapped link? That’s a Good Boy!

More info on the CRDS can be found here. Man, those Canadians sure come up with some cool stuff!

Bemoan \bi-MOHN\, verb:

to moan about or weep for; mourn

The tower’s approval came despite opposition from residents and some city leaders who bemoan the proliferation of cell towers in the city, especially when they are placed near homes.
– Janine Zúñiga, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2008-11-22

Readers rave about Ubuntu’s new version of Linux, slam copy protection for high-def content, and bemoan royalty fees for Internet radio.
– Kellie Parker, The Washington Post, 2007-05-04

Old English bemænan.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bemoan

It’s true. I noticed that Dictionary.com has started choosing their words of the day alphabetically. I decided to begin fresh with the next cycle. I would ignore all that has come before and start anew with bringing you my odd little pickings from the YouTube detritus using my oddly chosen filter of Dictionary.com’s word of the day. I’ll do my best, but from now on, if I miss a day, I’ll miss a day. Too often, these long lapses are caused because I felt impelled to post continuously and so if I missed a day, I would not post until I could get to that word, causing an insurmountable backlog in pretty short order. Also, sometimes the WOTD doesn’t come until later in the day. Unlike a webcartoonist, I am distinctly not in control of my own content.

Also, frankly, sometimes the word just doesn’t give me anything worth posting. On those days, I’ll try to post the word anyway and then will let you know that there was nothing to find, and I’ll just post some unrelated funny video so you still get a somewhat daily dose of humor.  All that out of the way, on to today’s word!

Acclaim \uh-KLEYM\, verb:

1. to welcome with loud approval; praise highly
2. a shout or show of approval

A day after abandoning his proposal to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, Gov. Eliot Spitzer won the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself.
– Nicholas Confessore and Raymond Hernandez, New York Times, 2007-11-15

H. Igor Ansoff, a retired educator and author whose visionary theories on strategic business manage-ment inspired worldwide acclaim died Sunday in Escondido.
– Jack Williams, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2002-07-16

c 1320 from Latin acclamare “to shout” from medieval Latin acclamare “to claim.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for acclaim

The first video is a flashback to anyone who grew up watching Saturday morning cartoon shows on the big three networks in the ’80s. This commercial was on serious heavy rotation. Obviously, Acclaim being the name of a major video game company, the majority of the videos had something to do with video games, but an unfortunate number involved the song Critical Acclaim for Rock Band or Guitar Hero, I’m not sure which, or else for some Avenged Sevenfold song. And I hate putting music on this blog. It has to be pretty awesome, I think, for me to want to share it with you. Yes, I suffer for you.

This link is accurate from up to 30 feet away!

Now this … This … I’m not sure what this is. It amused me, but I can’t quite figure out what they’re trying to do. I believe this is a regular channel, but the name YouTube Poop was enough to scare me away from further investigation. There is a limit to how much I’ll suffer for you. Didn’t see THAT comin’ didja?

Hit the link button! NO! That links EVERYBODY!

Twilight; dusk.

The children squealed and waved and smiled, their teeth flashing white in the gloaming.
– Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life

It was the gloaming, when a man cannot make out if the nebulous figure he glimpses in the shadows is angel or demon, when the face of evening is stained by red clouds and wounded by lights.
– Homero Aridjis, 1492: The Life and Times of Juan Cabezon of Castile (translated by Betty Ferber)

Arrived at the village station on a wintry evening, when the gloaming is punctuated by the cheery household lamps, shining here and there like golden stars, through the leafless trees.
– Margaret Sangster

Gloaming comes from Old English glomung, from glom, “dusk.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for gloaming

Here’s a suitably creepy and pretty video for Halloween!

Overbearing pride or presumption.

During his long tenure in the financial world, Friedman has watched dozens of his competitors’ businesses killed by hubris born of success rather than by unsound business decisions or adverse market conditions.
– Lisa Endlich, Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success

This is the actor’s hubris, to imagine the world possessed of a single, avid eye fixed solely and always on him.
– John Banville, Eclipse

With dizzying hubris, Shelley elevated the vocation of the poet above that of priest and statesman.
– Peter Gay, Pleasure Wars

Hubris comes from Greek hybris, “excessive pride, wanton violence.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for hubris

The wonderful Jonathan Coulton rambles between songs, sounding a little hubritical.

The link made him famous.

Do yourself a favor and do a youtube search for Jonathan Coulton.

1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.
2. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit.
– David Breashears, “Death on the mountain”, The Observer, March 30, 2003

They were stopped by savage winds and forced to bivouac 153 m below the day’s goal.
– Erik Weihenmayer, “Men of the Mountain”, Time Pacific, February 4, 2002

Bivouac comes from French bivouac, from German Beiwache, “a watching or guarding,” from bei, “by, near” + wachen, “to watch.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for bivouac

It’s not quite Veteran’s Day yet, but this was my first find, and considering the military origin of today’s word, I couldn’t imagine finding anything better or complementary to this beautifully written and read poem.

The Link of the Free and Home of the Brave.

Execrable \EK-sih-kruh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Deserving to be execrated; detestable; abominable.
2. Extremely bad; of very poor quality; very inferior.

His human-rights record was abysmal. His relations with Washington were adversarial. He rivaled Zimbabwe’s execrable Robert Mugabe for the title “Africa’s Saddam.”
– James S. Robbins, “The Liberian Opportunity”, National Review, July 8, 2003

For while agents and editors often misunderstand their market and sometimes reject good or even great works, they do prevent a vast quantity of truly execrable writing from being published.
– Laura Miller, “Slush, slush, sweet Stephen”, Salon, July 25, 2000

Any theatergoer who has ever felt the urge to murder an actor for an execrable performance should get a kick out of two backstage mysteries that do the deed with a nice theatrical flourish.
– Marilyn Stasio, review of The Gold Gamble, by Herbert Resnicow and Death Mask, by Jane Dentinger, New York Times, October 30, 1988

The decision to level the ancient cathedral is described candidly by one latter-day authoritative guidebook as having demonstrated “execrable taste.”
– Dick Grogan, “Pillars speak out to save cathedral”, Irish Times, June 11, 1997

Execrable derives from Latin exsecrabilis, execrabilis, from exsecrari, execrari, “to execrate, to curse,” from ex-, “out of, away from, outside of” + sacer, “sacred.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for execrable

Considering the ridiculously heavy rotation these commercials got, the sheer annoyance of the character and the oversaturation of him, these commercials surely qualify as execrable. I don’t know how this comes up on a search for the word though.

The link-a bus is coming, and everybody’s jumpin’…

1. To bend the knee or touch one knee to the ground, as in worship.
2. To be servilely respectful or obedient; to grovel.

After graduation I talked my way into a job at Ionic Development Corporation, a legendary place in Cambridge on the Charles River, a huge brick building with a lobby the size of a cathedral; every time I walked in, I felt as if I should genuflect.
– Daniel Lyons, Dog Days

People worship capital, adore its aura, genuflect before Porsches and Tokyo land values.
– Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance (translated by Alfred Birnbaum)

Chen said recently he was proud to be a Chinese, a signal to Beijing that he is willing to be conciliatory. The communists, however, apparently want him to genuflect more unambiguously.
– Sin-Ming Shaw, “Give This Guy a Break!”, Time Asia, October 30, 2000

Genuflect is from Late Latin genuflectere, from Latin genu, “knee” + flectere, “to bend.”

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for genuflect

I could NOT agree with this guy MORE! I have to say I kind of dig the idea of a RePUNKlican, btw. To me it harkens back to the belief in the value of the individual that lies at the heart of the GOP principles. If only they’d shed all that stupid social interference … of course, then they’d be Libertarians – aka, Republicans who like sex.