WotD: soaked

1. durchnässt
2. drijfnat
3. empapado
4. ben xop, xopat
5. trempé
6. socian
7. fliuch báite
8. 흠뻑젖은
9. 淋漓的 línlíde

Notes:1. bis auf die Haut nass "wet to the skin"; Bad. patschnass (bätschnass) 3. empapados hasta el tuétano "soaked to the marrow" (Mex. huesos/calzones "bones/shorts") 5. trempé jusqu'à l'os "soaked to the bone" 6. socian i'r croen "soaked to the skin" 7. fliuch go craiceann "wet to [the] skin" 8. 속 까지 흠뻑젖은 "soaked to the inside"

WotD: male fly

1. der Fliegerich
2. de mannelijke vlieg
3. la mosca macho
4. la mosca mascle
5. la mouche mâle
6. y cylionyn
7. an chuileog fir
8. 수파리
9. 雄蠅 xióngyíng

Notes: This entry was inspired by a discussion about the default gender of animals in languages with grammatical gender. I picked fly for this entry because I knew it to be feminine in all the above languages with grammatical gender (except Dutch, where historical masculine and feminine have merged).

In German, the suffix -rich (detached from such male names as Dietrich, Friedrich, etc.) can be suffixed to feminine nouns ending in -e, e.g. Spinnerich, Wesperich. In Welsh, the base form of the noun for small creatures is often collective and singulars are formed by means of one of the singulative endings, -en (fem.) or -yn (masc.).

Although some Romance feminines can be made masculine by a change of suffix, I don't think mosca (and its cognates) is one of them. In Spanish, for instance, mosco is a mosquito, not a male fly, and moscón designates certain species which are larger than the average housefly. The Catalan suffix -ot can be used with some nouns (e.g. abellot, rabosot), but *moscot appears not to exist.

Irish parallels Romance in using a noun adjectively to specify the sex. 雄 xióng in Chinese can be viewed either as a prefix or the first element of a compound, whereas Korean 수 (actual phonemic shape 숳) is a prefix.

My dic--heart apologises to my stomach

The bad weather and the prophylactic zinc horse pill I took are combining to make me feel a little bit oogie, so when heading out for lunch, I told myself I'd get something mild. Then Mr Brick Shithouse spies me and says "¿Quieres jambalaya?" Every rational cell in my cerebrum told me that was a Bad Idea, but how could I tell him no? Besides, he sang for me! Right there, while dishing me up! As near as I could tell, it was Los Felinos' banda cover version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya on the Bayou". When the heartburn starts, I'll just sing "Quiero estar muy feliz a tu lado" to myself until I feel a very different sort of warmth spread through me.

Fonn i cúlaidhe, Fonn i cúla

That last post reminded me of that most beloved of Irish folk tunes. Sing a chorus with me, won't you?

Hó ró, hó ró! sult is greann is ceol!
Hó ró, hó ró! sult is greann is ceol!
Fá la la lá, fá la la lá
Fá la la lá, fá la la lá
Sult is greann is ceol
Fá la la lá, fá la la lá!

(Complete lyrics available on this useful site.) If you have a little trouble remembering how the tune goes, here's a concert version from The Chieftains to jog your memory. (Just do your best to ignore the singer. I don't know where they got him, but his Irish pronunciation is terrible!)