august

august – adj - Inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic.

Playing catch-up. One word leads to another.

venerable

venerable – adj - Commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity; worthy of veneration or reverence, as because of high office or noble character.

I can't believe this hasn't already been used. Anyway, what brought it to mind is I was doing some reading on Augustus Caesar (63 BC - AD 14), which made me think of the title he was awarded by the Senate: Augustus, i.e., 'venerable one.'

stasis

stasis - noun - a state of balance, equilibrium or stagnation; stoppage of the normal flow of a bodily fluid or semifluid

punctilious

punctilious - adj - Strictly attentive to the details of form in action or conduct; precise; exact in the smallest particulars

It helps to be described this way when involved in computer programming. As with other things, 'The devil is in the details'.

coruscate

coruscate - verb - To give off or reflect beams or flashes of light; to sparkle; to exhibit brilliant, sparkling technique or style

Just what might 'sparkling technique' mean? If I'm writing a program, how would I demonstrate 'sparkling technique'?

uphold

uphold – v To support or defend, as against opposition or criticism.

The reason I've picked such a common word is to illustrate one of the hazards of reading old documents. The specific example I have in mind comes from the debates over the proposed constitution for the United States (1787-88). A supporter of the constitution accused one of his opponents of "upholding ratification" in their state, which sounds funny until you realize that his use of "uphold" was synonymous with "hold up." Let the modern reader - me included - beware!

confabulation

confabulation - noun - Familiar talk; easy, unrestrained, unceremonious conversation; a plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered


You'd think there would be a more common word for common conversation. I guess the closest I can think of would be 'small talk'.

revanche

revanche - n - The act of retaliating; revenge; A usually political policy, as of a nation or an ethnic group, intended to regain lost territory or standing.

The United States is now how to anywhere from 12 to 35 million revanchists. The beauty shown at left, Gina Lollobrigida, is not one of them.

tortuous

tortuous - adj - Marked by repeated turns and bends; not straight forward; devious; highly involved or intricate


Well, today is my 14th wedding anniversary, and it should be noted that this word only applies to that fact in-so-far as it is used in the repeated turns and bends sense (as opposed to devious!). It has been a fun 14 years (with all those turns and bends), and I'm looking forward to many more of them (turns and bends included).

expostulate

expostulate – v - To reason earnestly with someone against something that person intends to do or has done; remonstrate.

Today's "beauty" is Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), shown here at age 28. I have always been amazed that many people consider here one of the great beauties of all time. She's not unattractive by any means, but she's not exactly in the Helen of Troy class either.

gallimaufry

gallimaufry - noun - A medley; a hodgepodge.

This is a fun word! I have been terribly busy with a veritable gallimaufry of tasks. I have also been pair-programming quite a bit, so I haven't been at my desk to submit my words. I have a few to submit though, so I'll try to be more attentive.

lex talionis

lex talionis – n - The principle or law of retaliation that a punishment inflicted should correspond in degree and kind to the offense of the wrongdoer, as an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; retributive justice.

And now, for no better reason than that I like looking at pretty girls, here's Grace Kelly, whose Hollywood career ended when she married Prince Ranier of Monaco and started a new life as Princess Grace.

simoleon

simoleon – n - A dollar.

A slang word for today, and, to make up for it, an exquisite from yesteryear: Sandra Dee (sadly, the late Sandra Dee).

trepidation

trepidation - noun - tremulous fear, alarm or agitation; perturbation

My son left for church camp today with a bit of trepidation. I told him not to worry, he was going to have more fun than he could handle. I'm not sure if my reassurances helped.

triskaidekaphobia

triskaidekaphobia - noun - a morbid fear of then number thirteen or Friday the 13th


Say that word three times fast! Extra bonus points today if you can find a way to get this word into normal conversation and actually pronounce it correctly.

elephantine

elephantine - adj - Of great mass; huge and bulky.

If Porthos was portly, Nero Wolfe was elephantine.

I go back to the 14th Century B.C. for today's exquisite: Queen Nefertiti.

portly

portly - adj - rather heavy or fat; stout; corpulent; (archaic) stately, dignified or imposing

Porthos is described thus in The Three Musketeers, maybe there is a relation to his name?? (probably not).

sere

sere - adj - dry; withered

And in unrelated news, here is an exquisite entry, which we haven't had in a while, from my favorite source, domai.com that is neither dry nor withered.

tendentious

tendentious - adj - Marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan.

heterodox

heterodox - adj - Contrary to or differing from some acknowledged standard, especially in church doctrine or dogma; unorthodox; holding unorthodox opinions or doctrines

deduction

deduction – n -A process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.

I'm back and very glad to be back.

Today's word was inspired by yesterday's 'rationication' and by the much earlier entry 'induction.' Wolf, it may be time for us to dive yet again into that Sherlock Holmes omnibus we have on our shelves, an enjoyable exercise I've undertaken periodically since that glorious winter of 1959, when I was first introduced to that greatest of all fictional detectives. (Sorry Auguste, Jane, Nero, Hercule, Perry, and Philip, but he's still the man to beat after better than a century.)

ratiocination

ratiocination - noun - the process of reasoning