Thixotropic: Descriptive of a substance that is gel-like when at rest and fluid when agitated—mayonnaise, for example, or perhaps turkey gravy. From Greek thixis, the action of touching, and -tropy, to shape.
I'd never encountered this interesting and fun-to-say word until I read this post in John Scalzi's blog, Whatever. John reports that he cut himself on yogurt:
Yes, yogurt. Not the container, the actual yogurt.
And not just cut myself. Made myself bleed.
It takes a special kind of person to cut themselves on a thixotropic food product; apparently, I am that kind of person.
It also takes a special kind of person to know thixotropic and use it in a story about a kitchen accident. Well done, Mr. Scalzi. Hope that finger is on the mend.
UPDATE: In a comment below, reader Janet Swisher has kindly shared a link to additional information about thixotropic. I'll be mulling over this sentence all day: "Thixotropy is a time-dependent decrease in the thickness of a fluid under a shearing force."
One of my favorite words, too. More at:
http://blog.enthought.com/?p=9
Not something this Humanities major ever expected to know about fluid dynamics.
Posted by: Janet Swisher | November 24, 2008 at 12:16 PM