apse

apse - noun - a projecting part of a building (as a church) that is usually semicircular in plan and vaulted.

Apse is NOT a groupe of Apes! Just thought I'd point that out. Anyway, this architecutral structure was a common method of holding up the roof on the end of a building, or, less frequently, both ends. The fetish with round vaulted roof structures was more one of function, the vaults all supported each other, and the roundness created a feeling of being open. They also let in more light more uniformly than the vaults down the length of the aisle of the building.

squib

squib - n. - a short humorous or satiric writing or speech, a short news item; a small firecracker in which the powder burns with a fizz; a small electric or pyrotechnic device used to ignite a charge

Another fun Harry Potter word. I've been surprised when looking things up that she (J.K. Rowling) uses in her books because even though they sound bizarre a lot of her ideas are based on real things. This one, however, is not. A squib in her books is someone born of magical parents but doesn't have any magicial abilities of their own.

Sorry I disappeared for a short while. I'm back.

marry

marry - interj - Short form of "By the Virgin Mary." A mild oath, used as an exclamation of surprise or emphasis.

"Marry, will Kavanagh's Shakespeare obsession never cease?"

I've just finished reading for the second time Shakespeare's most despised play, Titus Andronicus. You remember splatter movies; well TA is a splatter play.

A reasonable guess for Shakespeare's source might be the Greek legend of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela, as recounted in Ovid's (Publius Ovidius Naso) Metamorposes. Tereus took a shine to his wife Procne's sister Philomela, raped Philomela, and, to conceal his crime, cut out her tongue and moved her in with the rest of his slaves. The resourceful Philomela wove a tapestry in which she identified her molester. When Procne saw the tapestry, she murdered her and Tereus's son, Itys, and fed her husband some choice cuts taken from the body. This legend seems almost restrained compared to what Shakespeare did with it. I don't know how much Shakespeare you've read, Natalie, but I'd hold off on this one for a while. (By the way, have either of you seen the movie version from a few years back with Anthony Hopkins as Titus?)

(The illustration reproduces - badly - Peter Paul Rubens's painting of Procne confronting Tereus with their son's head.)