Wednesday, April 9, 2008

A Whatnot Wednesday

"Whatnot" - noun [$10]
Whatnot means 1. a small, trivial, unspecified object; (alt.) an indefinite or trivial thing; 2. a set of light, open shelves for ornaments.
Sentence: Today's blog post is analogous to a collection of verbal whatnots on an Internet whatnot. :-)

First, the market. Stock prices are holding up although considerable bad news appeared. But the "bad news" is all concurrent, coincident bad news and is "priced in" ... or "overpriced in". In other words, the bad news is not "news". Beefers continue to rotate ... aka play ping pong ... among stock groups. They love the miners & energies now. Fins are weak on low volume.

Be patient, buy on good dips only. Earnings season might bring some good buys ... and will bring lots of news.

Words

This blog now seems to be an authoritative, or at least popular, site for words. I did a search for "quodliteral" on Google and the #1 site that came up was ... this blog ! Mirabile Dictu !

I did that search in my quest for a defintion of "quodliteral", which was part of my post of Monday. Quodliteral is not in any dictionary of mine, including the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary plus supplements, nor in the online dictionary.com site. The Google search brought up only sites where the its vowel sequence was noted. And my Latin idiom dictionary did not contain "quodliteral" either.

Similarly, "duoliteral" was not included in any dictionary of mine, but it was listed on dictionary.com site in their unabridged dioctionary.

"Duoliteral" - adjective [$100]
Duoliteral means consisting of two letters only.
Sentence: The standard postal abbreviations for the States of the US are now duoliteral and upper case, as prior longer, mixed case abbreviations are now obsolete. For example, Massachusetts is MA, not Mass.

During my searches, I found another word with all the standard vowels in reverse order, viz., quodlibetal.

"Quodlibetal" - adjective [$1000] rare [this word is in the OED]
Quodlibetal is a variant of quodlibetical, meaning of the nature, connected or concerned with, a quodlibet (s)

uh ... so you're thinking: "Ok Bunkerman, what's a quodlibet ?"

"Quodlibet" - noun [$10]
Quodlibet means 1a. a theological or philosophical issue presented for formal argument or disputation: hence a scholatic debate, thesis or exercise on a question of this kind (chiefly in University use, esp. philosophy, "to do quodlibets"; 2. (musical) a fanciful combination of several airs; a fantasia, medley.
Sentence: From Erasmus, "Praise of Folly", poking fun at pompous theologians by referencing the Apostles as being "... intellectually quite incapable of grasping a single quodlibet of Scotus."

You are thinking ... "Ok Bunkerman, who is Scotus ?"

From a Google search -
"Blessed John Duns Scotus (1265/66 – 8th November 1308), besides being known as the «Subtle Doctor», is also referred to as the «Marian Doctor». It was he who presented a systematic theology of the Marian privilege of the Immaculate Conception, which the Catholic Church officially proclaimed as a Dogma of Faith in the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of Pope Pius IX (8th December 1854), of which we are this year celebrating the 150th anniversary."

Now, let's see if we can educe a defintion of "quodliteral".

First, it is possible that quodliteral was simply a misspelling of quodlibetal years ago when the an early list of these reverse vowel order words was copied. The Internet and print media contain lots of errors carried on for years by people who do not check original sources.

But let's try anyway. The Latin components of "duoliteral" loosely mean two letters. The Latin component of "quodliteral" loosely mean which letter(s). An Latin-based idiom does not have to be a perfectly literal translation of the Latin.

Here are some "quod" words and phrases that might help when conjoined with the definition of duoliteral and those Latin words.

"Quod vide" is a Latin idiom meaning "which see" in formal writing, often abbreviated "q.v."

"QED" is an abbreviation for "quod erat demonstrandum" which means "which was to be shown or demonstrated".

"QEF" is an abbreviation for "quod erat faciendum" which means "which was to be done".

Therefore, using inductive reasoning, I hereby propose both a definition for "quodliteral" and a modern usage.

"Quodliteral" - adjective [$$$ ???]
Quodliteral means consisting only of letters. [This is my proposed definition ! No other source !]
Sentence: Many modern web site or computer login names are workably quodliteral, but quodliteral passwords can be cracked much more easily than ones including numbers, too.

Golly, such an erudite blog !

64 comments:

Bud said...

is this the SAT blog?

Bud said...

let's see how spin's boy Arod been doin

0-4 yday in kansas city with 4K's

"the golden sombrero"


die yankees die !!!!!!!!

Bud said...

beefers been pushin up coals and solars alot too


i love ping-pong

Bud said...

does carl quintinilla read this blog? earlier this morning he said ' real buyers '

Bud said...

HBO's john adams series is excellent

i really like the portrayal of thomas jefferson......i wasn't sure how they wud show him since him and adams were bitter rivals

jefferson was extremely supportive of the french revolution while washington and adams were worried about it....and that ultimatley caused tj to resign

what amazing times they lived in

Bunkerman said...

Jefferson was really an idiot re the French revolution. He really wanted the US to get into the war wth Britain while refusing to suppose the US army & navy for appropriations in the 1790s.

And his attacks on Washington were despicable. He even attacked the Jay treaty with Britain in 1795 that secured the entire US west to the Mississippi.

Good ideas & theories ... but in practice he really made major errors.

Hamilton made major errors, too.

Adams was quite fine, but he did not adequately support the army in the Revolutionary war. Made stupid decisions.

Of all the founding fathers, perhaps only Washington and Franklin can be truly canonized for persistent correctness of both words and deeds.

Bunkerman said...

para. #1 ... war against Britain, to be precise.

Bunkerman said...

market was boring anyway.

Word posts are fun for me.

Let's see if Spin can create a usage for "quodlibetal" relating to the market or politics.

Bunkerman said...

Here's one:

Squawk Box on Babblevision has beome intensely boring with their endless quodlibetal segments on the question of "Are we in a recession?"

Spin-em said...

Wearing only his tricorne hat complete with Dandy boy feather whilst watching John Adams, Bud ponders a question for quodlibetal argument, but mainly to be a pain in the cack($15)Does frosty's op/ex theory have merit or is it merely a canard.....He snuggles against his Rev(Farrah Fawcet type) pillow and falls to sleep......

Frosty said...

beefers rotate...not seeing it myself...since the march bottom or I should say intermediate low, oil coal natty basic material and ag have roared back...the LACK OF ROTATION is keeping me from getting buddy bud bullish.

Bunkerman said...

excellent spin !

Bunkerman said...

correct frosty .. beefers buying energies, miners and shorting or selling fins (with some care, excl C)

Bunkerman said...

ok, not huge rotation ... more like ping-pong on weekly basis

Bunkerman said...

As I hold both groups, I see it in my Alpha Fund.

Bud said...

i guess frsoty ain't a complete idiot


die BIDU die!!!



PS.....some schollgirls are very smart

Frosty said...

further, beefer shorts punched in the nose by the pinko fed driven short covering ahead of dollar printing press runs...back to the SOS...which is fine, but healthy market action...at best the jury is still out.

The bottom callers are getting on my nerves...if it is a bottom, where was the capitulation phase, the real fear from which a solid platform of a base is built.

Bud said...

frosty's ops expo theory is a bunch of baloney


similar to window dressing and pinning

Frosty said...

bringing the cheese indeed Bud...look, we are not freinds,buddies or pals, but I do expect better...I'll go down on called strikes before I swing at that crap...bring the heat or go home.

Bud said...

that was an low and outside lookin to see if you chase

count is 1-1

my arm is just gettin warmed up


do frosty really want me to bring the heat?? i don't think so


mfl challenged me and he's in the witness protection program now

Bunkerman said...

I don't get the capitulation theory.

What were MLK day and the BS day if not capitulation ?

There is a solid W double bottom on the monthly chart.

There was no capitulation in 1982 at that low. Nor in 1974. 1974 looked a lot like what we have now. Ditto 1990-91.

Not everything has to repeat 2002-3

Bunkerman said...

Short interest keeps going up, week after week.

mfl59 said...

"witness protection program"....pffftt...i'm no henry hill pal...I was out late knocking down gooses with your boy zeta on south beach...."armaggedon"..."hank and ben"...mouthpiece indeed sir...sound familiar?

Frosty said...

Bunkerman...capitulation not a requirement for a bottom, but odd in a time of mass beefer leverage and with no uptick rule, that we avoided a panic type low.

high short interest equals dumb money...oh brother...who is this pitching staff...feels like I'm playing the Tigers today.

mern said...

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120771459269601247.html?mod=yahoobarrons&ru=yahoo

Meanwhile, Volcker, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York, took issue with the Bernanke Fed's response to the current crisis, especially in lending to investment banks and in its role in the takeover of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase.

"The immediate response to the crisis has been to resort to untested emergency powers of the Federal Reserve. Out of perceived necessity, sweeping powers have been exercised in a manner that is neither natural nor comfortable for a central bank," Volcker said.

Referring to the Fed's role in financing JPMorgan's acquisition of Bear, Volcker said: "What appears to be in substance a direct transfer of mortgage and mortgage-backed securities of questionable pedigree from an investment bank to the Federal Reserve seems to test the time-honored central bank mantra in time of crisis -- 'lend freely at high rates against good collateral' -- to the point of no return."


BRING BACK VOLCKER!

mern said...

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/35-signs-market-hasnt-hit/story.aspx?guid=%7BAA73AD73%2D4257%2D4D38%2DAE97%2D1CFB6B53DD71%7D&siteid=yhoof

todd harrison. 35 reasons y we havent hit bottom. pretty gud and pretty funny

Frosty said...

the M's certainly capable of handling the Rays...just another early spring observation...when the fastball is blazing triple digits might as let it fly.

Frosty said...

rutty the first big test here just in time for lunch...Bunkerman going stealth :)

Bunkerman said...

Fed moves stopped the huge panic lows. Both those days would have been 1000 pts. + down days without Fed moves.

Bunkerman said...

Volcker = Hooverism. Total fool !

He cost millions jobs in the 1980s. A complete disaster.

Bunkerman said...

these ex-Fed chairmen sure like to see names in press.

Maybe Volcker wants a gig like Elmer, good pay for opening mouth. Do bidding of beefers.

Bunkerman said...

Elmer & Volcker - lackeys of the beefer bears.

mern said...

volcker took down inflation and layed the seeds for a 20 yr secular bull market.

elmer created a mess

ben probably the fall guy, but im glad to see alan being punched around, before his dirt nap.

Frosty said...

"pinko fed short covering"...I reconized the fact and action of the ultimate beefer...as you have reognized from your bunker history is a only guide when navigating uncharted waters.

It's not all bleak...I see the tride has a homer with the tigers on ops expo misdirection day next week.

mern said...

negative GDP in first q.

oil 111

gas all time high up 20% yoy.

food prices to the moon.

is that stagflation?

Bud said...

BIDU darkside workin well


"phenomenal trade"


PS....was BIDU an ops expo trade???

Bunkerman said...

Volcker put millions out of work in MidWest who did nothing to cause or contribute to inflation.

Bunkerman said...

2% core PCE is not inflation.

Frosty said...

Bud...let's get those gappas filed on the index futures before ops expo.

mern said...

middle america has no idea what the PCE is.

they do know inflation is out of control and they aint making more money than last yr.

who is right?

the BLS or the avg person?

mern said...

there was a comment blog about that lady who feeds a family of six on 25 bucks a week.

some people were sympathetic, but some made a few interesting observations.

that lady been poor for a long time, yet her youngest child is 3.

y does white trash insist on making more kids when they cant afford or care for the ones they have?

Bunkerman said...

Guess I'll have to write a blog about the old Fed fools ... trying to re-write history and gloss over their failures.

Bunkerman said...

Elmer + Volcker = revisionists. ptuii

Frosty said...

Bunkerman...the last time we graded Ben, where did we settle, C-?

Bunkerman said...

Summer quarter was D - flunked early August midterm, got C is late August final.

Fall term I think it was D - Got B in September, then two F's.

First quarter 2008 was B - he aced the final in March.

Second Quarter ... just starting.

D + D + B = 1.67 average, sounds like C- to me.

Bunkerman said...

If he had done the right thing in the summer+fall, this mess would have never got started.

Was all caused by his staying too tight too long anyway.

Bunkerman said...

well, they didn't raise fast enough off 1% - Error by Elmer.

Fed needs to move fast to have stronger effects. Then went high & stayed high too long.

mern said...

the big mistake was 1% and for so long. then suggest ARMS in 2003 and who didnt think housing wud get out of control?

i mean besides greenspan?

Frosty said...

Bunkerman...making the grade...LMAOOOOOOO...well done.

Frosty said...

bunky playing gossage to my guidry...Bud swatting at bugs in the batters box...78' indeed, 25-3 and a 1.74...trade meat to the dodgers.

Frosty said...

Bud...why are those chippers green..real buyers...he must be on the lam agian.

mern said...

At the conference Pickens was calling for $60 oil by year-end. We have already seen it, and the forward curve is looking at even higher prices. As recently as Tuesday, Pickens told the Reuters Energy Summit, "I think people are scratching their heads as to whether the world will accept $60 like it did $50...You could go to $70, but at some point it's going to cost on the demand side. Sixty may slow everything down."


who said this?

mern said...

oops

lol

mern said...

oil up almost 15% ytd

at least core is well behaved

yowza fresh salmon is practically worth its weight in gold

Frosty said...

salmon free to the commen white trash man with kids like me...teach a man to fish indeed...only you yuppie deadhead sushi eating bankers pay up.

Frosty said...

have I missed anyone today...MLF59 spikes on the grinder...I might have to walk him and let him take out my second baseman...coming at me cobb style...oh well.

mern said...

frosty i eat plenty of mackerel, grouper, red fish. i know how to fish, only no salmon in the gulf.

ill trade some fresh snook for some fresh salmon!

Bunkerman said...

copper $4 ... uh ...

gasoline demand is down ... in the US. Price has to rise to let the Chinese get their share.

Frosty said...

uh Mern...there is a big difference between fishing and dangling your worm in the water...you fished last with a barbie pole my guess.

have a little thurman munson in me today as well...where's Mav...next.

Spin-em said...

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

nice job Scooter

mern said...

actually im pretty gud with da pole.

even landed a tarpon a few yrs back. that was mucho fun! about 2 hours of work.


one thing that works down here, which i cant believe, if all else fails is to spray some WD40 on your bait.

i swear that works down here!

mern said...

snook luv pinners dipped in WD40!

Spin-em said...

Frosty at his boat dedication

It's easy to grin
When your ship comes in
And you've got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile,
Is the man who can smile,
When his shorts are too tight in the seat.

lmaoooooooooooooo

mern said...

ted knight was perfect in the role.

"WELL! WE'RE WAITING!!!!!!!!"