THAT'S what it means!

[Plasman]

Call me stupid if you will...
but I used to think that Jennifer made up the word "chatoyancy".
Turns out it's a real word relating to gemstones!
I mean, who knew?...

[Pharmakeus Ubik]

Empirical lack of evidence would imply that everyone except you knew.

[Ashes]

I didn't know either.

The effect can be likened to the sheen off a spool of silk: the luminous streak of reflected light is always perpendicular to the direction of the fibres.

Like the sun-stripe of the Pastel universe.

[Pharmakeus Ubik]

I must revise my theory. Almost everyone else knew. I only knew because of the years I spent lapping.

I didn't know either.

[Plasman]

Aside from PDH, and the field of lapidary, where else is such a term gonna crop up?
"Oh, Susan, your hair is so lovely and chatoyant today! Are you using a new shampoo?"

Still, I'm always happy to learn a new word and increase my vocabulary a little. Thanks, Jennifer.

[Jennifer Diane Reitz]

Aside from PDH, and the field of lapidary, where else is such a term gonna crop up?
"Oh, Susan, your hair is so lovely and chatoyant today! Are you using a new shampoo?"

Still, I'm always happy to learn a new word and increase my vocabulary a little. Thanks, Jennifer.

Every one of my chapter titles for PDH also is made of real words. Decursive. Ontology. Velitational. Deobstruent. Ludology. Credal. Cinerary. Spatchcock. Horology. They are all real words that were carefully chosen for their unique meaning and flavor.

The names of the characters in PDH are all real words too. They are (almost universally) the names of real colors.

I ADORE unusual and obscure words. I love words that are rare and flavorful, words that bespeak the exotic and foreign country that is our own common past.

[Plasman]

I figured the chapter titles and colour names were real words, but I'd never come across "chatoyance" before and I guessed you might have made it up special...? Okay, that sounds silly.

Splintering the topic now... Our forumites' favourite words? Anyone?