Monday, January 16, 2006

Professor Gunn's Vocabulary Lesson - Podcast #6



The first time I listened to the Episode #6 podcast I was disappointed not to find any new vocabulary words. The only possibility was "segue," and didn't we learn that in about 6th grade?

Segue (seg-way)
intr.v. se·gued, se·gue·ing, se·gues
1. Music. To make a transition directly from one section or theme to another.
2. To move smoothly and unhesitatingly from one state, condition, situation, or element to another: “Daylight segued into dusk” (Susan Dworski).

n. An act or instance of segueing.

"Day into evening is the obvious segue that they were doing."

Then it occurred to me that this might be a good bar bet:

You: Segue means to move smoothly. Do you know how to spell it?
Sucker: Oh sure I do.
You: Would you like to make a wager?
Sucker: Okay....
You: (dictionary under arm) Okay... give it a shot.
Sucker: S-E-G-W-A-Y (Thinking Segway.)

: )

But I digress...

I listened to the podcast a second time and caught something new.

"....scurrying around buying paint and craypas...." Craypaws? Craypoz? What the heck are Craypas? It's not in the dictionary. Is it a brand name? Does everyone know about craypas but me? Is it some fancy French word? Is it crepe....oz? I tried various spellings but nothing seemed to show up in the dictionary. I felt so dumb. I figured it was some sort of art supply. I tried to remember what the designers were purchasing and I was stumped.

So I asked on the TwoP message board and got an answer in about five seconds. Yes, everyone knows what craypas are except for me. They're oil-based crayons. Thanks Professor!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Craypas are also known as oil pastels. Even though you can use them like crayons, they aren't the same. They are oil-based, rather than wax-based, and you can kind of smear them for really neat blending and shading.

LauraK said...

Thanks Jennifer - I told you I never heard of these!

LauraK said...

Thanks anonymous - I think I have to have one!