galvanic

galvanic - adj - of, pertaining to, or producing a direct current of electricity, especially when produced chemically; startling; shocking; stimulating; energizing

minutia

minutia - n - Precise details; small or trifling matters. (Plural minutiae.)

Maybe we should hold a candle-light vigil in front of the Van Zandt house.

ingenue

ingenue - noun - a naive girl or young woman; an actress playing such a person.

I think of a particular movie, which I really enjoyed watching, having such a person. The title escapes me, but it featured a blonde young lady who went on to become a lawyer in spite of the fact no one thought she could do it.

bootless

bootless - adj - unavailing; useless; without advantage or benefit

HA! I bet you thought I was going to say 'barefoot, without boots'!!

Gotcha!

sultry

sultry - adj - oppressively hot and close or moist; characterized by or arousing passion

I was thinking of this morning's weather as sultry, sans the oppressive bit. I thought of it more as unnaturally warm and humid. The near 70 degree temperature in NOVEMBER!! brought me to this word. Where is the snow?

raison d'etre

raison d'être - n - Reason or justification for being or existence.

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad my vacation's over and I'm back in the world again. Where's Natalie?

verdant

verdant - adj - green in tint or color; unripe in experience or judgement

Here is a good word. Words that describe both color as well as some other aspect of something are interesting words because of how they tend to jade our understanding of them in context. A verdant officer in the militar is a "green" officer, ie one without experience, and while it sounds like we are being nice to this person, in reality we are pointing out one their flaws.

mollify

mollify - verb - to pacify; to soothe or calm in temper or disposition

subaltern

subaltern - adj - ranked or ranged below; subordinate; inferior

putative

putative - adj - commonly regarded as such; reputed; supposed


I was sure this word had already been used, but I couldn't find it in my list. It's interesting to see how many words I think have already been used but indeed haven't.

hymnody

hymnody - n - The singing of hymns; The composing or writing of hymns; The hymns of a particular period or church.

Martin Luther (1483-1546), among many others, emphasized the importance of hymnody. It surprised me to learn that he was a more than competent musician and singer who composed dozens of hymns. Hymns were also a prominent part of the Baptist church service I attended. The old Catholic church stuck to Gregorian chant; the post-Vatican II disaster now incorporates hymns (although they're not what make it a disaster.

obfuscate

obfuscate - verb - to darken or render indistinct or dim; to make obscure or difficult to understand or make sense of; to confuse or bewilder.

Oddly, this is a word applied to a lot of ancient (and perhaps modern) philosophy and religion. Not sure why, since it is all so clear.

deus ex machina

deus ex machina - n - (in ancient Greek and Roman drama) a god introduced into a play to resolve the entanglements of the plot; any artificial or improbable device resolving the difficulties of a plot.

Literally, "the god from the machine" (Latin).

This plot device is so lame that it's never used anymore. In a long lifetime of reading, I have never once come across it. (The book of Job doesn't count because it's not fiction.)

Since I can't provide a real example, I'll make one up. Let's say the hero has fallen behind on his payments to the local loan shark. The shark, to let his other clients know what happens to people who are slow paying up, makes it known that he's going to kill our hero. Our hero goes into hiding, but the shark finds out where he's staying. He's crossing the street to get to our guy's hideout when a drunk driver comes speeding around the corner and kills him. Problem solved - lamely.

congeries

congeries - noun - a collection; an aggregation

gauche

gauche - adj - lacking social polish; tactless; awkward; clumsy

Planchet from time to time, is guilty of this word, although perhaps Porthos is more culpable.

cynosure

cynosure –noun - Something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.; something serving for guidance or direction.

It's become a cliche to refer to somone or something as "the cynosure of all eyes." The second context applies to the North Star (Polaris), the star labeled alpha in the constellation Ursa Minor.

ab ovo

ab ovo - adv - from the beginning

I'm not sure where to go with this entry. Perhaps a lame allusion to the Van Zandt absence in spite of her participation ab ovo.

grimoire

grimoire - n - A manual of black magic (for invoking spirits and demons).

While not strictly speaking a book for conjuring up spirits, John George Hohman's Pow-Wows or Long Lost Friend (German edition 1820; American editions, 1846, 1856) was a popular book of magic, especially in the southern United States. Manly Wade Wellman featured it in a number of weird stories, especially The Valley Was Still (1939), which was later turned into one of the better Twilight Zone episodes.

vade mecum

Here's some Latin that's entered our English vocabulary.

vade mecum (vay-dee mee-kum) - n - Something a person carries about for frequent or regular use; a book for ready reference; manual; handbook.

And now, here's Florence King in a column first published in 1998.

The misanthrope's corner - year 2000 computer problem and other topics
by Florence King

IT TAKES an optimist like yours truly to see the bright side of the Year 2000 computer glitch. For example, the language alone is heartening. The doomsayers are predicting it will be a calamity, a disaster, and a catastrophe, but so far nobody has called it a ''tragedy.'' The mere fact that Y2K seems to be immune to the most misused buzzword of our time makes it a consummation devoutly to be wished.

According to the worst predictions, planes and elevators will stop, dams and bridges will jam, banks will fail, the stock market will fall, the global economy will collapse, nuclear missiles will launch themselves, and the world will be destroyed, all because computers think it's 1900.
That's how pessimists see it, but I have a song in my heart, a rainbow in my pocket, and sixpence in my shoe. Show me a cloud and I'll show you a silver lining. Show me a darkness and I'll show you a dawn. Show me a King with a January birthday and I'll show you a dreamer.
I have a dream. Suppose we wake up on New Year's Day 2000 and find that the computers are right -- it really is 1900. . . .

At a rock concert celebrating the brave new century a heavy-metal artiste tries to sing ''Punchin' Out My Ho'' but a strange thing happens: each time he tries to pronounce ''ho'' it comes out ''lady of the evening.'' He gives up and launches into ''My Black-Leather Bitch,'' only to find himself singing ''Sunbonnet Sue.'' Next he tries his award-winning Nineties pimp song, ''Sent My Ho to Sell Her Bootie,'' but it turns into ''Seeing Nellie Home.'' He can't understand it; all the songs he used to know have been wiped out of his memory and replaced with a whole new repertoire.
Stranger still, the crowd loves it and demands an encore, so he sings the most sexually explicit song his reprogrammed brain can come up with: ''You Are My Honeysuckle, I Am the Bee.''

The new-old pop sound of 1900 solves problems we thought would never go away.

Monica Lewinsky's father finds his manhood: ''Every man standing by had a tear in his eye, for some had a daughter at home.''

Viagra suddenly becomes unpopular and soon vanishes from the pharmacopoeia: ''Her beauty was sold for an old man's gold, she's a bird in a gilded cage.''

Nina Burleigh learns to tone down her slutty expressions of gratitude to Presidents who brush her bicycle-scarred legs under card tables: ''I gambled in the game of love, I played my heart and lost, I'm now a wreck upon life's sea, I fell and paid the cost.''

Sexual-harassment lawsuits stop as women relearn the lost art of righteous indignation: ''My mother was a lady, like yours, you will allow, and you may have a sister who needs protection now.''

The number of dead babies found in toilets and dumpsters drops dramatically: ''Over my slumbers your loving watch keep, rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.''

Public schools change overnight: ''Reading and writing and 'rithmetic, taught to the tune of a hickory stick.''

Our eardrums are no longer blasted with regular reminders to dial 10-10-321, but long-distance service is not interrupted and in fact improves: ''Hello, Central, Give Me Heaven.''
Our long national nightmare of hypochondria ends as Americans stop obsessing about the perfect health-care plan: ''The doctor has said that she will be dead when the leaves from the trees start to fly.'' Now that health is no longer regarded as a ''right,'' we develop a realistic acceptance of the bleak truth that sometimes things can go very wrong even when there is no Amtrak: ''Baby's face brings pictures of a cherished wife that's dead, but baby's cries can't waken her in the baggage coach ahead.''

No more cases of anorexia or bulimia are reported. In the new 1900 the toast of Broadway is Lillian Russell, who at five-foot-five and 165 pounds is said to have the best shape in America -- the word ''figure'' is now obsolete. When the Russell dimensions are reported, England is rocked by an earthquake registering a perfect size 16 on the Richter scale, said to have originated as a rolling movement under a small island at Althorp.

Best of all are the public notices of the new 1900. LADIES ENTRANCE . . . UNESCORTED WOMEN WILL NOT BE SERVED AT THE BAR . . . THIS SUBWAY CAR RESERVED FOR WOMEN ONLY . . . LADIES DAY! WOMEN ADMITTED FREE! Even better are the signs at City Halls. POLL TAX DUE ONE MONTH BEFORE ELECTION DAY . . . LITERACY TESTS GIVEN IN REGISTRAR'S OFFICE . . . JURY ROOM -- MEN ONLY.

SUCH is my dream. The feminist website that recently cited me as a ''force for reaction'' got it right. I freely admit that I'd like to dismantle the whole shebang and start all over again, but many others share my anarchic urges. I don't mean the survivalists, who are bound to be in clover. Nor do I necessarily mean vengeful computer nerds, though any unusually intelligent person in Regular Guy America is bound to be a little dangerous.

I mean the earnest Op-Ed Cassandras with their apocalyptic quotes from ''experts'' advising us to buy gold, dried food, and shotgun shells in case of Y2K ''social disorders.'' The note of glee under their ''concern'' takes me back to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when people raced through the supermarket in their brand-new farmers' overalls, buying enough dried beans to lift the Hindenburg and trying to look solemn when they said ''Isn't this terrible?'' Our winter of discontent had barely begun in 1962 but the America of today is an unsolvable problem enclosed in an inescapable conundrum wrapped in a curtain of charity.
Anarchy may be tempting, but there's a catch. Suppose, come January of 2000, the President has to declare martial law and assume emergency powers, and uses Y2K as an excuse to stay in office indefinitely?

Many a heart will be aching, even the girls once in thrall, we thought he'd be gone but now breaks the dawn and he's still there after the ball.

atelier

Here's a French word to make up for my churlish oversight a few days ago. Speaking of French: "Ou sont les Van Zandts d'antan?" (Yes, I know I'm wearing that one out, but still: "Where are the Van Zandts of yesteryear?")

atelier (ah-tel-yay) –n - A workshop or studio, esp. of an artist, artisan, or designer.

agrestic

agrestic - adj - pertaining to fields or the country; rural; rustic

I like this word. It sounds nearly exatly like its meaning. It is nearly a combination of agriculture and rustic...

mandate

mandate – n - A command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative.

The midterm elections are over. The Republicans have lost the House, and, with Webb looking like a winner in Virginia, the Senate as well. There's one reason for these results: George W. Bush. The Republicans are supposed to be the small government, fiscal responsibility, traditional values party, but under our latest boy president it has become a clone of the Democratic party. The only downside I can see is that Bush will now get his It's-Not-Really-An-Amnesty bill passed, which will drive the final nail into the coffin of a once-great nation. That will be Bush's legacy. (I might also mention the North American Union, the NAFTA super-highway, the prescription drug boondoggle, the war on terror, the massive trade and budget deficits, and the Ted Kennedy education bill, all of which were [or are] enthusiastically supported by Boy George. He's accomplished something I would have thought impossible, viz., he's made Bill Clinton look good.)

I gave up voting after the 2000 presidential election, when I voted for Bush in the hope that he would be marginally less dreadful than Gore. In retrospect, I don't see how Gore could have been worse.

A wise man whose name I've forgotten once said that if voting could change anything, it would be illegal. This is even more true now that our real legislators are unelected judges. I hope someday to see a five-percent turnout at the polls. That might at least put a stop to any braying about mandates.

copse

copse - noun - a thicket or grove of small trees

trivium

trivium – n - The lower division of the seven liberal arts, comprising grammar, rhetoric, and logic.

The trivium dealt with words; the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy) dealt with numbers. The seven liberal arts formed the medieval equivalent of modern grade and high school curricula. Students who went on to college might specialize (major?) in law, medicine, or theology.

harangue

harangue - noun - a speech addressed to a large public assembly; a noisy pompous speech; a rant

Kind of like my post on quality earlier...

gestalt

gestalt - noun - a configuration, pattern or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole

synecdoche

synecdoche – n - A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special.

Prime examples would be the popular Civil War command to give the enemy the "cold steel" (general), meaning to use the bayonet (particular); the naval command "All 'hands' (part) on deck," meaning all crew men (whole) on deck; etc.

fillip

fillip - verb - to strike with the nail of a finger snapped from the end of the thumb.

When I was a kid, we called this behavior a thump.

Extreme Unction

extreme unction n - The rite formerly in practice in which a Roman Catholic priest anointed and prayed for a sick or injured person, especially one in danger of death. In 1972 the name and rite were changed to Anointing of the Sick.

I was inspired to use this word after talking to a Baptist friend who believed that the Catholic Church taught that those who died without receiving Extreme Unction (also known as last rites) would be condemned to hell. The woman I spoke to is a good Christian, but she was badly misinformed. I would guess that most Catholics die without receiving the last rites and without even having an opportunity to recieve them, e.g., soldiers killed in combat, people killed in accidents, people who die from sudden heart attacks (like my father), etc.

The Catholics recognize seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, holy eucharist (communion), penance, extreme unction (anointing of the sick), holy orders (becoming a priest, etc.), and matrimony. Lutherans recognize only baptism, holy eucharist, and penance. I don't know about other denominations, but I'd love to find out.

(I've been considering the possibility of another ecumenical council, this time with the objective of reuniting all Christian churches. What we have in common is so much more important than what divides us. The first step would be to have the pope revert to being the bishop of Rome. Any thoughts on this?)

ziggurat

ziggurat – n - A temple of Sumerian origin in the form of a pyramidal tower, consisting of a number of stories and having about the outside a broad ascent winding round the structure, presenting the appearance of a series of terraces.

I'm not going to try to match WolfJB's last entry. I'll just note that the Tower of Babel is the most famous example of a ziggurat and let it go at that. (The picture shows a reconstruction of Ur-Nammo, completed in the early 21st century BC, in what is now Iraq.)

quality

quality - noun - character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence; high grade; superiority; excellence; native excellence or superiority


Have you noticed how this word, in my generation anyway, seems to be something which can't be quantitatively defined, and therefore is unattainable?

It wasn't that long ago when Cadillac was the premier car built in the world. So much so, in fact, that it became an adjective for describing other things of high quality. A real cadillac of a gun, for example, was finely made with a smooth action and high accuracy. Attention detail in every facet. Before Cadillac, it was Buick.

Then came the dark ages of automation, the Vietnam war, the 1960's and downsizing.

Remember the times when a man's word was as good as a contract in paper and a handshake was as binding as the signature thereon? You knew you could count on that person to follow through on the commitment made by just a statement and a handshake. I can remember my dad telling me the most important thing I had to give someone else was my 'word', meaning my commitment to accomplish a task.

Then came the dark ages of automation, the 1980's, robots, a global economy and downsizing.

And what about those days when excellence was a way of life? We put men on the moon. We did it with people who had tested every component of those spacecraft repeatedly enough to define them as perfect. And even when they failed, there was a backup system the engineers on the ground could tell the guys in space to use while they debugged the failed system. Recall the moon is 186,000 miles from the earth. How about that for a long distance tech support call! Who remembers the old Ford commercials declaiming 'Quality is job 1', yet for most people at that time, Ford stood for Fix Or Repair Daily.

Then came the dark ages of consumerism, a global economy and laziness.

As a culture of people we have become more aware of our bottom line and outsourcing to other countries to lower cost at the expense of quality and expecting people here to just accept it (which we have) and go on with life. It's no longer important to companies to not screw stuff up. They just go on and we all wonder where our product is or why we don't have it, but then just shrug and go on because that's life. If we do call the company that screwed up, we get the nice voice on the other end that apologizes for the inconvenience and will send out, or fix our problem at their next available opportunity. They do it so often, they even have a script for it. They do it so often they train their lowliest phone people how to read the script with the correct tone of voice, and if you need to get the problem resolved right now, you have to go up the food chain four or five levels. We have become a lazy, complacent people. We are too lazy to do for ourselves when we can just hire illegal (uh, I mean undocumented) workers for less than half the cost of paying someone else to do a quality job. We have lost touch with what has, in a lot of ways, made America great. We are so blasted stinking rich around here we can live with high debt ratios just to have luxury of being lazy. No longer is someone's 'word' good enough, we have to have complex legal instruments describing exactly how we are going to screw the other guy when the other guy doesn't deliver on what they said they are going to do.

In the past, the words 'good enough' just weren't good enough. Excellence was the bar and quality was it's measure. These days, mediocrity is the bar and never mind measuring it.

doublet

doublet – n - A close-fitting outer garment, with or without sleeves and sometimes having a short skirt, worn by men in the Renaissance; an undergarment, quilted and reinforced with mail, worn beneath armor.

Look for more Three Musketeers related words in the near future. Dumas's novel is exhibit A in my argument that classic literature need not be dull.