FSOTD #48-B *F-words*

No FSOTD vocabulary post the entire month of October...for shame.   FSOTD does not live by music alone.  But with the new month comes renewed opportunity.  Here are three F-words.   Everybody can use a good F-word.

Some background: Wuz watching the Monty Python-a-thon (nice name) on IFC a few weeks back, and John Cleese got to talking about their 1979 flick Life of Brian.  Apparently, the Pythons cut out a scene about Islam and Muhammad that, according to Cleese, would have caused Muslims to "fulminate" which most surely would have led to some sort of "fatwah".  Both terms were familiar but not part of my jargon.   I experienced a fleeting, feeble hope that the interview might do a pop-up video thing, with text bubbles defining both words... but no.

Here's what he meant...

fulminate  v.   1. To issue a thunderous verbal attack or denunciation: fulminated against political chicanery.  2. To explode or detonate.

fatwah  n.  1. A legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar;  "bin Laden issued three fatwahs, calling upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States".

The third word I chose from a passing thought while on a dog walk.  Somehow, "flotsam and jetsam" crawled by in the mental ticker.  Started wonderin' just what the definition of flotsam really was.  Stray and miscellaneous items that accompany jetsam and float on the open oceans?  That was my quick stab; here's what thefreedictionary.com had to say (#3 striking me as something of a callous use of the word)...

flotsam  n.  1. Wreckage or cargo that remains afoat after a ship has sunk.  Floating  refuse or debris.  2.  Discarded odds and ends.   3. Vagrant, usually destitute people.

As promised...  3 F-words.  Use 'em, trade 'em.  Collect all three.


http://firstsongoftheday.blogspot.com