I did, thanks to some MAS*H novels from the 70s. There was someone whose profession was described as “terpsichorean ecdysiast” (stripper).
Wow, I knew it but I feel stupid because I learned it from the show Roseanne. The guys are all sitting around playing poker in one episode and they are talking about musical theater and Bob says, “That Damn Yankees was a terpsichorean delight!”
Ballet, right?
::reads spoiler::
oh, all dance? Really?
Postin’ “me too,” like some brain-dead AOLer.
I knew it. I don’t know why I knew it, but I did. Probably from that wonderful teacher who taught (Latin and Greek) word origins as part of our English studies, God love her.
Really? I did not know that! How totally fascinating!
Put me down in the turtle group.
Same here.
I recognized the word, associating it with this usage, but I couldn’t remember which one meant “dancer” and which meant “nekkid,” so the honest answer is, no, not exactly.
(And yes, I know ecdysiast is Mencken’s coinage, so go find some other nit to pick. :p)
Au contraire! Betting on turtles is never wrong.
I’ve heard the phrase but didn’t remember what it meant. I would have guessed either sadness or something to do with a musical instrument.
I believe it’s different on the record Matching Tie and Handkerchief.
Although I enjoy reading about Greek mythology and have read about the muses, I don’t have their domains memorized, in general. Terpsichore, on the other hand, has been mentioned in a bunch of old movies, so I remember her. I vaguely remember on old black and white movie (although that could have been a color movie seen on a black and white set, I guess) that featured Terpsichore, herself, coming down to earth.
The other muses kind of run together. Was Urania in charge of history? Polyhymnia (sp?), lyric poetry. Shoot, now I’m going to have to look them up again.
>> Nope. It was Clio for history and Euterpe for lyric poetry. Polyhymnia was muse of sacred song, oratory, and rhetoric; and Urania was muse of astronomy.
Seeing astronomy listed with the other arts causes the Sesame Street “One of these things is not like the other” song to ring in my head.
If it makes you feel any better, I picked it up in my “Cats” phase. There’s a line in one of the songs where they “…practice their terpsichorean powers to dance by the light of the Jellicle moon…” Though I can’t recall if I figured it out by context or looked it up.
Yup. But again, I’m a classicist/ancient historian. So it’s not exactly proof that I’m supremely informed or anything, just that I know what I specialize in.
Calliope, Homer’s muse, was in charge of epic poetry and fairground music. And the little-known Turpsichore was the muse of huffing paint thinners.
nope, sure didn’t, had to look it up.
I think it’s more of a circle: like the opposite ends of the political spectrum start to converge back again, John Wayne and footballer types start to seem a little gay 
Yes, I know the word, and even remember how I learned it. In eighth grade, I was taking a course in mythology, and the teacher was pointing out how many English words were related to Greek myths. She explained that Terpsichore was the muse of dance, and that “Cyd Charisse is a terpsichorean.” Not the most relevant example for the time (1972-73 school year), but understandable given the teacher’s age…
No one has yet mentioned Michael Prætorius’s seminal work on instrumental dance music from 1612, Terpsichore?
You just beat me to it. This bourrée is probably the most well-known excerpt (starts at 1:20). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eicxEAhOxYc&NR=1
I think that cemented the meaning in my mind, but I had run across the Muses before in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
I did, back in post #18. 