Heenan's Universal Dictionary
| A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - XYZ |
BOXING
Like a ballet, except there's no
music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. [Jack Handey]
DEMOCRACY is The recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time. [ EB White]
LIFE
A moderately good play with a
badly written third act. ~ [Truman Capote]
MARRIAGE
Two people
who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores. [Terry Pratchett]
BUREAUCRACY
Defence of the status quo long after the quo has lost its status. [Laurence
J. Peter]
NANOMANAGEMENT
Micromanagement taken to the point of
stupidity. [Roger Ford]
SYNONYM
A word you use when you can't
spell the word you first thought of. [Burt Bacharach]
KLEPTOMANIAC
A
person who helps himself because he can't help himself. Or herself! [Henry Morgan]
ADVERTISING
The modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the
better. [George Santayana]
TRADITION
A group effort to keep the
unexpected from happening. [Barbara Tober]
About The Dictionary:
'Alternative' dictionaries have been about for much longer than I have; I have always loved them, and often wished I had collected all the strange definitions that I have heard over the years. But I didn't - so this started in late 1997. I have gathered words from newsgroups, email, dictionaries of quotations ... anywhere. Because the internet is so mobile, it is often impossible to be sure of authorship - though, in practice, most people will at least concede that they just do not know. This page has been prepared in good faith ...
Warning!
This Page is not a dictionary of quotations. While quotations often form the basis of definitions, they have usually been rephrased to suit the format. For example, Wilde said:
There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community."Meanwhile, HUD says:
JOURNALISM
The opinions of the uneducated, reflecting the ignorance of the community.
[Wilde]
I'm not improving Wilde's prose, merely paraphrasing to form a definition.
Acknowledgements
Credit where it's due: I have given credit where I can; and I will be pleased to acknowledge any help or information please send any corrections.
Contributions to Heenan's Universal Dictionary this year:
Mark N. Taylor, Editor, Georgia Chess Magazine
Copyright matters:
I do not expect payment for use of any of this material (c'mon!), and I am happy to admit that I have shamelessly borrowed from all over the web. But I created this page and worked into the night to put it all together, and I assert whatever rights I have. Similarly, if any owner of a definition would prefer I did not display it here, please tell me.
If you do copy any or all of it, please give me due credit, and quote the page address too: [ http://www.wordskit.com/words/]
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A great site for links to anything related to language and dictionaries
Word
Oddities and Trivia
Everything you wanted to know about words
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Links to many fascinating resources.
I would love to add more to this page; Contributions are welcome!