DAVIEPEDIA

 

Well other folks have wikipedia and since then a load of other 'pedia's have shown up so I thought, "Why not?" The cat answered "Mainly to secure things!" and so here it is, the factualish pedia of Dave.

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.

A
Advertising - Possibly the greatest contributor to the worlds current social ills. It should be a means of informing people truthfully about a product. It is the art of selling products. It thus creates a desire for a product if it can or cannot be afforded. It thus peddles misery and frustration.
Affray - An unarmed fight invoving a few people.
Andi - Andi is my daughter. She is wonderful and I love her to bits.
Apple - A favorite fruit that grows on Apple Trees. If you find my kitchen you may find out more!
Axis - a way of describing a unification of enemy states but only applied if they lose. Of far more interest is the other meaning used in rotation in 3D geometry. If you don't understand the next sentence then read the bit about co-ordinates, below, then come back to it. The straight line that goes through the origin and the x co-ordinate is called the x axis. Likewise the one that goes through the origin and the y co-ordinate is called the Y axis and the one through the origin and the z co-ordinate the z axis. The x, y and z axis are always at right angles to each other. objects can be rotated arond these axis like a wheel rotates around an axel. I will use an example to describe the rotation: Imagine a six foot figure laying on the ground with their head towards you. Now imagine that figure floats up 3 feet so they still have their head towards you and are parralel to the ground. Now let us say that the figures origin is at their centre. If we rotate it through 90 degrees around its x axis it will either be standing up or standing on its head. We will say it is standing up and now rotate it clockwise through another ninety degrees around the y axis so it is looking to the left. Now if we rotate it 180 degrees around its z axis it will be on its head and looking to the right. All of this assumes that the other axis do NOT rotate with the figure. If they did rotate with the figure after the first 90 degree rotation around the x axis the y and the z axis would have swapped positions so 90 degrees clockwise around the y axis would have the figure on its side facing you but now the z and the x have swapped positions so the 180 degree rotation would have the figure still on its side but with its back to you. Different 3D computing packages use one or other of these rotation methods and often different ways of placing the origin. All of this is only of use if you are doing 3D work like I have with most of the non photographs on this site.
B
Baby - a tube with a noise at one end and a mess at the other. The future.
Back to - Used for site navigation, e.g. Back to study. Remember you can use the Back Arrow at the top left of your browser page to go back to the page you came from. In places there will also be two navigational buttons, one with a 'B' on to take you back to the last page and one with an 'H' on to take you to the home page.
Beauty - this is in the eye of the beholder (a phrase that takes on a whole new meaning in AD&D). In other words, if anyone tries to define beauty, they are wrong! In my years of growing up I have discovered a few things and one is that beauty does not equal sexy just as love and lost can be separate things.
Blag - a lie
Black - a lack of colour - all of this text is black.
Bleg - a leg that will not do what its owner wants it to. Most common when drunk.
Blig - the part of a blog where the writer boasts about the bling they own that they don't.
Bling - pretty and or flashy stuff that looks as though it might be worth something. Generally worn to impress. Most folk are not impressed!
Blog - a lump of info a person writes about themselves that is sometimes true. No one believes this though because of the word "blog" which most assume to be a variant of "blag."
Blossom - The flower of the apple tree (and pear tree and possibly others). As a compliment for ladies used to mean rosey and well rounded (curvacious).
Blue - a colour - a prime colour in fact. For some reason associated with porn and boys as well as calm and healing. We humans are mad! This is Blue!
Blug - I made this one up - secret or hidden information revealed by someone - may or may not be true. Blugs are mainly produced by conspiracy theorists.
B Movie - When one went to the pictures back from before the 50's through to at least 70's, the audience generally enjoyed a program consisting of a B movie, advertising with or without a short film, trailers and finally the main feature or A movie. B movies tended to be around an hour long, were made on a restricted budged and invariably completely different from the main feature. Oh yes! Someone usually sold ice creams just after the B movie and you had time to eat it during the advertising.
Bookworm - A person who spends most of their spare time reading books. They are very often quite capable of social interraction but just choose not to.
Buck - A young male deer and a nickneme for an American dollar. Also the nickname for a young man who dates many a lass.
C
Cabin - a detatched chalet made of wood on land. Accomodation on a vessel. A sea going hotel room.
Camping - Fun for itself or as backup accommodation to other activities. As far as I am concerned there are two versions: backpack, where everything you need is carried in a backpack on your back, and static, where the camp is a base for other activities. Static concentrates on much more comfort.
Celeb - a word made up to describe celebrities that do not deserve the status. Any TV show that features celebs should be avoided at all costs.
Chamber Pot - A handy receptical for urine that up until the mid sixties many folk would have under the bed. Cold nights, outside toilets and no central heating made this almost a must. Some had lids but most did not. Nowadays used by old people and in prisons as well as the 'training pot' used for toilet training.
Cluck - A noise made by a chicken.
Co-ordinates - figures representing position in measurements of distance from an origin. The origin is where all of the co-ordinates have the value of zero. In 3D, three co-ordinates are needed to define a position along with knowing where the origin is and what unit of distance measurement is being used. Traditionally we describe these as the x, y, z co-ordinates where x gives the side by side value, y the up and down one and z the forward and back one.
Creek - Tidal part of a river meeting the sea. Usually quite muddy and as the flow of river water slows here with quite a bit of rubbish washed down by the river.
Cricket - a lethal bat and ball game. If you are batting someone hurls a heavy ball at you at speed and you try to thump it away with the bat where there are no fielders so that you can run to the other end of the pitch before the other side get it and throw it to where you are running to. If you are fielding you have to get in the way of and stop the ball that has just been thumped by the batsman, frequently accelerating it, without letting it hit the ground. The only time I did intercept the ball when fielding, I broke three fingers. I find the game boring to watch except when it is an aggro match played between village teams on a sunny day and it can be watched from under the shade of a tree just outside a pub.
Cwuck - A noise made by an upper class chicken.
D
Darn - A curse used instead of Damn! Something done to mend holes in socks. So if a person says "I am putting on my darned socks!" are they cursing or not?
David - Translates to "Beloved" - Hmmm!
Dimension - A description of positioning within a bound environment. A zero dimensional environment is a point in a 'place' that has no depth, width or height. A one dimensional environment is a line. A two dimensional environment is the plane a line passes through also described as a defined by two lines intersecting. So far we have zero dimension that does not exist but does exist (read Zero below), the first dimension that is width (or height or depth or whatever depending upon from where it is looked at), the second dimension is area on a single plane - a flat dimension and now I am introducing the third dimension that has depth, width and height. If you can imagine this dimension as the area that bounds all positions within a single point of time, i.e. it is space. This neatly introduces time as the forth dimension, one that bounds all of space through every point in time. By assumtion the world of Mayfest has two more dimensions which may or may not be valid in the real world. Interested? Read here!
DLR or Docklands Light Railway - An extremely punctual and efficient railway that runs from places like Lewisham, Stratford and Woolwhich into the City (of London), Bank or Tower Gateway stations.
Dragonlore - A larp system run in Essex by folks in Cambridgeshire. The folks are the Hellman family. The system is family friendly. Cheapest system I have attended for indoor events considering they have good food included.
Duck - A bird and an action. One lays eggs and tastes good the other can be life saving. Occasionally the latter is used to avoid the flight of the former. Mayhap if the former did more of the latter we would not have as much of the former to taste.
E
Egg - Pre birth form of fishes, mammals and birds. A versatile food.
F
Fish - Target of fishing. A scaley thing that swims around under water in a continual quest for food and occasional mating. While it does this it has to avoid all of the bigger fish that are doing exactly the same. "Fish eat fish!" a possible saying that accounts for the downfall of Loki-ism {Mayfest world}. "Fish!" Cry of a priest of Loki {Mayfest world}.
Fishing - as a sport it is more boring than golf. It is also a survival skill. Fortunately there are other methods to a rod and line to catch fish. These methods are not considered sport and some are illegal. Fishing is also applied to things other than fish. For example "fishing for information" which has extended to the word Phishing being used to describe the mass sending of emails that it is hoped someone will reply to so that their address can then be targeted for advertising.
Flour - only thing common with flower, which is said almost the same, is they both come from plants. It is the white powdery stuff that is not salt or sugar that is used to make bread and cakes.
Flower - The bit of the plant that makes it attractive and sexy to pollen gatherers. Has stamen with pollen on in the middle and surrounds this with brightly colored petals. When calling a woman a flower do be careful. In Britain in pre-Victorian era, calling a woman "flower" was telling them they were sexy and attractive (on heat as it were!). The Victorians managed to change this almost overnight to apply to little girls and mean as pretty as a flower. Both meanings apply out of this country - the latter in mainly ex British empire countries. In a few places it has become an insult that means a woman who is desperate to trap a man into marriage by getting him to father a baby in her.
Formula One - Grand Prix Motor Racing - One of my interests.
Fray, to - applied to cloth meaning to unraver a bit around the edges.
Freakonomics - Economics applied to everything and anything. The name of a book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
Freya - Greater spirit followed by the Seamstresses Guild. {Mayfest World}
Fry - a cooking method that can be used to cook fish.
Fry, Stephen - Presenter, author and probably a lot of other things as well. A celebrity that actually deservs the status. He has the ability to make even the most boring seem interesting. Should have been a teacher of Latin, maybe, or wrote this! I have a book of his called "Moab is my Washtub" and deals with his early life.
G

Geek - A socially inept person who generally has a non constructive hobby and knows virtually all there is to know about it. For example there are movie geeks, Startreck geeks (many trekkies are geeks but, thankfully, not all of them), Diskworld geeks, Dr Who geeks, rare collectables geeks and so on. Generally geeks are looked down upon by the rest of society except in the USA where it is fasionable to have some around.
Geekify - To make a hobby acceptable to geeks.
Geekling - a younger geek.
Geekwards - The direction towards becoming a geek.
Giffanise - the changing and adapting of instructions or directions by applying lateral imagination.
Giffney - 1: Collector of books, especially old ones and usually obtained for nothing or for 'bargain prices - honest!' 2: Dissarranger of order. The mere presence of a Giffney will cause rooms to untidy themselves and all vitally needed objects to hide or flee into different rooms. 3: A force that is there for one when needed. 4: A friend who has earned my respect by being himself.
Going Blue with Cold - an inaccurate statement stil frequently used in England. It was based on pre Victorian concepts - The tops of mountains are cold. The lips of people that climbed up mountains often went blue. So the cold was blamed for this when in fact it was simply a lack of oxygen that caused the colour.
Going Green - 1: Turning a green color - maybe through bruising or going rotten. 2: Becoming jealous or envious. 3: Becoming aware of and acting upon environmental issues.
Golf - Yawn!
Gormenghast - A castle that is a town and almost a country. It rambles over many miles and is ruled by tradition. Most of the people that live there are quite mad. It is featered in works of Melvin Peake.
Gray - A series of shades between Black and White. For some reason associated with misery. Hey! I am much much much happier with gray than pink anyday! All of these are Gray!
Green - a colour - a secondary colour made by mixing the primes blue and yellow. For some reason associated with inexperience as well as greed and envy. More recently green is the name given to environmental issues. This is Green!
Grey - A common misspelling of "gray" and an English surname.
Gruck - see Xuck
Guys Hospital - One of London's most famous hospitals. It's frontage featured in a lot of the Ealing studio 'Doctor' films. I was born there.
H
H - The goalposts of the alphabet.
Ha! Hah! - Noises that along with "Hmmm!" and "Indeed!" make people sound as if they know what is going on.
Halloween - Midnight 31st October - When British people copy U.S. Americans, small children learn to beg, there are a lot of fancy dress parties, too many zombies, most little girls want to be pretty witches and very few people actually concern themselves with the dead.
Hayes, John - Trog - A great friend.
Hello - Welsh for Hello - I have a learn Welsh tape that spent at least five minutes teaching me that!
Home Page - The main or introductory page to a site. It should tell you what the site is about and link to an Index page if it is not one. Where used on these pages the 'H' button on the right will take you to the home page.
Honey - A great substance made by bees and pinched by men. It is then used to make other things like mead as well as being just Honey. When used as a term of endearment means, "sweetness" and many black folk whose families were fromthe West Indies use "Honey Chil'" (Honey Child) when addressing girl children and can be translated as "sweet Child."
Honey Farm, The - The Honey Farm just inland from Newquay in Wales is well worth a visit. Apart from their exhibition on bees and bee keeping with interactive stuff for kids and adults, there are tours of the meadery, picnic areas and a cafe and shop. The honey products sold in the shop are all great. You will probably be surprised at how many varieties of mead they produce. The cafe is very good but a little too dear for my budget (especially after spending £100 on mead, honey and one or two other things).
Honey Fudge - A fudge made with honey instead of sugar. Highly addictive if you have a sweet tooth.
Honey Ice Cream - I do not know how good elsewhere but buy it from a shop on the quayside at Aberaron in Wales and you will find it is fantastic from there.
Honey Mead - My favorite mead sold usually as a sweet and not so sweet version.
Horsemen - Folk who ride horses :: The true horsemen of the apocalypse are probably four in number and are bankers, lawyers, politicians and priests, all greedy control freaks who are raping the world and its people.
Huck - Nickname of a boy called Huckleberry.
I
I - The most self centered letter of the alphabet.
Index Page - Re web sites - On most sites it is the conventional name for the page that has links to all of the other pages on or links to all the main sections. It is often also the Home page.
Ironing - Probably one of my least favorite jobs of all those that have to be done frequently. Washing, cooking, washing up even, cleaning shoes, mowing the lawn, hoovering, washing the kitchen floor - those are all fine. Ironing? Bah! Drat!
Isle of Sheppy - A heap of London Clay washed down into the Thames Estuary. Has the towns Sheerness and Queenborough and the villages, Minster, Eastchurch and Leyesdown. There used to be a village called Warden's Bay but that got washed away! I lived at Minster and then Sheerness. The Island economy depends on the holiday trade. Great place to be as a kid as there is town, seaside and countryside all within very easy access. Crap place to be as an adult if you need to work for a living.
J
Ja Ja Binks - Why does no one like this Star Wars character?
John - a first name. For some reason used by Americans to mean toilet!
Juck - a miss-spelling of Jack that may be down to sloppy writing.
K
Kamp - a misspelling of camp.
Kamph - Now I am confused.
Kent - County in SE England. Capitol is Canterbury. Busiest town is Maidstone. Sandy seaside from Whitstable, through Herne Bay, Westgate, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Deal and Dover (the ferry port) are on its coast too. My prep school was in Westgate and the private day school in Maidstone. My first job was also in Maidstone. The Medway towns are also a feature of Kent - a collection of towns, Gillinghan, Chatham, Rochester and Strood that all have a great naval heritage. Kent used to be bigger but parts of it became parts of Greater London instead. Where I live now, Crofton Park, Lewisham, used to be in Kent.
Kluck - an alternative spelling for the noise made by a chicken.
L
Lappage - In Grand Prix commentator terms a comparetive amount of number of laps a car, engine, driver or set of tires have done under certain circumstances. Examples: "Vettel has had hardly any lappage so far due to his engine failure this morning." and "Drivers like Massa and Button have experience of much more lefting lappage than most." That could translate to, "The more experienced drivers have driven more anti-clockwise laps than others."
Lapability - the ability of a car, engine or driver to keep driving laps without failure. Another term made up by formula one grand prix commentators.
Lard - A good fat for cooking.
Larder - A place for keeping food that should have a flow of dry cool air going through it. Was used for storing dairy produce and lard.
Larp - or more correctly L. A. R. P. Stands for Live Action Role Play or Live Adventure Role Play. Has given birth to words like larper - a person who larps and larping - doing larp. So really I suppose larp is a noun, a verb (to larp) and an adjective (a larp system).
Lawrence - My family name - Comes from the Scots. Cecil Harry Lawrence was my father. Louise Edith Lawrence was my mother. Peter Roy Lawrence is my brother and I am David John Lawrence. I have two children, Andi and Simon who are both grown up now so not really children.
Lawrence, Andi - See Andi
Lawrence, David - Me - In my time: Bus crew rosta scheduler, Tour route planner, Accounts dept. administrator, Assistant to accounting, Traffic warden, Decorator, Carpenter, Maintenance bloke for a private campsite, Assistant Warden for an Organization's campsite, student, Computing support officer - various roles as needs changed over time. All that was just work. Also: Larp festival organisor and referee, Larp adventure organisor and referee, Cook, Camper, Kid looking afterer, walker/hiker, driver, swimmer and carer.
Left side neck - a term used by commentators to indicate that a driver's neck muscles are better than most at coping with an anti clockwise track.
Lefted - (as in, "See that picture - he looks well lefted.") To describe a whose neck muscles are visibally giving him grief after driving around an anti clockwise circuit. Presumably such a driver would have a Right side neck!
Lefting - ability of (seemingly) a car to turn left. Again F1 commentry: "Piquet does not have a lefting car at all!" and "I cannot see what the trouble is as the car is lefting well!"
London - Capitol of the UK. City where I live and work. Bloody big place full of people. Getting higher all the time. Host of next Olympics. Has red buses and telephone boxes. Surrounded by the M25. Takes hours to drive across. Loads of interesting shops. Lots of Parks. Places there I have lived: Croften Park, Dulwhich, Finsbury Park, Hackney, Kensington, Peckham, Plumstead, St. Johns, Upper Clapton, Westminster, White City, Wood Green. Hackney and Lewisham being the best that I have lived in. River Thames runs through the city and the commuter boats are a lot cheaper than the tourist ones. Free trips across the river (great for the kids) on the Woolwhich free ferry! All museums are free and well worth it! London markets are great. The building called the cucumber (or even less complimentery things) reminds me of a 50's B movie rocket ship. The countries best railway is the Docklands Light Railway. It is frequently rated second or third best in the world. I suspect that for the 2008/2009 period this rating will slip as they are making all of the stations longer and this mucks up the schedules a bit.
Luck - The chance that happens to a person. Most people have luck. Trouble is it can be bad as well as good. Very few people can depend upon which it is going to be as, if they could do so it would no longer be luck but destiny.
Lunacy - People who go a bit potty in phase with the moon. When I lived in Sheerness and around a full moon there were quite a few people who ran around naked, talked in languages that no one understood, thought they could fly, thought they were invisible, climbed up onto rooftops and howled or tried to poo through letterboxes.
Lust - extreme desire. Mostly unfulfilled.
M
Ma - Mother - mainly used by Americans.
Magic - The best definition is, "any force that cannot be explained or understood by science." There are a number of theories about magic: "It does not exist unless performed by the feature entity/prophet/priest of our religion when it is a miracle and not a spell." - any religion."Religions have banned and stamped out magic as sinful when in truth it challenges their creeds." - conspiracy theorists (note that it was recently reported in the papers - early October 2008 - that the earliest reference to Jesus Christ have been found and there he is recorded as being a magician!). "Magic was made up by fairies and anyone who asks them can use it if they are their friends." Heather Seagull, a childhood friend when we were seven. This definition in fact became refined to form the made up magic system as used in Mayfest.
Mayfest LARP - the larp system run by myself and some friends. We have two events a year, Mayfest and Augfest. Family friendly. Events under canvas.
Mead - A wine made of Honey and the only wine I drink. (Hint here for when you would normally give me a bottle of wine!)
Milligan, Spike - My most favorite comedian ever.
Minister - The oldest meaning was a person who shares out things. Later a person who administers things. Kind of combined in a Church Minister who runs the church, tries to run his parish and shares out the teachings of his church. A Minister is also a high up in government who administers a department or doesn't if he has no portfolio.
Minster - A small town or large village. Small and large are very variable. I have been told a number of stories about how the word came about. Most of them suggest it is the church's fault.
Mister - A name of respect for a male. Shortened Mr. Used when there is no better title to give a person. For example as kids we called all adult males whose names we did not know (and quite a few whose names we did know) "Mister!" unless they were a teacher, "Sir!" a headmaster, "Headmaster! Sir!" a policeman, "Constable!" or wearing a white churchman's collar, "Reverand!" or "Father!" or a relative, "Uncle!" "Grandfather!" (Mum's dad - he shouted a lot and had a big stick) or "Grandad!" (Dad's dad - he gave us pop and took us to the fair.)
Muck - Dirt in a greasy kind of way. Some believe brass can be found near it.
N
Na! - No! - mainly used by teenagers.
Nanobot - Tiny robot - smaller that the eye can see.
Neo - The name of the cat that lives here. He says meow a lot and is big built. A supposed runt of the litter; he rules the backyard area and kills and eats squirrels as a hobby. He loves sprats (nowadays called whitebait).
Nerd - 1: A person who only socialises with or via a computer. 2: A person who seemingly knows everything there is to know about computers but little else (or a subset of this, e.g. a Macintosh nerd who thinks the mac is the best compter ever and knows all about it, The UNIX nerd who believes that UNIX is the only system one should ever use and who knows all about it, The programming nerd who believes the only worthwhile activity in the whole world is programming and so that is all he or she will do). 3: A person who spends all their time studying or solving problems. NOTE that all of these are not at all very good at interaction with other people in general or the opposite sex in particular. They should not be confused with bookworms or geeks.
Nerd (to) - To act like or be a nerd.
Nerdilly - 'as though a nerd but not really' used as in, for example, "Nerdilly speaking, <Nerdish statement>" This tells the listener(s) that the speaker may be saying something nerdish but is not him or her self a nerd. Not to be confused with Nerd dally which is to hang about like a nerd.
Nerdify (to) - used on an action, activity or occasionally a thing; declare the subject to be suitable for nerds.
Nerdish - like a nerd or like that of a nerd.
Nerdition - degree of being a nerd. e.g. "His nerdition is total! I am afraid he is a total nerd!"
Nerdling - a young nerd - not to be confused with a nercolite who is learning to become a practicing nerd.
Nerdman - a fictional super nerd who protects nerds from the ravages of normality.
Nerdy - a person who is a bit like a nerd or an action or activity a bit like that done by a ners or a nerdish activity or action that is not done with enough intensity to be nerdish.
Nuck - A verb that means to apply hard pressure using the Knuckles of a hand. Often used by carpenters in the region of South East England. Hardly heard at all these days.

Neuron - Tiny particle in atomic physics - smaller than the eye can see.
Number Bases - We tend to use a decimal counting system that is in fact the number base of 10. It uses the digits 0 through to 9. A number base 6 uses the digits 0 through to 5. To count to 10 in number base 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20. Note that multiples of 5 end in a zero. Now let is do the same in number base 3: 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, 100, 101. Now multiples of 3 end in zero and 3 squared ends in 00. 2 squared is 4 - so using number base 2: 1. 10, 11, 100 we see that 2 squared ends in 00. It is true up to number base 10 that the square is 100 in this way. By the time you have tested this out you will have a pretty good idea of number bases. Number base 2 is called binary and is used a lot in digital technology. For those that like maths: NB means number base so NB(n): If x<n or x=n then xn ends in a 0. Is this true when x>n? For NB(2), NB(3), ... at what point does n*n NOT = 100?
O
Oats - A virile cerial associated with Scotland
Open Source - used to describe some computing applications or code. What this means is that the code is free for anyone to use. It follows that an open source program is a free program.
Outside - A wonderful place, generally no where as near as bad as parents think, that children should be allowed to explore and develop in.
P
Pa - Father - mainly used by Americans
Peake, Mervin - author of the Gormenghast trilogy among other books. A descriptive writer who created a fantasy envireonment my imagination loved.
Pheromes - Short lived chemical nanobots made and fired off by your body so that the recipient's senses can determine the suitability of your being a mate for them. They contain details of immunities and allergies and other information that the other body instinctively processes to work out the result of combining with their immunities, allergies, etc. If the likely combination is likely to be an improvement then the messages the body sends around is attraction with view to mating. This works both ways. This is why some folk who get on great are not sexually attracted to each other and some who virtually hate each other find each other amazingly sexually attractive. A possible reason why love should have nothing to do with lust.
Pi - a value that exists but cannot be exactly defined. If a circle has a diameter of 1 then its circumference is pi. The trouble is pi is irrational (cannot be expressed as a fraction) and transcendental (no finite sequence of algebraic operations on integers can reproduce it). Further the value of pi is the same no matter what the size of the circle. Somehow one day, I will tie this into things to make a tardis.
Pie - a circle of pastry with its edges bent up to make a bowl shape with a filling in and another circle of pastry put on top. This is put in an oven and baked. When it is cut up and shared out the pieces are NEVER the same size - a fact that is the fault of pi.
Pink - a colour made by mixing white with red - for some reason associated with love (could that be watered down lust? - see red!) and girls. This is Pink!
Poe - another name for a chamber pot. The name led to some slight mental confusion when I first heard the description po-faced (pronounced poe-faced) as a kid.
Poe, Edgar Allen - author and poet.
Po-faced - short for poker faced. Means to show no expression (and thus give nothing away).
Pornography - Porn for short - A control mechanism used to control the masses. Mainly invented by Victorians who figured Christianity was on its way out.
Pot - name for a ceramic or earthenware recepticle used mainly for storing foodstuffs. Glassware ones are jars and bottles and plastic ones are bad for you.
Potty - another name for a chamber pot as well as meaning eccentric or a bit mad. Gave rise to the very old joke, "John has curled up under the bed. Hi is a little potty!"
Preparatory School - known as Prep School - a school for six to thirteen year olds that is meant to prepare them for public school. Subjects taught at the one I went to were, English grammar and English literacy, mathematics (arithmetic, geometry and algebra), history, geography, current affairs, Latin, French, music (singing), physical training and sports (swimming, cricket, football and rugby).
Puck - a round disk that slides across ice. Generally belted about by ice hocky players. Also the name of a fey child in Shakespear's Midsummer Nights Dream.
Q
Quad - A yard bound by four walls forming a rectangle. As a prefix quad means four.
Quads - Four siblings concieved of the same parents, carried in the same womb together and born around the same time. If one was born a bit before midnight on the 1st of January, another born at midnight and the other two after midnight, how many would have their birthday on the 1st of January? Some people worry about such things! The quads don't as long as they all get presents.
Quarter Staff - an ash (usually) staff used mainly for fighting but I have used mine to assist in carrying things, as an emergency tent support, something to lean on and a main prop for the game "What is it?" A tutor who was teaching its use in combat said, "Your staff is a blunt hand held spear as well as a shield and two clubs.".

Quarter Staff Fighting (as a hobby and in history) - The martial art hobby of English Quarter Staff fighting involves two opponents attempting to hit each other in designated locations while not getting hit themselves. A bought is over when a predetermined number of hits (called strikes)have been made on an opponent. If the number of strikes for each is within the difference of 5% then points are taken into consideration. Each point is worth 1% and they are awarded for tripping, entangling and forcing (back the opponent more than five paces). For any of these moves 1 to 3 points (inclusive) are awarded. These rules applied to the region I competed in and there was only a little difference in the National Championships. Traditionally the quarterstaff was the main training weapon for soldiery on the British Isles because spears and long handled tools could be used as quarterstaffs - most Celts had been trained in their use and spearmen, and later on pikemen, used the lessons learned with the quarterstaff in open or individual combat.
Quuck - An odd word that could be the noise made by a vocally impared chicken.
R
Raffle - A name given to a low odds game of chance. The name was probably invented by old Victorian ladies to make gambling seem a legitimate way of raising money for causes.
Rath - Originally an Elven spirit in another friend's larp system but has been adopted into the Mayfest system. He is neutral and has influence over time, space and destiny. Mostly he sorts things out through avatars like Yorath and Who.
Reality - As this differs from person to person and from moment to moment it defies description.
Reality TV - A lie!
Red - a colour - a prime colour in fact - for some reason associated with lust. (so why do they call porn blue?). This is red! However a peson is said to see red when they become so angy they attack anything.
Religion - A lot of things but mainly been used to a) control masses of population b) justify wealthy rulers and c) make a few people very rich. Personally I do not buy the line, "Because you cannot prove this it is true as it is they mystery at the heart of <name of religion>." I read a mailing from a reader of the Metro Newspaper today (8th January 2009) where they asked. "How come an organisation that cannot proove the foundation of their belief can condemn others for being pagans or for not believing in any god at all?" Virtually every religion does this. We could also define religion as an organisation whose existance is based upon beliefs that are unlikely and cannot be proven AND the cause of/excuse for most major wars until greed took over. AND a needed prop for many of humanity.
Rob'd Out - A word. phrase, sentence, described action, etc. that has become forgotten before acted upon or used, due to a barrier of usually funny tangental conversation erected around it.
Ross, Johnathan - A TV presenter who is a bit of a rotter and speaks with a lisp. Introduces himself as "Woss". Seems to crave being centre of interest and seems to think he is somewhat important.
Roth - the way lots of folk say Wrath which should be said as wroth.
Rotter! - An insult that should be brought back, along with "Cad!" and "Scoundral!"
Ruck - A noisey (generally play) fight or a type of bag worn on the back and supported by the hips.
S
Sap - Blood of a tree or a person easily duped - is there a connection?
Sausage factory - a place that makes sausages but, more importantly, Sausage Factory is the name of a shop in Weymouth that makes loads of different types of sausages and is bloomin' great!
Sex - an act performed between two people initially to begat children but more often because it is well worth the effort, a good way to pass the time and bloomin' fantastic!
Sheerness - a small seaside town on the Isle of Sheppy. I lived there from around 9 to around 17 years old. Up until a very large influx of people from around London it had a high proportion of potty people mainly due to inbreeding and sexual diseases. Our potty people were both policed and cared for by the whole community. The most common was lunacy but we had virtually every other type one could think of.
State Schooling - Schooling provided by the state through the local councils. When I was a kid there were Primary Schools (5 to 7 years), Junior Schools (8 to 10) and then a branching into Secondary, Technical or Grammar School depending upon 11 plus results for 11 to 16 year olds. At 16 a pupil could go to a college - normally for two years - or leave and get a job.
Sturk, Douglas - A bloke wot does 3d. Friend. Has organisation called Sturkworks. Artist. Has comic strip where the super powered girl relies on the sight of her breasts to overcome the enemy.
Suck - A way of getting drink through a straw and into the mouth. We gain preperation for this while we are a baby.
Swimming - another activity I enjoy that can best be described as moving through water without drowning. Unfortunately I do not do much swimming as most pools are expensive, so full of chemicals that my eyes burn and/or in dirty buildings. It were better when I were a kid. See the photo of our pool in the album!
T
Taaan - Dwarven drum that gives a beat sound that rhymes with "gold" and is as lively as their songs.
Table Tennis - The only bat and ball game I was ever any good at.
Table Top Role Play - A form of role play where a group of folk sit around a table to play and role dice to decide chance.
Three D (3D) - 3D stands for three dimensional. In the computing and art context I use, virtual models are built and then imported into programs that manipulate them into a scene. This scene can then be rendered into two dimensional pictures from different angles and with the figures being moved around.
Tolkien - In spite of the stuff written about Beowolf and King Arthur, Tolkien is considered to be the father of the sword and sorcery fantasy genre. He wrote The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and designed the cultures he described in great detail including languages, scripts, songs and poetry. He was a historian that has become more famed for his fantasy history! He also made up the game "Tunnels and Trolls" which is the first recorded fantasy table top role play game.
Traffic Warden - When I joined the traffic warden service they were that - a service. The issue of a ticket was considered a failure to move the vehicle on. It was only a change in the way we had to work that caused me to leave. In four years and just over eleven months I had issued less than a dozen or so tickets. Then all of a sudden we were told to issue tickets straight away. This meant that in a normal tour of duty we would be issuing between 40 to 60 tickets and having loads of arguments with drivers who were not expecting such unreasonable treatment. So after one day of that I told them where to stick it and resigned.
Truck - An open backed vehicle used to carry loads. Later came to include all manner of articulated lorries especially in America. I do not to this day understand its context in sayings such as, "I hold no truck with that!" meaning that whatever that was it is not believed.
Twilight Realms - Another larp system I attend run by Liz and Jamie, more costly than Mayfest or Dragonlore but well worth attending. Family friendly. Events are indoor.
U
Uber - Big and fantastic.
Uck - A mess. Something that is messy is sometines described as Ucky.
Uberucky - Many lives. It is noted that the amount of uberuckiness is proportional to the amount of political interference. {And Yes! I do know this is out of alphabetical order - Just stop being anul! Get outside and make up for all those years of freedom and invention you missed out on!}
University - a place of learning and thus also teaching. Since this process has to be structured a lot of people work there providing support for the students and teaching staff. Further some of these support staff also need help and support so folk are employed to help them.
V
Vat - A sealed container for liquids not to be confused with V.A.T., value added tax, an additional rip off imposed by governments that is, possibly, fairer than income tax.
Vegetarian - Paul, the other guy who rents the house I live in, is a vegetarian. Vegetarians live on vegetables, milk cheese and fruit. I.E. they do not eat meat or fish. Most vegetarians I know spend quite a lot of time ill. I find it quite hard inventing varied vegetarian meals on a low budget but, in trying to do so, have discovered some new favorite meals.
Violet 71 Au - A 3d artist and modeller who is also a friend even though she lives in Australia. I got to know her through the 3d-cc bulletin boards. I have used her models in my own 3d work. There is a bathroom suite she made used in Bathroom Slipup for example. Her real name is Becki and she has two sons that she is bringing up on her own.
Vuck - the way a german impressionist plays Johnathan Ross saying Ruck.
W
Waffle - Much of this page or a name for a certain type of savory or sweet cake. If you ever find the right bit of the site, they are described elsewhere on this site.
Walking - another pastime of mine. Sounds booring but when you consider it is a mixture of exploring, observation and exercise it sounds less so. I once heard walking described as, "Not making up yer mind which leg to follow." It is different to running as you always have at least one foot on the ground at any time.
Woolwhich Free Ferry - Ferry that crosses the Thames between North and South Woolwhich. Takes vehicles and foot passengers and is fun for kids - they even get to see the engines through big windows. We used to have lunch going back and forward on a ferry when we went shopping in Woolwhich.
Wuck - the way Johnathan Ross says ruck.
X
X - It be 'ere! (on treasure maps) or the marked spot.
x - the side to side co-ordinate in 2D and 3D geometry.
Xarx - A Greek name that later emerged as a fantasy monster - Maybe Tolkien did not start it all after all!
Xuck - This word does not exist so, from now, will mean, "a word awaiting a meaning." e.g. The word gruck is a xuck.
Y
Y - a lazy way of writing "Why?" - I blame texting myself.
y - the up and down co-ordinate in 2D and 3D geometry.
Yeah! - An exhuberent form of "yes!"
Yellow - a colour - a prime colour in fact. {If someone knows the frequency - do tell!} For some reason associated with cowardice. For some reason the colour of the team or house I always ended up in no matter what school or club I went to. Mind you I have always been good at running and dodging - especially if someone is after me! This is Yellow!
Yorath - A name of the 'referee' character I play at Mayfest. Some folk just think of me as Yorath. Yorath is a Timelord vaguely controlled by Rath.
Yuk! - An expressive noise to convey distaste.
Z
Z - The way to pronounce an X said before a vowell. The symbol for Zorro - usually on a ruined shirt.
z - the back and forward co-ordinate in 3D geometry.
Zero - Point of origin. A value greater than minus anything but less than plus anything. A place that does not exist as there is not anything there but also there is not not anything there so it is a paradox this is born out in maths: Anything + 0 = Anything, Anything - 0 = Anything, Anything * 0 = 0, Anything/0 = infinity. Because zero upsets normal logic it may not be used in proving a case nor can it be helpful in polymorphalising. A mathamatician with the surname of Hertz said, "Zero is the insanity of mathmatics." It is represented by a circle or joined loop (or graph with a line but no nodes) as zero goes nowhere but can be found anywhere.
Zuk - Probably a rock star's kid's name.
ZZZZZ - a snore. Symbolises sleeping in pictures. Gives rise to the phrase, "Racking up the Z's" meaning getting sleep.