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e-briannica.bsky.social
Encyclopedia Briannica
@e-briannica.bsky.social
200 followers 150 following 85 posts
technical editor, historical linguist, 2D cartoon person
http://www.encyclopediabriannica.com/
https://bit.ly/briannica
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e-briannica.bsky.social
The latest @aoaoaoapod.bsky.social is about Hallmark movies and maybe contains a new #CutthroatCompound. Misspeaking, they call movies "move-me's, because they move me". youtu.be/R_574v-EU5k?... I have other verb-pronouns: WARM-HER, ARCHIVE-IT, CHEAT'EM, but no other -ME's yet. #AmResearching
Excerpt of research spreadsheet of cutthroats. Lists about 20 cutthroats first cited between 2021 and 2025. The last on the list is move-me.
November 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
A person in a Guy Fawkes costume holds a black drag fan that reads "That's Today!" in white
November 5, 2025 at 8:19 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
What's a GIRT? Girth? Someone sent me a clip of @susiedent.com discussing STIFFRUMP on Countdown, friend thought it was a cutthroat compound (not so), and now I'm down a STIFF- compound rabbit hole, learning that the 2nd half is often a body part... STIFF-ARM, STIFF-LIPPED, STIFF-MINDED, STIFF-GUT.
An excerpt from the OED for the term stiffe-girt.
October 17, 2025 at 3:06 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Dammit. Glad he has agency. Dammit. He signed my favorite book at a Barnes & Noble event. Thanks for letting me know.
A signed copy of Good Families Don't by Robert Munsch with the enscription: "To Brianne 2002"
September 16, 2025 at 12:26 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
I'm cited on Wiktionary?! That's so cool. And in the same breath as my beloved cranberry morphemes? A dream. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutthro... The thesis was from 2012, but who's counting. #CutthroatCompounds
An excerpt from the Wiktionary page for cutthroat compounds that says "Coined by editor and linguist Brianne Hughes in 2015, as cutthroat is an example of the class of compound words."
September 2, 2025 at 5:33 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Is this fake Nintendo controller brand not a #CutthroatCompound? PlayStation + Game Boy = PlayGame? amazon.com/Controller-Classic-Button-PopSockets-PopGrip/dp/B08WP7CNYP/ref=sr_1_19
A black pop socket with a facsimile of the original Nintendo controller but with the words PlayGame written in the Nintendo font instead.
August 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
@swiftonsecurity.com Hi. Long time first time. You don't need more planesona fodder, but I just took a look around Wplace for the first time, and there's labeled plane yuri at SFO:
a map of SFO that has been drawn on by Wplace users. SFO has many random phrases written in pixelated lettering, including "this too is yuri" pointing to two planes touching noses with hearts around them.
August 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
I got this eeBoo "100 GREAT WORDS" puzzle at the Oakland puzzle exchange last month, then I did it, then I made a @wordnik.com list of its 100 words: www.wordnik.com/lists/eeboo-... My top 2 favorites are 🧡CREPUSCULAR and MELLIFLUOUS 🧡
A picture of a wooden kitchen table with a completed round puzzle on top. The puzzle has 100 interesting words written at different angles - nadir, discombobulated, brouhaha, etc.
July 22, 2025 at 8:44 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
#AmResearching Trying to ante-date or date at all) some #Cutthroat placenames, and found a lovely story about the attempted re-naming of TICKLE COCK BRIDGE. Lotsa NSFW placenames and then some potential recent ones from video games.
An excerpt from an article from Engole about Tickle Cock bridge, which was replaced with Tittle Cock plaque until the Castleford Area Voice for the Elderly organized a campaign to change the name back. An excerpt of E_Briannica's list of cutthroats - this shows 29 categorized as adjectival placenames - many without first citation dates yet. Some are fictional from video games. The oldest is Gropecunt Lane from maybe 1230.
July 20, 2025 at 12:14 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
"Brianne don't pigeonhole yourself into only researching cutthroats! There's more to linguistics than compound morphology!" OK, BUT HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STOP. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE AND FUN AND DESERVE TO BE COLLECTED.

Two products from the Milwaukee Tool company: SAWZALL (1951), HACKZALL (2007)
An image from r/ Redneck Engineering of a truck with a wheel-width rectangle cut out of the truck gate to fit a dirt bike with the caption "When you own a SAWZALL anything is possible"
July 8, 2025 at 4:11 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Wondered why William Tecumseh Sherman has that middle name. Evidence lacking, but learned that his buddies called him CUMP. #AmResearching
An excerpt from the General Sherman Wikipedia page that states that as an adult, he signed his correspondence as WT Sherman, and that his friends and family called him Cump.
July 2, 2025 at 10:39 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
I love that etymological fact. Related: I was in a fake band in 2011 called HELICOPTERODACTYL. (Too bad my bandmate was a dick.) tankhughes.com?p=800
The band photo for helicopterodactyl. Two white people make hipster fake fierce faces at the camera while putting up their hands towards the camera like claws. They are very pale and outside, trees in the background..
June 2, 2025 at 6:03 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
🎮 "If you were an enemy in a video game, what loot would you drop?" 🎮 For years, I've said "post-its with verbs on it". Maybe a major drop would be a stim toy or novelty earrings. Anyway, here's an example of an inscrutable post-it: #AmResearching
A Vancouver tourism notepad note with 5 lines of text, each starts with a color, and then some numbers 1-27, with some checks and some black underlines for missing numbers.
June 1, 2025 at 4:55 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
This is not a concept spoiler for the newest and very excellently devised @gamechangershow.bsky.social ep "Crowd Control" on @dropout.tv. This is a signal boost for a screenshot I just know my #Linguistics #Lexicography #AmEditing friends will want sometime. Thanks @joshjohnsoncomedy.bsky.social!
A screenshot from the Crowd Control episode of GameChanger. Comedian Josh Johnson is looking to his right and responding to someone off screen, saying "You never read the dictionary horny?" Closed captions show his words.
May 20, 2025 at 5:13 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Just learned about KNEEL-IT products. Unfortunately, I think it's an IT thing for kneeling, because the thing doesn't kneel, you do, but more comfortably. It doesn't kneel it. I don't think kneel can be transitive here. kneelit.com #CutthroatCompounds #AmResearching
The product page for Kneel-It Rolling kneepads kneeling chair v3. A picture of the black and lime green device is to the left of the title.
May 20, 2025 at 2:42 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
#Endof2024Countdown Next, 2000-2005: FUCK-IT BUCKET (2000) from David Sedaris' book Me Talk Pretty One Day, seems antedatable. SEE-ALL INDUSTRIES (2000) is a Chicago mirror company. SELLSAILS (1998, oops) are sailors for hire in the Song of Ice and Fire books. (from SELLSWORD [1977, really?]) 7/?
An excerpt of a large spreadsheet of cutthroat compounds created from 2000-2005, starting with Fuck-it Bucket and ending with Team Snagem. A quote by David Sedaris from Me Talk Pretty One Day about the concept of a Fuck-it Bucket full of candy to eat when everything goes wrong. The logo of the mirror company See All Industries with the motto "seeing is believing!" and the logo of an eye surrounded by triangles pointing outward. The cover of the book A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin, which contains the term sellsails.
May 19, 2025 at 6:07 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
#Endof2024Countdown #CutthroatCompounds continued... LUBE-IT USA is an oil change service shop in Eugene, Oregon. Now I've found LUBE-IT variants in Utah and New Jersey. Actually, the Utah one is older (1993) and New Jersey one says "for over 20 years." Antedating businesses is tough. 6/?
Lube-It USA 10 miute oil change and carwash logo and building image from Eugene Oregon Lube-It Express and Wash-it Express sign from Utah with a sign that says "Thank you Moab for 25 years" The sign and building for the Lube It Fill business in New Jersey "10 minute oil change - discount tires"
May 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Catching up with The Challenge Season 40, and this subtitled dialogue in a bar made me wonder about this spelling of SHOE-IN. OED has it originally as SHOO-IN (1908), as a given winner from a "fixed" horserace. Waved in, driven in. SHOE-IN feels like a variant that will stick around. #AmResearching
A shot of Rachel's face in an episode of the Challenge with the subtitle "we are shoe-ins" in white text. An excerpt from the OED on the 4th meaning of shoo-in: with in, to allow a racehorse to win easily. Earliest citation from 1908. A graph from Google ngrams comparing the use of shoo-in, shoe-in and shoo in, with shoo-in appearing 4 times as frequently as the variant shoe-in.
May 18, 2025 at 9:34 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Morphologically, do you think SMOOCHUM is named because THEY will smooch em (other pokémon), or cuz YOU should smooch em (because baby), or are they a diminutive lil smooch of a creature, or a smooch+chum? I hate ALL THEIR Pokédex entries: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Smoochu... #AmResearching
The Pokémon Smoochum, a pre-evolution of Jynx with a blond bob haircut, a pink face and legs with large round lips and green eyes.
May 13, 2025 at 7:33 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Q: What do editors do on the weekend?
A: They see Clippy live in concert!

Thanks to @gilliam317.bsky.social for the invite, that Windows 95 Man show was a BLAST. #ClippyWithAKneeBrace
Windows 95 Man behind a DJ set with his name on the screen behind him, and a Clippy-costumed person with a knee brace dancing nearby. Windows 95 Man and Clippy hold hands in the air in front of a DJ setup with low-quality CGI CDs rotating in the background.
January 27, 2025 at 8:19 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Just got an instagram ad for WARMHER (2024), a fanny pack massage and heating pad. I already have BOB HER (1702, a game) and STROKEHER (1332, a surname) on my big #CutthroatCompounds list. #AmResearching
An instagram ad for warm her: a period cramp heat and massage device that fits around the midsection.
January 23, 2025 at 5:46 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Here are some #Endof2024Stats on the two deck builders I loved this year. For #Balatro, I'd love to get Gold Stake on all 15 decks, so far I have it on 8. Have won with 131/150 jokers. For #DungeonsAndDegenerateGamblers, I won ALL IN on 5 of 18 decks, and got 1 win before it was rebalanced.
My personal game file for Balatro - 83% total completed, 79% deck stake wins. My game file stats for Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers. 216 total runs, 48 wins, 5979 total blackjacks.
January 1, 2025 at 8:47 PM
e-briannica.bsky.social
From my #CybersecurityStyleGuide work, here are some examples: CSRF (c-surf), DDoS (d-doss), DKIM (d-kim), DMARC (d-mark), HMAC (h-mack), Hping (h-ping) JPG (j-peg), JWT (jot), LDAP (l-dap), Nginx (engine-X), OGNL (ogg-null), RC4 (ark-four), SCSI (scuzzy), SQL (sequel) SWF (swiff), WSDL (wazz-dull)
An excerpt from the Cybersecurity Style Guide for chmod. The entry says that it can be pronounced 3 ways: change mod, c-h-mod, or chuh-mod.
December 17, 2024 at 6:02 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Damn, I wish I could claim the SPILL NOT drink carrier as a #CutthroatCompound, but unfortunately, it's not SPILL NAUGHT. It's that it doesn't spill anything, not that it spills nothing. Maybe modeled on have-nots and forget-me-nots, not dreadnaughts. www.thespillnot.com Or is it?? #AmResearching
List of 9 cutthroat compounds that end in -nothing. do-nothing, fear-nothing, getnothing, have-nothing, etc. Their first citations span from 1579 to 1838.
December 15, 2024 at 6:45 AM
e-briannica.bsky.social
Through compiling the Cybersecurity Style Guide (bishopfox.com/cybersecurit...), I realized that the future is all about pronunciation variants. So many people learn new words from written conversations online now, not from hearing them out loud. So my official stance was this:
The entry for GIF file from the Bishop Fox Cybersecurity Style Guide: "Pronounced “giff” or “jiff.” then the shrug emoticon.
December 5, 2024 at 8:26 PM