Recherché

Recherché is a word that I'd heard of in the past but had long forgotten its meaning. I came across it being used in a video about the fine-matter constant that is approximately equal to 1/137. The person concerned described the topic as recherché and joked that if there was a three digit code to a physicist's briefcase, the first combination to try in order to gain access to it would be 137. So what does the word mean? Figure 1 shows the definition from Merriam-Webster:

Figure 1: source

I took the opportunity to sign up to the Merriam-Webster site in order to be able to save words and access other features that are available. This is a resource that I should make more use of.

I was apparently signed up to the Free Dictionary already but had forgotten my password. After resetting, this was the definition that I retrieved:

1. Uncommon; rare.

2. Exquisite; choice.

3. Overrefined; forced.

4. Pretentious; overblown.

French, past participle of rechercher, to research, from Old French recercher.

I also signed up with Dictionary.com. Apparently, I could log in via Facebook but I don't want to be dependent on Facebook at all so I've logged in anew. In what might seem like overkill, I've signed up to the Cambridge Dictionary as well. I guess I should just focus on one or two of these sites and not spread myself too thin. What I'll do is that I'll put the link to these three sites on my Google Sites webpage, so I'm reminded to make more use of them. Here is the current status of my language page:

• PDFDRIVE: good source of free books

• The Free Dictionary: good for vocabulary, flashcards and challenges of various sorts. I am a registered user.

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary: I'm a registered user on this site.

• Dictionary.com: I'm a registered user on this site.

• The Cambridge Dictionary: I'm a registered user on this site.

• Smashwords self-publishing website and ebook site (some free and the rest relatively inexpensive)

• Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms

• EPDS seems to be a source of books on a variety of subjects

• Vocabulary.com this site allows you to set up classes and assign quizzes, challenges etc. created by yourself or others. It's free with up to 50 students per class.

Here is a link to my Google Document on vocabulary, collected from Dictionary.com (accessed using Facebook). I also have currently over 700 words on my Kindle that I've marked during my reading. The words can be practised using a flashcard system that shows an example of each word's usage and allows you to mark a word as mastered if you know its meaning. There is a way to export the data but my first attempt at doing so failed, even though it seems straightforward enough (notes on how to do it have been saved in Google's Keep) .

I try to keep track of what books I read via goodreads.

The Cambridge Dictionary has a blog that contains some interesting posts. The latest post is titled I don't know him from Adam: phrases containing names. I've contributed a couple of comments that are awaiting moderation: one concerning "See you, Jimmy!" and other concerning rhyming slang. The dictionary has its own YouTube channel which I've subscribed to.

There is even an English-Indonesian dictionary with translations of many colloquial expressions e.g. a good loser is translated as sportif while a bad loser is translated as tidak sportif.