I got 81% on the second test, but then I was too cautious. I redid the test and got 100%, so hey. 
A mitochondrion is singular: mitochondria is plural.
A mitochondrion is singular: mitochondria is plural.
CFC English Vocabulary Challenge
- Thread starter Kaitzilla
- Start date
Catharsis
catch u on the flip scythe
27,100 on the first test (admittedly I looked up 'puckish' to see if what I suspected it to be was correct. It was 
)
69%
on the second (from looking at the results it seems like they were being a lot less cruel with the non-words than I thought. Was sure 'microgamete' was just two sciencey words fused together)
When I first started calling myself 'Catharsis' on the internet I didn't know what it meant (I'm named after a robot from a video game). So this is me-from-the-past's submission to the thread:
CATHARSIS: the act or process of releasing a strong emotion (such as pity or fear) especially by expressing it in an art form
)69%
on the second (from looking at the results it seems like they were being a lot less cruel with the non-words than I thought. Was sure 'microgamete' was just two sciencey words fused together)When I first started calling myself 'Catharsis' on the internet I didn't know what it meant (I'm named after a robot from a video game). So this is me-from-the-past's submission to the thread:
CATHARSIS: the act or process of releasing a strong emotion (such as pity or fear) especially by expressing it in an art form
Microgamate was one of those words I was too cautious about. I could tell you what it should mean, but I'd never heard of it before, so there was the possibility it could have been invented for that test.
sophie
Break My Heart
the former, obviously.
GoodSarmatian
Jokerfied Western Male
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 9,408
I got 71% on the second test with no false positive. Every time I was not 100% sure I defaulted to no.
And it did seem to very science focused.
And it did seem to very science focused.
classical_hero
In whom I trust
It seems like they fight each other every 50 years or so, so soon you will be fighting yourself. Only the French and English fight each other more often.
Catharsis
catch u on the flip scythe
I think the art words work better for this purpose that the science words, for this reason. With science words it's difficult to tell what's jargon (definition 1) and what's jargon (definition 2).
Now leitmotif, malapropism etc., you either know them or you don't.
Another one that tripped me up on the second test was 'ceilinged'. 'Ceilinged' is just a dumb word. I've been staring angrily at my ceiling for the last ten minutes.
Catharsis
catch u on the flip scythe
In an attempt to use this thread for its intended purpose instead of just bragging about my average test scores, I toddled off to read the 'early bird vs. candle waster' thread. Here are the results:
SPELEOLOGIST: [one who practices] the scientific study or exploration of caves
BIPHASIC: having two phases (probably should've guessed this one) in the same vein POLYPHASIC: consisting of two or more phases (so biphasic is a subset of polyphasic! take that nerds)
BEAR: something that is difficult to do or deal with
SWING SHIFT: a scheduled period of work that begins in the afternoon and ends at night
MIRTAZAPINE: an antidepressant used to treat major depressive disorder
SQUIRRELLY: tending to move around a lot/very odd, silly, or foolish (not sure which one Timsup2nothin was going for here, either one sorta works)
Basically if you take a animal's name and repurpose it for some other use then I won't know the definition.
SPELEOLOGIST: [one who practices] the scientific study or exploration of caves
BIPHASIC: having two phases (probably should've guessed this one) in the same vein POLYPHASIC: consisting of two or more phases (so biphasic is a subset of polyphasic! take that nerds)
BEAR: something that is difficult to do or deal with
SWING SHIFT: a scheduled period of work that begins in the afternoon and ends at night
MIRTAZAPINE: an antidepressant used to treat major depressive disorder
SQUIRRELLY: tending to move around a lot/very odd, silly, or foolish (not sure which one Timsup2nothin was going for here, either one sorta works)
Basically if you take a animal's name and repurpose it for some other use then I won't know the definition.
BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
The science versus art contrast is curious. Most science terms derive from Latin or Greek. Many art terms, in contrast, are Germanic in origin.
Traditionally, the Latin/Greek words are considered more upper class. Contrast the latin derived people with folk. The latter has a vaguely less formal, almost lower class sense.
In the second test, it seemed to me that many of the uncommon words were derived from Latin or Greek. I don't recall that being the case in the second one.
This contrast is a little more interesting given that the second test comes from the University of Ghent. It is probably too much to read into a test to draw out Belgian divisions between the romantic French and the Germanic Dutch sides.
Brace (n) a pair
Brace (v) to ready (against)
Braces (n) suspenders
Bracing (adj) cold
Bracer, vambrace (n) armlet or armor covering the forearm
Traditionally, the Latin/Greek words are considered more upper class. Contrast the latin derived people with folk. The latter has a vaguely less formal, almost lower class sense.
In the second test, it seemed to me that many of the uncommon words were derived from Latin or Greek. I don't recall that being the case in the second one.
This contrast is a little more interesting given that the second test comes from the University of Ghent. It is probably too much to read into a test to draw out Belgian divisions between the romantic French and the Germanic Dutch sides.
Brace (n) a pair
Brace (v) to ready (against)
Braces (n) suspenders
Bracing (adj) cold
Bracer, vambrace (n) armlet or armor covering the forearm
Something that is difficult to run away from.
madviking
north american scum
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
I got a 39,600
http://testyourvocab.com/result?user=5881719
I checked an online dictionary to confirm some definitions of which I was not confident. There were a couple where my prior guess was wrong, but I only checked the boxes if I was right.
To be fair there were a few words which I looked up a couple days ago after seeing them in this thread, which I would not have known had I taken the quiz first.
cybrxkhan
Asian Xwedodah
madviking
north american scum
That's why you get the highest result among all people in this thread.
The site says:
"Don't check boxes for words you know you've seen before, but whose meaning you aren't exactly sure of."
sophie
Break My Heart
A LOT of French and pure Latin phrases too in academic/art writing
mise en scène
élite
bourgeois/ie
raison d'etre
risqué
gauche
coup d'état
vis-à-vis
ipso facto
quid pro quo
in ipso/a
e.g. (exempli gratia) (cf. in German this is z.B.)
i.e. (id est) (cf. in German this is d.h.)
cf. (confer)
ibid. (ibidem)
etc. (et cetera) (cf. in German this is usw)
a priori
ab absurdo
ad absurdum/nauseum
ab inito
ad hoc
ad hominem
ad infinitum
etc. etc.
madviking
north american scum
berk, noun: fool, idiot
Interestingly enough, it's pronounced "burk", despite being thought to descend from "Berkshire Hunt", which is, uh, slang for something else and is pronounced "Barkshuh".