a forgotten art
so i get this Oxford word of the day, and i've been trumping it up to all my friends because a)the words are cool but more importantly b)since the words aren't in common usages, the more people who sign up and know the words, the better your chances are of being understood. today's was particularly good.
nauscopy
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[NAW-skuh-pee] the art of seeing the approach of ships or landfall from a considerable distance. The OED goes on to say "This pretended art was invented by a M. Bottineau ... from the year 1782 to 1784." Bottineau claimed that he could see past the horizon by observing the effects that approaching ships had on the atmosphere. The governor of Mauritius requested that he keep a record of his predictions, and he successfully predicted the arrival of more than 550 ships, some as many as four days before they arrived. He turned down an offer of 3,000 francs for the secret of nauscopy and died in 1789.
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nauscopy
========
[NAW-skuh-pee] the art of seeing the approach of ships or landfall from a considerable distance. The OED goes on to say "This pretended art was invented by a M. Bottineau ... from the year 1782 to 1784." Bottineau claimed that he could see past the horizon by observing the effects that approaching ships had on the atmosphere. The governor of Mauritius requested that he keep a record of his predictions, and he successfully predicted the arrival of more than 550 ships, some as many as four days before they arrived. He turned down an offer of 3,000 francs for the secret of nauscopy and died in 1789.
Welcome to the Word of the Day from AskOxford:
http://www.askoxford.com