Printer-friendly version

Browse the glossary using this index

Special | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | ALL

P

pachyderm

"thick-skinned animal" (typically, an elephant)

/ˈpækɪdɜːm $ -dɜːrm/

'derm' as in pHisoderm

- A competing Tammany Hall exhibit several doors down boasted a live elephant—representing Republicans eating the city—but it looked to Bell like the anti-Tammany show was outdrawing the pachyderm four-to-one. (Clive Cussler and Justin Scott - The Gangster)

- Even the most stubborn pachyderm can be motivated when asked to consider the worst-case scenarios of not completing an estate plan. (Maurer - Simple Money)



phô

'Vietnamese noodles, served in beef (or chicken) broth'

Pronounced fuh. You can often see it in Asian menus, also in the US.

Etymology: either from French feu 'fire' (the French had a large colonial influence in Vietnam at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th), or from Chinese 粉 ('noodles').

The spelling in Vietnamese is phở, where the diacritic on the vowel indicate a tone: this is the hỏi tone: mid-dipping-rising (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language#Vowels). The second diacritic indicates the vowel is long (or: not short).

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pho


phonophobia

fear of loud sounds


psephology

/sᵻˈfɒlədʒi/ (from Greek psephos ψῆφος, 'pebble', as the Greeks used pebbles as ballots) is a branch of political science which deals with the study and scientific analysis of elections

- He delighted in vague concepts, things that could be made specific in several ways, but were often better left
vague. He worked in many fields including: astronomy, cryptography, psephology, information retrieval, engineering, computing, education,
psychology, chemistry, pollution control, and economics. John Tukey was firmly associated with Princeton and Bell Labs. (From a book about statistics)


punctilious

punc‧til‧i‧ous /pʌŋkˈtɪliəs/ adjective formal  

very careful to behave correctly and follow rules

probably from Italian puntiglioso, from puntiglio "fine point," from Latin punctum "prick" (see point (n.), also the source for punctual).

- The old prince, like all fathers indeed, was exceedingly
punctilious on the score of the honor and reputation of his daughters. He
was irrationally jealous over his daughters, especially over Kitty, who was
his favorite. (Tolstoy - Anna Karenina)

- ‘Cyril Arthur Frewin – Saint Cyril – is a highly
reliable, eminently conscientious, totally bald, incredibly boring clerk of
the old school. Saint Cyril, though punctilious to a fault, has in my view
reached his natural promotion ceiling in his line of country or profession.
Saint Cyril is set in his ways. Saint Cyril does what he does, one hundred
per cent. Amen.’ (le Carre - The secret pilgrim)