As long as I’ve got that huge letter “K” at the top of the website, I may as well do something with it.  From now until I run out of words that start with the letter “K,” I’ll feature one here every day or two … (ok … so, maybe sometimes a little longer than that … ) the Word of the Day that starts with “K” …

So, today’s word (6/24/10)

kabuki – This one’s a two-fer … two K’s … (woot!)  It refers to the “traditional Japanese drama in which dances and songs are performed in a stylized manner” … often by actors wearing elaborate costumes and lots of make-up.

Upon further research, wikipedia suggests that the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning to “lean” or “be out of the ordinary.”  This interpretation can mean “avant-garde” or “bizarre.”  The expression kabukimono referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed and swaggered on the street.

This word kabuki is far more interesting and useful than I first thought. From here on out, I’ll be counting the number of times I encounter individuals on the street who are clearly kabukimono!

 

So, today’s word (3/7/10):

kabob – as in Shish … random foodstuffs (usually meat and vegetables) speared onto a thin pointy wooden stick and grilled outside in the backyard. Can be really tasty unless the meat is gristly or the chunks of onion are too big.

According to wikipedia, there are several ways to spell this … kebap, kebab, kabab, kebob, kibob, kebhav or kephav. I’m guessing that this word fluxuated through history as a result of the poor spelling skills of overserved chefs.

 

So, today’s word (11/7/09):

K – the uppercase letter “K” represents the element Potassium, (column 1A, row 4 in the Periodic Table of Elements). 

According to Wikipedia, “Potassium occurs as ionic salt and is found dissolved in seawater and as part of many other minerals. The Potassium ion is necessary for the function of all living cells, and is present in all plant and animal tissues.”

Foods with high sources of potassium include orange juice, potatoes, bananas, avocados, tomatoes, broccoli, soybeans, brown rice, garlic and apricots. Yum!

 

So, today’s word (11/4/09):

k - the lowercase letter “k” is the abbreviation (in computer lingo) for a unit of storage capacity equal to 10 to the 24th power bytes … (Woot!)

k - is also the abbreviation for the word karat, a unit of measure for the fineness of gold, equal to 1/24th of the total amount of pure gold in an alloy.

Wikipedia says the abbreviation for karat is kt …  I wasn’t anticipating controversy so early on in the game.