Lexical Compendium

Wait... what is this? Sometimes I come across a word, phrase, idiom, quote, reference, bit of slang, person of interest, etc that either I don't know or I find amusing, interesting, etc. This is a collection of those items so that I can refer back to them in emails, texts, etc.

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Shoe Leather

"Shoe Leather" is a bit of television/movie jargon that refers to all of the boring/procedural parts of an exchange that often get eliminated from a script.

For example, you often don't see actors answering the phone with "hello" or even saying "good-bye" before hanging up. These little exchanges don't do much to move the plot forward.

(Note: there are other definitions of this term as well to refer to an "old fashioned" process, especially in police or detective work)

The origin of the phrase seems to refer to the sound of someone walking, i.e. the sound of their shoe's leather soles hitting the ground.


(link to this entry)

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Tags: entertainment, movies, jargon

Date Added: 09 Jul 2024

thagomizer

A thagomizer is a bit of paleontology jargon referring to the spikes on a stegosaurian dinosaur.

When I was young, the Stegosaurus was my favorite type of dinosaur. I had no idea what the spikes were called until very recently though. I especially didn't know that the word was coined by none other than Gary Larson of Far Side fame.

In 1982, Gary Larson wrote a comic in which a caveman, perhaps in a teaching role, explains to an audience that these spikes were named "after the late Thag Simmons."


(link to this entry)

References:

Tags: dinosaur, thagomizer, stegosaurus, far side, paleontology

Date Added: 23 May 2024

tribology

Tribology is the scientific study of friction, lubrication, and wear between interacting surfaces in relative motion. It blends principles from mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, and physics.

The word was coined in 1966 by British mechanical engineer Peter Jost in a report to the UK government titled "Lubrication (Tribology) - A Report on the Present Position and Industry’s Needs". The word is formed from the Greek root tribos meaning rubbing.

During a trip with my brother, he told me about a tribological analysis his firm performed along with a write-up they published and this is how I was introduced to the term.

While looking up the origins of the word tribology, I thought it would fit perfect in an episode of Archer. The characters often use absurdly niche references followed by incredulity when nobody knows the reference.

[Scene: ISIS HQ hallway, someone slips slightly on a recently waxed floor]

Lana: Whoa -- can we not buff the floors like an Olympic luge track?

Archer: Who are you, Peter Jost?

Lana: Who?

Archer: Peter Jost? The father of tribology??

[Everyone stares blankly]

Archer (muttering): Seriously guys, read a book! Well, actually an obscure UK lubrication report from 1966.


(link to this entry)

References:

Tags: science, vocabulary, jargon, engineering

Date Added: 13 May 2025
Date Modified: 20 May 2025