Gifted: a definition

gift·ed

adj \ˈgif-təd\

Definition of GIFTED

1

: having great natural ability : talented <gifted children>

2

: revealing a special gift <gifted voices>

— gift·ed·ly adverb

— gift·ed·ness noun

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Not a verb.

See?

So you can't say that someone gifted you with a book.

There's already a word for that.

Gave.

Someone gave you a book. As a gift, if you need to describe it further. But usually there is no need.

A gift is given or received. Not gifted. The gift was gifted to me? No.

I realize this word is in the process of changing in the popular vocabulary but ... it. is. driving. me. batty.

B.A.T.T.Y.

Simple Pleasures: From the Crossword Puzzle

Word from the Algonquian for "white dog."

Answer: opossum

Well, I'll be darned. How perfect, right? I love that ...

We Have a Word For It ... And Here's Why

Matrix • Fingernails and toenails grow from a source called the "nail matrix" and grow out over the "nail bed." The nail itself is called the "nail plate." As well as providing the name for a cool, if violent movie series, matrix has a surprising history. The movie The Matrix series takes its name from computing, where a matrix is an interconnected complex of related elements. But matrix was originally a Latin word meaning "uterus" or "womb," and appeared in that sense in English in 1526. Think matrix, mater, mother. The nail matrix is in this sense the place of origin of the nail, the place where it is born. In The Matrix movies those evil computers have set up artificial wombs where they can breed more humans; lending the name a nice circularity.

Carnal Knowledge by Charles Hodgson

We Have a Word For It ... And Here's Why

A little brand name info, courtesy of the Word Origin Calendar.

AUDI
The German car company by this name was founded in 1899 by August Horch. Horch, however, was prevented from using his own name in this company because of trademark conflicts with his first company, which he had named after himself. Therefore, he translated the German word horch, which means "to listen," into Latin, yielding "Audi."

CANON
This giant electronics company got its name from its first generation camera. Produced in 1934 in Japan, the camera was called the Kwanon, a Japanese name for a Buddhist goddess. A year later, the name was changed to its modern spelling so that the product would not seem too old fashioned.

They Have a Word for It ... And We Don't

Biritululo (Kiriwana, New Guinea)
Comparing yams to settle disputes. In New Guinean culture, the code of behavior is that nobody talks about what everybody knows concerning sensitive subjects. Breaking this code results in violent disputes. They present their yams at these moments. Yams are so important in Kiriwana that people boast about their own supply to the point of violence. Settling the fights with yam displays calms everyone down.

The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information

This puts a new take on "mine is bigger than yours" ... though I never understood that argument either.

We Have a Word For It ... and Thank Goodness

St. Paul, Minnesota

Before it acquired its present name, this city was called Pig's Eye, after a well-known local trader named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant. It was later named St. Paul after the church of the same name, erected onthe site by Father Lucian Galtier in 1841.

The Word Origin Calendar

Talk about dodging a bullet. Thank heavens Fr. Galtier came along and gave the proud Pig's Eye-ians a new name to call home...

They Have a Word for It ... And We Don't

Bilita Mpash (Bantu)
This denotes blissful dreams. In English, we have nightmares but no word for waking feeling happy. In Bantu, the word is further defines as a "lengendary, blissful state where all is forgiven and forgotten." The Afro-American equivalent for bilita mpash is "beluthathatchee," believed to be traced to Afro-American slang from its Bantu roots.

The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information

I had one of these dreams just last week. The sort of dream that whenever I remembered it during the day I hugged it to myself and felt ... yes ... blissful is the right word. Sadly, I have much more experience with nightmares. Bilita mpash are few and far between ... and the more treasured because of it.

I am never going to be able to incorporate this word into my vocabulary because I can't say it ... but I'll remember that there is a word for those great dreams.

We Have a Word For It ... And Here's Why

TIT FOR TAT

This phrase was generated from the original uses of the two key words, "tit" and "tat," both meaning "a light hit." The reference was to retaliation, as in replying to a hit by hitting back.

The Word Origin Calendar

They Have a Word for It ... And We Don't

Sekken

There is a Japanese word, "sekken", I would like to understand better. It is used to name the otherwise nameless social consensus, that is held to control Japanese public life...

A Japanese friend, who is irreverent towards her own culture, explained “sekken” to be the power that moves a large school of fish this way and that, as if they were a single organism. It is “the power that can move the entire school into the astute fisherman’s net”. She experienced it once herself, in a small way, when she wrote something controversial that happened to be true. She found herself in the position of the lone fish, who has somehow missed the tribal instruction to turn a sharp left.

David Warren