Allusions: "Abandon hope all ye w ho enter here"

"Abandon hope all ye who enter here" is the popular translation of the words written over the entrance to Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia, c 1320). "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" would be a more accurate translation of the Italian "Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate!" Dante's Divine Comedy (from Wikipedia)
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.

The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse.

The work was originally simply titled Comedìa and was later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first printed edition to add the word divine to the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce, published in 1555 by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.

Bibliography
Dictionary of Phrase and Allusion, Nigel Rees, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1991
(British allusions)

Don't Avoid the V: VACUA and VACUUM

There are a few worrds that mwean empty space, and have the prefix VAC. These words don't have anything to do with the cow (VACA, which gave its name to VACCINE, VACCINA., VACCINIA, etc).

VACUA: a pluralization of VACUUM

VACUUM: a space enirely devoid of matter. Pluralized VACUUMS

There is also :

VACUITY - an empty space
VACUOLE - a small cavity in human tissue
VACUOUS - empty, brainless ("He had a vacuous express on his face")

They all come from the Latin, "vacuus" - for empty.

How to Use the U: UFOLOGY

Interestingly, UFOLOGY - the study of UFOs, is present in The Dictionary.

And it is even pluralized, UFOLOGIES.

How can UFOLOGY be present, but not UFO????

But UFO is not in The Dictionary.

Yes, UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object, but if you're going to have UFOLOGY as a word, then surely UFO (pronounced You-Fo) should be a word also.

But it isn't.

7 LETTER WORD: L L P N I G O

3 letter words
GIN
ILL
ION
LIP
LOG
LOP
NIL
NIP
OIL
PIG
PIN
POI
POL

4 letter words
GILL
GLOP
LING
LINO
LION
LOIN
LONG
PILL
POLL
PONG

5 letter words
LOGIN
OPING

6 letter words
LOPING
POLING

7 letter word
POLLING

6-LETTER WORD: A G B G E D

3 letter words
AGE
BAD
BAG
BED
BEG
DAB
DAG
DEB
EGG
GAB
GAD
GAG

4 letter words
ABED
AGED
BADE
BEAD
EGAD
GAGE

5 letter words
BADGE
GAGED

6 letter word
BAGGED

Don't avoid the V: VACCINAL and VACCINEE

VACCINE is a word that most people will be familiar with.

What's VACCINAL? Well, it's an adjective. I suppose to use it in a sentence you'd say, "She had a VACCINAL reaction to the shot."

And then there's VACCINEE. "All the VACCINEES have been put in that room until we're ready to let them go home."

No "vaccinator" however.

Where did the word VACCINE and all its derivatives come from?

Well, from cows. Apparently the first vaccine was derived from the COWPOX, and so the term for VACCINE was derived from the word for COW.

From Dictionary.com
"matter used in vaccination," 1846, from L. vaccina, fem. of vaccinus "pertaining to a cow" (see vaccination).

6-LETTER WORD: M M L E A D

3 letter words ALE
DAM
ELM
LAD
LEA
LED
MAD
MED

4 letter words DALE
DAME
DEAL
LADE
LAME
LEAD
MADE
MALE
MEAD
MEAL
MELD

5 letter words LAMED
MEDAL

6 letter word
LAMMED

6-letter word: A L L E Y T

3 letter words
ALE
ALL
ATE
AYE
EAT
ELL
ETA
LAY
LEA
LET
LYE
TEA
YEA
YET

4 letter words
ALLY
LATE
TALE
TALL
TEAL
TELL
YELL

5 letter words
ALLEY
TALLY
TELLY

6 letter word
LATELY

How to use the U: UDOMETER and UDON

How do you measure rain faill? With an UDOMETER. (Plural UDOMETERS).

What is the technical term for measuring rain? According to The Dictionary, it is UDOMETRY. And it is also pluralized UDOMETRIES. (I couldn't find it at www.dictionary.com, but, what can ya do?)

The word comes from the Latin/French. "Udus" is the Latin word for "damp."

And UDON - plural UDONS, is a Japanese noodle.

How To Use the U: UDDER and UDO

UDDER and UDDERS are words anyone should know. They are the mammary glands of cows. (Shockingly, there is apparently no such word as "udderless".

UDO, plural UDOS, is a Japanese herb.

Don't confuse UDO with the great German cult actor, Udo Kier!

Don't Avoid the V: VACCINA, VACCINIA

VACCINA means "VACCINIA."

And what does VACCINIA mean:

cowpox

COWPOX, pluralized COWPOXES, is a cow disease.

So:

VACCINA, VACCINAS
VACCINIA, VACCINIAS

Dictionary.com provides a fuller definition: 1. a variant of the cowpox virus that became established in vaccines derived from cowpox-inoculated humans.

2. Pathology . an acute infection caused by inoculation with vaccinia virus as a prophylactic against smallpox, characterized by localized pustular eruptions.

Don't Avoid the V: VACANT

Three more words that should already be known:

That is a VACANT lot.

He looked at her VACANTLY.

"VACATE these premises immediately."

They are VACATING the hotel room today.

Everyone VACATES their room at the end of term.

How to Use the U: UBIQUE and UBIQUITY

If a person is UBIQUITOUS, it means he is everywhere.

"Peyton Manning is ubiquitous in TV commercials."

However UBIQUITOUS is NOT in The Dictionary.

What is in The Dictionary is UBIQUE, "everywhere" and UBIQUITY: "the state of being everywhere at the same time." UBIQUITY is pluralized UBIQUITIES.

Presumably by this definition you could say, "Peyton Manning is UBIQUE." and that would be grammatically correct. You could also say, "Peyton Manning has the quality of UBIQUITY."

As far as UBIQUITIES is concerned... maybe, "Athletes demonstrate the success of UBIQUITIES when it comes to commercials."

How To Use the U: UBIETY

UBIETY is the state of having a definite location.

The plural is UBIETIES.

It is pronounced: [yoo-bahy-i-tee]. It is Latin.

I have no idea how you'd use it in a sentence.

I've found a website that tries to explain it - the author is a philogist, I think:

I am not yet ready to return to the list of words in the Collegiate. I am still trying to get over ubiety/ubeity. I think I am coming up with a theory of the development of English as I think of ubeity. The word ubeity in fact does not appear either in the Collegiate or the OED. Ubiety, however, goes back to the 17th century. "To make a body in this sense independent of Place or Ubiety, is as unconceivable as to make it independent of Time." My point is that the 17th century saw the beginning of modern philosophical speculation in England. You never hear of a 16th century English philosopher, but by the time you reach th 17th century, you have all kinds of brilliant minds (Hobbes, Locke, etc.). Hm. Why is that true? Is it only because we today find the 17th century philosophically useful for us, even though there might have been people just as smart, prolific and insightful philosophically in the 16th (or 15th, for that matter) centuries in England?

Well, getting to my linguistic point. The word ubiety became useful as English and Scottish philosophers began to think about place and time, but when that subject became uninteresting philosophically, the word kind of dropped out of usage. Indeed, by the middle of the 19th century, ubiety could be used in a rather seamy context: "Vervain (i.e., verbena) and magic haschisch, which endows Thought with ubiety."

http://www.drbilllong.com/SpellersDiary2/Us2.html

Don't Avoid the V: VACANCY

VACANCY is another word that everybody probably knows, but since I'm going through these in alphabetical order, I'm including it anyway.

The plural is VACANCIES.

Don't Avoid the V: VAC

There are a few letters I really dislike getting - the V, the U, Y and the C. Hate 'em, actually. But that's because I don't know enough words that use them. So in these series of posts I'll be learning those words.

VAC is pretty straightforward, admittedly.

The definition given in The Dictionary is that it's a vacuum cleaner, and can be pluralized VACS.

In England, it's also short for VACATION.

How To Use the U: UAKARI

UAKARI is a South American monkey. It is pluralized UAKARIS.

Uakari is the common name for the New World monkeys of the genus Cacajao. Both the English and scientific names are believed to have originated from indigenous languages.

The uakaris are unusual among New World monkeys in that the tail length (15-18 cm) is substantially less than their head and body length (40-45 cm). Their bodies are covered with long, loose hair but their heads are bald. They have almost no subcutaneous fat, so their bald faces appear almost skull like. Like their closest relatives the saki monkeys, they have projecting lower incisors.

The four species of uakari currently recognized are all found in the north-western Amazon Basin. The Bald Uakari is found north of the Amazon River, and south of the Japurá River in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve. The Black-headed Uakari is found north of the Amazon and south of the Rio Negro. The Neblina Uakari is found north of the Rio Negro, west of the Rio Marauiá and east of the Casiquiare canal. The Ayres Uakari is currently known only from the Rio Curuduri basin.

Uakaris are typically lethargic and silent in zoo conditions, but in the wild they are agile and active, capable of leaps of over 6 meters. They have been observed both in small groups and in larger troops of up to 100. When traveling through the forest they move in the lower branches of the trees, though when foraging they also go up to the canopy. They eat fruit, nuts, buds and leaves.

Henry Walter Bates, the nineteenth century zoologist, recorded that the Native Americans captured uakaris alive by using blowpipe darts or arrows tipped with diluted curare; once captured the animals were revived by putting a pinch of salt in their mouths. Those animals that survived were kept as pets.

New Iteration Of Scrabble And Tetris Hybrid Game Brings Fire, Ice And More

From AppAdvice: New Iteration Of Scrabble And Tetris Hybrid Game Brings Fire, Ice And More
You don’t need to have a genius-level IQ to gather that Letris has something to do with Tetris. Although less obvious, that it has something to do with letters may also hit you straightaway. Of course, devoted fans of Letris already know this. To paraphrase what Ivanovich Games, the developer of Letris, says about the game, Letris is the lovechild of Scrabble and Tetris. Either of these two classic games is already enjoyable in its own right, and their combination in Letris seems to make for a doubly enjoyable game.

Letris has proven to be a big hit among players, so big that it has now come to its third iteration. The franchise began with the first Letris, launched in mid-2010, and then it proceeded with Letris 2, launched just last December. And very soon, a new standalone Letris version is set to be released. Nope, it’s not called Letris 3, but Letris Power.

Letris Power preserves the basic falling-letter-blocks gameplay, international language support, and local and online multiplayer modes present in its predecessors, but it adds more elements of fun to the mix. Letris Power makes such powers as ice (freezes the game), fire (burns a row of letters) and time (momentary slow-mo) available to players. It also introduces a different strategic mission to each game.

Like the first two separate versions of Letris, Letris Power is a universal iOS game. It’s also a free download, with provisions for in-app purchases for unlocking levels and getting more hints. You can download Letris Power in the App Store beginning March 15. It seems Scrabble and Tetris are about to go on an extended honeymoon again.

42 Games under .500!

I have not been doing at all well with my online Scrabble games. Mostly because the computer has taken a dislike to me and never gives me any letters! Well - it sure seems that way! Anyway, I haven't had much time to study my Scrabble words lately, too much other stuff going on. However, that stuff is now finished, and I will be able to get my girdle in gear and get back on the Scrabble Express staring tomorrow.

1. Live From the Apple iPad Event [LIVE BLOG] Live From the Apple iPad Event [LIVE BLOG] 2 2. 9 Astounding Photoshop Transformations [VIDEOS] 9 Astounding Photoshop Transformations [VIDEOS] 2 3. Windows 8: Everything You Need to Know Windows 8: Everything You Need to Know 14 Words With Followers? Twitter Scrabble Updates Board Game

From Mashable.com: Words With Followers? Twitter Scrabble Updates Board Game
Do you have a few hours to kill? Then you might want to try your hand at Twitter Scrabble, an app that challenges you to come up with high-scoring tweets.

The game, created by Belgian ad agency Duval Guillaume Modem, is actually designed to promote another game, Mattel’s Scrabble Trickster. However, Twitter Scrabble seems compelling enough on its own. The premise: You are assigned 100 random characters. Then you try to use as many letters as you can in a tweet. When you’re done, you send out a tweet, along with your score. The record so far is 242. Every day, Mattel awards a Scrabble Trickster game to the person with the highest-scoring tweet.

However, it should be noted that the game is deeply flawed. First of all, any combination of letters will work, even if they don’t make sense, which means you can just keep tapping your keyboard until you get to 100 characters. (The app lets you know when the letter you’re pressing isn’t available.) Secondly, it’s in multiple languages, which is great, unless you want to see how you compare to other English speakers.

Still, it’s a great idea to update Scrabble and one that uniquely leverages Twitter’s brevity and reliance on text. After Hasbro’s stumbles with Scrabble in social media (Hasbro handles the title in the U.S. and Canada; Mattel does elsewhere), this seems like promising new territory.

Reps from Hasbro could not be reached for comment on the game. Aficianados may recall that Hasbro created a stir in 2010 when it introduced Trickster after erroneous news accounts claimed that Scrabble would begin accepting proper nouns. Proper nouns are actually acceptable in Trickster, not Scrabble.

7 letter word: E R E E S V N

3 letter words
ENS
ERE
EVE
NEE
REV
SEE

4 letter words
EVEN
EVER
EVES
REVS
SEEN
SEER
SERE
VEER

5 letter words
EVENS
NERVE
NEVER
REEVE
SERVE
SEVEN
SEVER
SNEER
VEERS
VERSE

6 letter words
EVENER
NERVES
REEVES
SERENE
VENEER
7 letter word
VENEERS