Aaron In Denver

WAZZOCK
Wazzock was a particularly prevalent—and particularly loutish—insult in the 1990s. At the time, “lad culture” ran throughout British music and television, and wazzock, a North-England accented contraction of the sarcastic wiseacre (a know-it-all) became a powerful tool to shoot people down in an argument.

LUMMOX
Though the etymology of lummox is heavily disputed, one thing is for certain: It came from East Anglia, the coastal outcrop of Britain above London. There, around 1825, someone threw out the word as an insult, and it stuck, becoming a typically British go-to term. Some linguists believe it comes from the verb lummock, which typified a lummox: it means a clumsy oaf.

SKIVER
Skivers and shirkers are one and the same. Someone who manages to duck under any responsibility and loaf around, doing very little, is a skiver. The origins of this particular insult are contested: some think it’s from an Old Norse word—skifa—meaning “slice,” whereby the worker slices off as much work as possible.

MINGER
Often hurled at the opposite sex, to call someone a minger is to say they are objectively unattractive. Though etymologists struggle to agree where the word came from, it seems likely that it stems from the Old Scots word meng, meaning “sh**.” We didn’t say it was pretty.

NINCOMPOOP
For such a colloquial word, nincompoop actually has a very learned past. Samuel Johnson, the compiler of England’s first proper dictionary, claims the word comes from the Latin phrase non compos mentis (“not of right mind”), and was originally a legal term.

PILLOCK
As words are used more regularly, the laziness of pronunciation can often warp them slightly. So it was with pillock. Originally pillicock (a Norwegian slang word for penis), the word has since been condensed to plain old pillock—though its meaning remains.

CLOD HOPPER
According to the brilliant Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, dating back to 1811 and compiled by Captain Francis Grose, a clod hopper refers to a country farmer or ploughman—with the implication nowadays that you’re slow witted and bumbling.

DUNAKER
Grose’s Dictionary of vulgarities is a rich seam of overlooked insults. In the 200 years since it was published, there have been several terms that have fallen out of favor. One of them is dunaker, a common thief of cows and calves.

GIT
By calling someone a git, you’re invoking the old Scots word get, which means “bastard.” When it came down south of the border, it lost its harsh vowel sound and became something softer, albeit with the required spikiness in.

15 May

thedailywhat:

Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip: A Delivery Company Smuggles KFC from Egypt via Underground Tunnels

A courier business based in Gaza is apparently offering an ambitious service to deliver smuggled orders of Kentucky Friend Chicken from Egypt via underground tunnels. According to the company’s ads on Facebook, Gazans can get a taste of the “finger-lickin good” stuff for 100 shekels ($30 USD, triple the usual price) within 3 hours of placing the order. Fried chicken is only the latest addition to a long list of supplies and products that are being transported through the network of tunnels, which serves as a vital lifeline between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled region that is currently under an Israeli blockade.

Obviously this “news” story made my day

13 May

thedailywhat:

Cool 3D Print of the Day: Disney Offers $99 Personalized Stormtrooper 3D Prints

As part of its upcoming Star Wars Weekends campaign (May 17th through June 9th), Disney’s Hollywood Studios has unveiled a 3D printing station where you can create a Stormtrooper figurine with your own face on it for $99.95. Not feeling like a soldier? There’s also an option to have your face cast in carbonite instead.

13 May

itracing:

Porsche 911 RSR (type 991)

[Press release] Significant lightweight design for 50th anniversary as Porsche looks to 2013 and 2014 Le Mans

Porsche has developed a new GT race car for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The car was shown this week in full livery for the first time. Also, this week, the company is peeking around the corner to its Le Mans Prototype entry in 2014 with the unveiling of its “Mission 2014” web site.

For 2013, the new 911 RSR race car, running in the WEC LM-GTE class, is characterized by significant lightweight design and sophisticated aerodynamics. The exceptional vehicle styling honors a very special anniversary: From a bird’s eye perspective, the numbers 50 and 911 are visible. These stand for 50 years of the Porsche 911. The Porsche AG Team Manthey works squad will exclusively field two Porsche 911 RSR race cars in the World Endurance Championship’s 2013 season including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car will not run in a North America series for 2013.

(via motomania)

13 May

importantdog:

theres a new sheriff in town

(Source: ryanhatesthis, via kellythenomad)

6 May

larryliberteastylinson:

extradan:

putuksstuff:

iraffiruse:

Frozach Submitted

I know new stuff now!!

It took me 3 minutes to learn an information I would learn in school for like 3 years

that fucking shark

(via behindthegossip)

6 May

slimmcharles:

“Are you okay!?!”

“I just got hit by a truck! What do you think!? Yeah I’m fine”

Lada drivers…..

(via imarks)

4 May

photofinish:

Porsche 356 / Porsche 964 Turbo / Porsche 968 / Porsche 928 GTS (by Auto Clasico)

(via motomania)

If you fancy a good techie read, Daniel Suarez has provided 3 books that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed over the last few years. His latest, Kill Decision, lays out a world where drones are used to take out key enemies on home as well as foreign soil. It’s always fun (or scary) when some of the things in his book end up in parallel in the real life world of the news, and todays BBC article on small flying robots was one such time. Be afraid, be very afraid.