@Lulu Moppet "Flummoxed" : Perplexed, Bewildered. My own recollection of that long-lost word had it to mean "thrown off guard", "beaten down", or "detained". I was wrong. I've often wondered if any seek proper definition when I throw about technical terms, especially ages-old ones dredged up from my early memory: "Gudgeon", "Ackerman Principle", etc. Frank
My dad taught me, at a very early age, that it was fun to read a dictionary, Frank. We would play word games where I wasn't "allowed" (in a loving way) to say a word I couldn't spell or know the meaning of.
@Lulu Moppet One might have guessed, based on your great writing skill, as well as your interpretive ingenuity, that great parental interest was present early on. In my case, it was numbers. Upon entering kindergarten, the teacher was amazed when I took up pencil and paper and wrote the integers in order from 1 to 100. That came from my Mother's working with me, as she was always a "stay at home", never even had a driver's license. Frank
Our parents can and should be our best teachers. I really admire math skill. My son, an MIT trained physicist, has both. He is my best teacher now.
@Frank Sanoica , I must be dumb because I don't know what "Vindict" means. I can't find it in my 2516 page dictionary. Will you please tell me what it means?
@Shirley Martin Har, Har! My eyes are tearing. I kinda figgered it must be the base word from which "vindictive" is derived. Thus, my thinking was, claiming someone was vindictive constituted a sort of "slap in the face", whereas "vindict" sounded more like a command, an imperative: "fight, fight". So much for MY English! Glad you caught that. It ain't in my dictionary, either, which is 7 inches thick! One of those huge library-jobs my Mother picked up when I was a kid. I've loved it all my life, since it has all sorts of chemical formulas included. Frank
@Shirley Martin Think it might be patentable? Last chance I had for that, the big molding machine my co-worker Bruce and I built for Dana Corporation wound up getting the patent issued in his name, mine excluded: I left the company during the application process. When I returned 6 years later, it was as Bruce's boss, Facilities Engineer. Still, he had begged me to return. Frank