resale

resale - n. - the act of selling again usually to a new party; a secondhand sale, an additional sale to the same buyer

Ahhh, resale shops! My favorite t-shirts are all from resale shops. They are soft, worn-in, and usually one-of-a-kind. Now wearing vintage is the "new thing." Those vintage stores in the mall charge ridiculous amounts for those clothes. I can understand paying a lot for the last original shirt from some rock concert in the '70s... but all that other stuff? ...nah, I'll stick to the good 'ole resale shops.

On another note, I stand behind my word for Monday. I may have used a different form of it before, but I think we've allowed for different word endings in the past. Perhaps I'm being licentious? I will search the spreadsheet a little more closely in the future, though.

Also, I added a word for yesterday. It's late, but it's there!

conspectus

conspectus - noun - a general sketch or survey of a subject

John is particularly good with this word. Consider all the times he has provided the list with interesting information over some topic related (and sometimes not) to the word he posts. Props to you, my friend.

lewd

lewd - adj. - sexually unchaste or licentious

This concludes my theme of words (for now) that restrict commentary.

modus operandi

modus operandi - n - Mode of operating or working.

lasciviousness

lasciviousness - n. - lewd, lustful

misnomer

misnomer – n - A misapplied or inappropriate name or designation; an error in naming a person or thing.

lechery

lechery - n. - inordinate indulgence in sexual activity

This word and yesterday's word create my theme for the next few days. While themes are good, unfortunately the nature of this particular theme keeps me from commentary.

We gotta keep this thing clean!

tribune

tribune – n - A person who upholds or defends the rights of the people; (Roman History) any of various administrative officers, esp. one of 10 officers elected to protect the interests and rights of the plebeians from the patricians.

In other words, a tribune's job was to represent the commoners and to intervene on their behalf with the elites. (A tribune might also have been one of six officers who took turns commanding a legion, but the definition I've given is what's generally understood.) The most famous tribunes in Roman history were the Gracchus brothers, Tiberius (163-133 B.C.) and Gaius (159-121 B.C.), both of whom ran afoul of the Senate and paid with their lives. Their mother, Cornelia (pictured above), became a venerated figure for having produced two such men of the people.

cohort

cohort - noun - a body of about 300 to 600 soldiers; the tenth part of a legion; any group or body of warriors; a group or band of people; a companion; an associate

I wrote the definition for this word in reverse order. The obsolete version is the first definition I give and it follows along the lines of my previous word. (For the moment we seem to be interested in Roman history!) Anyway, a cohort was the more mobile infantry that was used to outflank a phalanx on several occasions as the Romans were starting to dominate their world. One of the reasons the Spartans were able to be nearly invincible in wartime was their complete lack of fear when facing the enemy as well as their incredible discipline and hard training. They managed to win in phalanx battles, often out of intimidation as much as anything. The Romans had most of the same characteristics. They were fearless in battle and more disciplined than any army of it's time (or maybe even since!). However, they brought a higher degree of mobility and speed to warfare (as well as effective battle formations) so they could defeat enemies even though out numbered. That's not to say they didn't use some of the more common forms of war (like the phalanx), they just seemed to do it better or faster.

randy

randy - adj. - lustful, lecherous

New word for me. As far as I knew, this was just a name for a guy. It makes me look at all the Randys I know just a little bit differently (I know it's not their fault, but still!).

consul

consul – n - An official appointed by the government of one country to look after its commercial interests and the welfare of its citizens in another country; either of the two chief magistrates of the ancient Roman republic.

Consul was the highest elective office in the Roman republic. The republic itself came to an end after the civil war following Julius Caesar's assasination. The victor, Octavian (63 B.C.-A.D. 14), took the name Augustus and the republic gave way to the empire. (The naval battle off the coast of Actium, 31 B.C., was the decisive victory in the civil war. Marc Antony and his main squeeze, Cleopatra, committed suicide, and that was effectively the end for the republic. In my opinion, Actium is one of the relatively few battles of historical importance.)

phalanx

phalanx - noun - a group of heavily armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep with shields joined and long spears overlapping.

Inspired by today's word 'legion', I couldn't help but think quickly to come up with a similar military word. Indeed, I'm fascinated with ancient military weapons and tactics. I personally believe we have evolved to a point where warfare is 'clean' in so far as innocent bystanders are not targets and killing them is a veritable crime. So war has become a common occurrence, but we don't call it that. We call it military action. War is an atrocity. It should be fought with shields, spears and swords, up close so you know the man (or woman) you are killing. Raping and pillaging should be allowed as spoils to the victor. In such a climate, war once again becomes dirty and it's use as an extension of political or economic power becomes less commonplace. But I digress. Here is a quote which applies to today's word:

“Now of those, who dare, abiding one beside another, to advance to the close fray, and the foremost champions, fewer die, and they save the people in the rear; but in men that fear, all excellence is lost. No one could ever in words go through those several ills, which befall a man, if he has been actuated by cowardice. For ‘tis grievous to wound in the rear the back of a flying man in hostile war. Shameful too is a corpse lying low in the dust, wounded behind in the back by the point of a spear.” [Tyrtaeus: The War Songs Of Tyrtaeus]

exude

exude - v. - to ooze out; to undergo diffusion

I'm back!

I've read through all (most all, anyway) the words y'all posted on the days I missed. Great words! It really is amazing how many words we've been through...and how many more there are left! Yay!

BTW...maybe John is right and y'all do need me to keep you two honest. I saw those pictures (you know which ones I'm talking about)!

legion

legion – n - A division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 soldiers.

For centuries Rome had the best-trained, most efficient army the world had ever seen. They usually won, but there were at least two notable exceptions: in A.D. 9, Varus walked into a German ambush and lost three legions, and in A.D. 378 the emperor Valens took over 60% casualties against the Visigoths at Adrianople.

Jerry Pournelle noted that there have been only two extended periods of peace in history, the Pax Romana and the Pax Brittanica, and both were enforced by imperial military forces.

magnitude

magnitude - noun - Size; extent; great importance or consequence; a number characteristic of a quantity and forming a basis for comparison with similar quantities such as length; the brightness of a star or other celestial body as viewed by the unaided eye and expressed by a mathematical ration of 2.512: a star of the first magnitude is approximately 2.5 times as bright as one of the second magnitude and 100 times brighter than one of the sixth magnitude

I think that definition is long enough to not warrant commentary, don't you?

factor

factor – A person who acts or transacts business for another; an agent entrusted with the possession of goods to be sold in the agent's name; a merchant earning a commission by selling goods belonging to others.

Obviously, the word has several definitions; I've given a couple that may be less familiar. In the ante-bellum South, such crops as cotton, tobacco, and indigo would be shipped overseas to a factor, who would then handle the sale. The factor might also purchase and ship back items that were not readily available in the states. This became a bone of contention in the states that eventually made up the Confederacy. Since the federal government in its pre-income-tax days was mostly financed by import tariffs, Southerners felt - with some justification - that they were bearing a disproportianate share of the burden.

impatience

impatience - noun - eager desire for relief or change; restlessness; intolerance of anything that thwarts, delays or hinders.

This is listed as a virtue in programming circles. I found this article to be quite amusing and often accurate. Note the other virtues of programmers is hubris and laziness.

decimate

decimate – v - To destroy a great number or proportion of; to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.

Both sides, Union and Confederate, were decimated on the single bloodiest day in American history, September 17, 1862. The scene was the ridges and fields west of Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. There were over 23,000 casualties, more than the total casualties for the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined. A sorrowful day indeed.

honorific

honorific - n - A title, phrase, or grammatical form conveying respect, used especially when addressing a social superior.

For example, a cardinal is addressed as "Your Eminence," a king as "Your Highness," etc.

And now I have some mournful news: Natalie has thrown in the towel; the co-founder of our institution is no longer with us. Ave Atque Vale, Natalia!

picture of a punty (click here)

punty - noun - an iron rod used in glassmaking for handling the hot glass.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but the rod in approximately the center of the picture running into the orange mass of glass is the punty. Glassblowing has always fascinated me. There used to be a glassblower in Colorado Springs which we used to visit from time to time, and I never wanted to leave. It was so exciting to watch the blow and manipulate the glass into such beautiful shapes.

limn

limn –v - To represent in drawing or painting; to portray in words; describe; to illuminate manuscripts.

I'm a big fan of the lost art of manuscript illumination. Here's a page from the Book of Kells (c. A.D. 800), a copy of the gospels produced by Irish monks.

inscrutable

inscrutable - adj - difficult to fathom or understand; difficult to be explained or accounted for satisfactorily; obscure; incomprehensible; impenetrable

Kind of like the Democratic response to the Presidents speech last night. Some of the comments, especially those related to the economy didn't make sense to me. Not because I'm not an economist, but because they seemed to be restating the same points the President made. Further, the comments related to the defense of the nation seemed more related to how his father had served a long tour, how he had served with the Marines, how his son was serving currently, more than a rebuttal of how the President was handling the situation in Iraq. I guess I'm just not cut out for political endeavors.

patina

patina – n - A film or incrustation, usually green, produced by oxidation on the surface of old bronze and often esteemed as being of ornamental value; a similar film or coloring appearing gradually on some other substance; a surface calcification of implements, usu. indicating great age.

en masse

en masse – n - In a mass; all together; as a group.

George Bush is expected to push for amnesty en masse for illegal aliens in his State of the Union speech tonight. I wish I could remember who said that "a declining civilization will almost instinctively make the wrong decisions." Incidentally, how seriously am I supposed to take this so-called War on Terror?

logistics

logistics – n - The branch of military science and operations dealing with the procurement, supply, and maintenance of equipment, with the movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel, with the provision of facilities and services, and with related matters; the planning, implementation, and coordination of the details of a business or other operation.

I was interested to learn that the Union Army of the Potomac, with about 105,000 men present in Spring of 1862, needed 600 tons of supplies daily to maintain itself. I am therefore highly skeptical of Herodotus' claim that Xerxes fielded a five-million-man army in the second Persian War (480-479 BC). McLellan had railroads and steamboats at his disposal; Xerxes had sailboats and oxcarts.

imprecation

imprecation - noun - a curse; the act of invoking evil upon someone

This word comes in pretty handy today. It seems, as the roads improve, people drive slower. I have been leaving an extra 10 or so minutes before my normal (non-winter-weather time) and arriving at work at a progressively later time. GAH! Why? Well the idiots[backspace][backspace][backspace][backspace][backspace][backspace] people on the road who can't figure out the accelerator is on the right-hand side and drive like a normal person on perfectly clear highways. Driving 20 mph below the speed limit when the roads are clear does nothing but make every driver behind you frustrated and angry, and potentially causes wrecks. I speak an imprecation on these morons!

consummate

consummate - verb - to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill (adj - complete or perfect; supremely skilled; superb)

I used this word in the definition of yesterday's allegedly 'R' rated posting, so I thought to define it today. Surprisingly it hasn't already been used!

doxology

doxology - n - A hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God; the Doxology, the metrical formula beginning “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

One reason I'm not a libertarian is that, if I can judge from such Austrian school writers as Lew Rockwell, their doxology is, "Praise be to Walmart from which all blessings flow."

Congratulations are in order for Jeff, who produced our first R-rated WoD! I'm now working on a second such entry.

exquisite

exquisite - adj - of special beauty or charm or rare and appealing excellence as a face, a flower, coloring, music or poetry; extraordinarily fine or admirable; consummate

In following yesterday's word, I am providing a couple of pictures I find matching today's word. These are posted by request from Jack. The credit for the pictures goes to http://www.domai.com where they were originally posted.



An exquisite beauty!

et alia

et alia - adv - And others (used as an abbreviation of 'et alii' (masculine plural) or 'et aliae' (feminine plural) or 'et alia' (neutral plural) when referring to a number of people).

As in a recent email by Michael George to "Clint et al." Just call me Et for short. (Yes, you're right: that p---ed me off.)

pulchritudinous

pulchritudinous - adj - physically beautiful; comely

I had in mind to add a link to a picture of something I consider extremely beautiful, but then thought perhaps it (the picture) wouldn't be well received. So I'll leave you with some ideas of things I consider beautiful, ranked in order of most to least. However keep in mind, the 'least' on this list is still extremely beautiful.

the unclad feminine form
vibrant Sunsets
the Ocean
flora in full bloom

macabre

macabre – adj - Gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible; of, pertaining to, dealing with, or representing death, esp. its grimmer or uglier aspect; of or suggestive of the allegorical dance of death.

One of my earlier movie memories is of the brouhaha surrounding the 1955 movie Macabre. The gimmick was that every ticket purchased came with a $1000 Lloyds of London insurance policy covering the purchaser if he died of fright watching the movie. As far as I know, nobody collected.

absentminded

absentminded - adj - lost in thought and unaware of one's surroundings or actions.

I guess this applies to me on this list recently. I have had time to put words in the list, but just haven't thought about it. I've been preoccupied with getting my software written and ready for testing and being responsive to the bugtracker to get defects fixed and closed as quickly as possible. I'll try to be less absentminded and be more attentive to getting my words on the list.

bien pensant

Bien pensant - n - A French phrase literally translated as "good thinking" or "right thinking", commonly used as a mild pejorative to describe the acceptance of a fashionable idea after it has been established in the mainstream without a sufficient amount of critical thought. The term has been used by both the political left and right, to critique, respectively, views seen as reactionary, or excessively politically correct, amongst other things.

My son Michael was married yesterday, and will be heading for Fort Riley as soon as the honeyman is over. For once, I have an answer to "What's new?" other than "I ate dinner, read a book, and hit the sack."

favonian

favonian - adj - pertaining to the west wind; soft; mild; gentle

I can't believe I haven't used this word before. I was going through some of my word lists from back in high school and thought about this one. I used to try to find ways to use this one in a sentence because of how neat it sounds. Anyway, probably doesn't apply to what just happened to Hz employees a couple of days ago.

unequivocal

unequivocal –adj - Not equivocal; unambiguous; clear; having only one possible meaning or interpretation: absolute; unqualified; not subject to conditions or exceptions

I've actually seen three good movies lately, and I recommend them all: World Trade Center (PG-13), Apocalypto (rated R for some intense violence), and (much to my surprise) The Black Dahlia (rated a hard R; strictly for adults).

ineluctable

ineluctable – adj - Incapable of being evaded; inescapable.

Jeff, you may have heard that we had a couple of hundred layoffs Friday. The rewrite group didn't lose any heads but legacy and GDD did. Another thing: I think we may have lost Natalie, co-founder of our peculiar institution. Do you have any ideas why?

sunder

sunder - verb - to break apart; to separate; to divide; to sever

I ran across this word in reading more of my Andre Norton books, in this case "The Beast Master" and "The Beast Master's Ark". Both real page-turners. I have a hard time putting them down and going to sleep. Highly recommended, as are all the Andre Norton books, which are typically short, quick reading, but very addictive.

bildungsroman

Bildungsroman – n - a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.

As just one example, try Robert Lewis Taylor's Pulitzer Prize winner The Travels of Jamie McPheeters.

cortege

cortege - noun - a train of attendants; a procession, especially a funeral procession


It is interesting this word can mean the folks following a king or those following a hearse.

ex nihilo

ex nihilo - adv & adj - Out of nothing.

Sorry about my recent absences, but I seldom get a chance to come up for air these days. Implementaion of the rewrite is less than a year away.

impart

impart - verb - to make known, tell, relate or disclose; to give, bestow or communicate; to grant a part or share of

Slightly related to yesterday's word. It was used in the same sentence which I recall even less now.

impute

impute - verb - to attribute or ascribe (something discreditable) as to a person; to attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc) to a person or persons vicariously; ascribe as derived from another.

What an interesting word. This was used in a sentence Sunday which I can't recall completely (and now _really_ wish I could) but was in the gist of something God does to us. Something like 'God imputes us with grace'. I find the concept of ascribing someone with righteousness vicariously a bit odd.

hoi polloi

hoi polloi – n - The common people; the masses.

This is another word dating back to my earliest youth. The Kavanaghs, I was told, were members of the hoi polloi.

closure

closure – n - The act of closing; the state of being closed; a bringing to an end; conclusion.

Much modern commentary is just so much white noise. The use and misuse of words like today's is a prime attribute of this meaningless chatter. For example, Harper Collins recently fired Judith Regan. The reason given was that she had made anti-Semitic remarks; the real reason was that she had brokered a deal for O. J. Simpson's speculative memoir If I Did It (cute title). They were all set to publish the book until public outrage changed their corporate minds. Clearly, someone's head had to roll, and Judith drew the short straw. She claimed that she had only been trying to bring about closure! Hauling in big bucks had been the furthest thing from her mind.

When I lived in Colorado Springs, a hiker was lost in the mountains. After a long search his body was found, prompting some Journalism major to state that closure had been reached and the family could now begin the mourning process. The mourning process! Words fail me.

Maybe we could market a more general version of Dilbert's Buzzword Bingo. I'll get it started: caring, compassionate, tolerant, diversity, misspoke (meaning I accidentally said what I was really thinking or I inadvertantly told the truth), and celebrate (applied to anything but Christmas or birthdays).

(Speaking of anti-Semitism[TM], Joseph Sobran wittily and correctly pointed out that an anti-semite used to be someone who didn't like Jews, but now it's someone Jews don't like.)

mufti

mufti – n - Civilian clothes, in contrast with military or other uniforms, or as worn by a person who usually wears a uniform.

I'm surprised this one didn't occur to me sooner.

wassail

wassail - noun - An expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to someone; the liquor used for a wassail, especially a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.


Or, in my case, hot apple cider with red hot candies melted therein. Although, I've been led to believe the addition of rum to such a concoction really 'spices' it up nicely. I've never tried it that way, so I guess I've never had a true wassail.

purblind

purblind - –adj - Nearly or partially blind; dim-sighted; slow or deficient in understanding, imagination, or vision.

sub rosa

sub rosa – n - Confidentially; secretly; privately.

flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet - n - A silly, flighty, or scatterbrained person, especially a pert young woman with such qualities.

For once I'm going to use Dictionary.com's word of the day. My mother often described my sister as a flibbertigibbet, and, until today, I thought it was a word she'd invented! Live and learn.

Let me wish my WoD colleagues a Joyous Kwanzaa, a Happy Hannukah, and a very Merry Holiday. (Just kidding. Merry Christmas to the Van Zandts and Bowmans and a very Happy New Year!)

(The Nativity scene at the top was painted by Carravaggio sometime around 1600. The angel is holding a streamer labeled "Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest).")

malaise

malaise - noun - a vague feeling of discomfort in the body, as at the onset of illness; a general feeling of depression or unease.

Beginning last week this was me. After a week of trying to fight it off, I chose to investigate my options in chemistry and went to see the doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic. Now this feeling is mostly gone. Better living through better chemistry works.

trammel

trammel – n - Usually, trammels. a hindrance or impediment to free action.

I'm up to my nostrils in work, so brevity continues to be the soul of wit.

pule

pule - verb - to whimper; to whine

ergo: last week was a tough week, I just couldn't stay caught up with work or word entries. Now I'm sick and I have to take off work to go to the doctors office.

fungible

fungible – adj - Being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.

For example, wheat stored in a silo or money in a bank.

farrago

farrago – n - A confused mixture; hodgepodge; medley.

He who makes an animal of himself loses only the pain of being a man. - Samuel Johnson

inkhorn

inkhorn - adj - affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic

endemic

endemic – adj - Natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; native; indigenous; belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place.

Here's another of JJK's favorite poems.





The Emperor of Ice-Cream, by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

assonant

assonant - noun - resemblance of sounds, especially of the vowel sounds in words

chanson de geste

chanson de geste –n - An epic poem written in assonant verse or rhyme about historical or legendary events or figures.

Literally, "song of deeds." A prime example would be the Song of Roland (12th Century?).

Dead is Roland; his soul with God.
While to Roncesvalles the Emperor rode,
Where neither path nor track he found,
Nor open space nor rood of ground,
But was strewn with Frank or heathen slain,
"Where art thou, Roland?" he cried in pain:
"The Archbishop where, and Olivier,
Gerein and his brother in arms, Gerier?
Count Otho where, and Berengier, I
von and Ivor, so dear to me;
And Engelier of Gascony;
Samson the duke, and Anseis the bold;
Gerard, of Roussillon, the old;
My peers, the twelve whom I left behind?"
In vain! - No answer may he find.
"O God," he cried, "what grief is mine
That I was not in front of this battle line!"
For very wrath his beard he tore,
His knights and barons weeping sore;
Aswoon full fifty thousand fall;
Duke Naimes hath pity and dole for all.

accolade

accolade - noun - any award, honor or laudatory notice.

For example, in my case, I've been nominated for Sailor of the Year.

sham

sham – n - Something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax.

Natalie says she'll be back in January.

soubrette

soubrette – n - A maidservant or lady's maid in a play, opera, or the like, esp. one displaying coquetry, pertness, and a tendency to engage in intrigue; an actress playing such a role; any lively or pert young woman.

I suppose Nat might fit the third definition. For rhe primary definition, I think of Paquette in Voltaire's novel and Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. (By the way, I can't recommend the soundtrack to Candide too highly, especially the 1956 original cast recording. It's interesting that Bernstein was working on Candide at the same time he was composing West Side Story. One Hand, One Heart, originally in C was moved to WSS, while Oh Happy We was moved from WSS to C.)

dictum

dictum - noun - an authoritative statement; a formal pronouncement

stentorian

stentorian – adj - Very loud or powerful in sound.

I have returned.

unguent

unguent - noun - a salve for sores, burns or the like; an ointment

M. D'Artagnan was given a miraculous potion which he used to overcome certain wounds and which he offered to Athos at their first meeting. It's not recorded in the story, but after the duel with the Cardinals Guards, I wonder if Athos made use of it.

nuptial

nuptial - adj - of or relating to marriage or the marriage ceremony; characteristic of or occurring in the breeding season

I have a friend who left for Las Vegas NV last night (maybe...). She is going out there to watch some rodeo finals or something like that. She is also trying to coerce her SO to get married while there. Conniving woman!

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.

ague

ague - noun - a fit of fever or shivering or shaking chills, accompanied by malaise, pains in the bones and joints, etc.; chill

quaint

quaint –adj - Having an old-fashioned attractiveness or charm; oddly picturesque; strange, peculiar, or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, or amusing way.

I have nothing to say about today's word other than to note that I find quaint things, whether houses, ideas, or people, very likeable.