#26

denizen \DEN-uh-zuhn\, noun:
1. A dweller; an inhabitant.
2. One that frequents a particular place.
3. [Chiefly British] An alien granted certain rights of citizenship.
4. An animal, plant, etc. that has become naturalized.

Goethe, who visited Berlin only once, found the "wit and irony" of its denizens quite remarkable.
-- Peter Gay, My German Question

But he will know one thing about what it means to be an American, because he has known the raw continent, and not as tourist but as denizen.
-- "Noted With Pleasure", New York Times, February 2, 1992

So Charlie McCreevy is a regular denizen of the "Dáil bar."
-- Kathy Sheridan, "Feeling a little Bullish", Irish Times, April 22, 2000


Denizen comes from Anglo-French denzein, "(one) living within (a city or state)," from Old French denz, "within," from Late Latin deintus, "from within," from Latin de-, "from" + intus, "within."

#25

limn \LIM\, transitive verb:
1. To depict by drawing or painting.
2. To portray in words; to describe.

Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well."
-- Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003

In telling these people's stories Mr. Butler draws upon the same gifts of empathy and insight, the same ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "Earthlings May Endanger Your Peaceful Rationality", New York Times, March 10, 2000

But used faithfully and correctly, language can "limn the actual, imagined and possible lives of its speakers, readers, writers."
-- John Darnton, "In Sweden, Proof of The Power Of Words", New York Times, December 8, 1993


Limn is from Middle English limnen, alteration of luminen, from enluminen, from Medieval French enluminer, from Late Latin illuminare, "to illuminate," ultimately from Latin lumen, "light."




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#24

pukka \PUHK-uh\, adjective:
1. Authentic; genuine.
2. Good of its kind; first-class.

He talks like the quintessential pukka Englishman and quotes Chesterton and Kipling by the yard and yet he has chosen to live most of his adult life abroad.
-- Lynn Barber, "Bell book . . . and then what?", The Observer, August 27, 2000

If he does not have a house, the government gives him a pukka residence, not a . . . shack on the pavement but a solid construction.
-- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet


Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."



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pu·ca [poo-kuh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
(in folklore) an Irish spirit, mischievous but not malevolent, corresponding to the English Puck.
Also, pooka.


[Origin: < Ir púca; see Puck]



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/

#23

caterwaul \KAT-uhr-wawl\, intransitive verb:
1. To make a harsh cry.
2. To have a noisy argument.

noun:
1. A shrill, discordant sound.

John met Angela head-to-head and there was a lot of bellowing and caterwauling.
-- Matthew Parris, "Prescott grapples with his feminine side", Times (London), December 14, 2000

In the early days, when people were still shocked by the novelty of cursing, screaming, caterwauling emotional incontinents attacking each other on stage, he [Jerry Springer] used to produce high-falutin' justifications for the show.
-- Paul Hoggart, "Paul Hoggart's television choice", Times (London), December 9, 2000

The forest silence is impermeable, entirely undisturbed by the soft bell notes of hidden birds, the tick of descending leaves and twigs or soft thump of falling fruit, or even the far caterwaul of monkeys.
-- Peter Matthiessen, African Silences


Caterwaul is from Middle English caterwawen, "to cry as a cat," either from Medieval Dutch kater, "tomcat" + Dutch wauwelen, "to tattle," or for catawail, from cat-wail, "to wail like a cat."



by Charley Harper

#22

rhyme [rahym] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, rhymed, rhym·ing.
–noun
1.
identity in sound of some part, esp. the end, of words or lines of verse.
2.
a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.
3.
verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines.
4.
a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence.
5.
verse (def. 4).
–verb (used with object)
6.
to treat in rhyme, as a subject; turn into rhyme, as something in prose.
7.
to compose (verse or the like) in metrical form with rhymes.
8.
to use (a word) as a rhyme to another word; use (words) as rhymes.
–verb (used without object)
9.
to make rhyme or verse; versify.
10.
to use rhyme in writing verse.
11.
to form a rhyme, as one word or line with another: a word that rhymes with orange.
12.
to be composed in metrical form with rhymes, as verse: poetry that rhymes.
—Idiom
13.
rhyme or reason, logic, sense, or plan: There was no rhyme or reason for what they did.
Also, rime.


[Origin: 1250–1300; ME rime < OF, deriv. of rimer to rhyme < Gallo-Romance *rimāre to put in a row ≪ OHG rīm series, row; prob. not connected with L rhythmus rhythm, although current sp. (from c1600) appar. by assoc. with this word]



Assonant rhyme
Rhyming of similar vowels but different consonants.
example: dip/limp

Consonant rhyme
Similar consonants but different vowels.
example: limp/lump

Eye rhyme
Based on spelling and not on sound.
example: love/move

Feminine rhyme (double, triple, extra-syllable, multi-syllable, extended)
Differing beginnings followed by multiple rhyming syllables.
example: drinking/shrinking

Identical rhyme
Uses the same word to rhyme with itself however may hold a different meaning.

Light line
Rhyming of a stressed syllable with a secondary stress.
example: mat/combat

Macaronic rhyme
Rhyming of two words with different languages.

Masculine rhyme
Differing consonant sounds ending with identically stressed syllables.
example: report/support

Near rhyme (half, slant, approximate, off, oblique)
Final consonant sounds the same but initial consonants and vowel sounds are different.
example: tought/sat

Perfect rhyme (exact, true, full)
Begins with different sounds and end with the same.
example: pie/die

Rich rhyme (French for rime riche)
Word that rhymes with its homonym.
example: blue/blew

Scarce rhyme
Rhyming of words with limited rhyming alternatives.
example: whisp/lisp

Wrenched rhyme
A stressed syllable with an unstressed one (occurs most often in ballads and folk poetry).
example: lady/a bee



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#21

schadenfreude \SHOD-n-froy-duh\, noun:
A malicious satisfaction obtained from the misfortunes of others.

That the report of Sebastian Imhof's grave illness might also have been tinged with Schadenfreude appears not to have crossed Lucas's mind.
-- Steven Ozment, Flesh and Spirit

He died three years after me -- cancer too -- and at that time I was still naive enough to imagine that what the afterlife chiefly provided were unrivalled opportunities for unbeatable gloating, unbelievable schadenfreude.
-- Will Self, How The Dead Live

Somewhere out there, Pi supposed, some UC Berkeley grad students must be shivering with a little Schadenfreude of their own about what had happened to her.
-- Sylvia Brownrigg, The Metaphysical Touch

The historian Peter Gay -- who felt Schadenfreude as a Jewish child in Nazi-era Berlin, watching the Germans lose coveted gold medals in the 1936 Olympics -- has said that it "can be one of the great joys of life."
-- Edward Rothstein, "Missing the Fun of a Minor Sin", New York Times, February 5, 2000


Schadenfreude comes from the German, from Schaden, "damage" + Freude, "joy." It is often capitalized, as it is in German.




corrietteschoenaerts.com

#20

potboiler \POT-boi-lur\, noun:
A usually inferior literary or artistic work, produced quickly for the purpose of making money.

The play was a mixed blessing. Through it O'Neill latched on to a perennial source of income, but the promise of his youth was essentially squandered on a potboiler.
-- Jane Scovell, Oona. Living in the Shadows

If reading and travel are two of life's most rewarding experiences, to combine them is heavenly. I don't mean sitting on a beach reading the latest potboiler, a fine form of relaxation but not exactly mind-expanding.
-- Stephen Kinzer, "Traveling Companions", New York Times, April 19, 1998


Potboiler comes from the phrase "boil the pot," meaning "to provide one's livelihood."



http://corrietteschoenaerts.com/

#19

polyglot \POL-ee-glot\, adjective:
1. Containing or made up of several languages.
2. Writing, speaking, or versed in many languages.

noun:
1. One who speaks several languages.

Yes, Burgess loved to scatter polyglot obscurities like potholes throughout his more than 50 novels and dozens of nonfiction works. He could leap gaily from Welsh to French to Malay to Yiddish in one breath.
-- "Byrne", Chicago Sun-Times, August 24, 1997

There should be polyglot waiters who can tell us when the train starts in four or five languages.
-- Hamerton, Intelligent Life

My parents are both polyglots--they speak five Indian languages each, I speak seven--and they would encourage my reading.
-- Lawrence Weschler, A Wanderer in the Perfect City


Polyglot derives from Greek polyglottos, from poly-, "many" + glotta, "tongue, language."


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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2r7ef_postsecret_creation

#18

susurrus \su-SUHR-uhs\, noun:
A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

Still, the breeze is soothing, as is the susurrus of the branches.
-- Michael Finkel, "Tree Surfing and Other Lofty Pleasures", The Atlantic, March 1998

And there came, like the dry susurrus of wind before thunder peals and lightning, a great rustle of excitement.
-- Richard Whittington-Egan, "The Edwardian literary afternoon: part one", Contemporary Review, April 2000

He heard the susurrus of curtains luffed by the breeze.
-- Erik Larson, Isaac's Storm


Susurrus comes from the Latin susurrus, "a murmuring, a whispering, a humming."



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#17

punctilious \puhnk-TIL-ee-uhs\, adjective:
Strictly attentive to the details of form in action or conduct; precise; exact in the smallest particulars.

The convert who is more punctilious in his new faith than the lifelong communicant is a familiar figure in Catholic lore.
-- Patrick Allit, Catholic Converts

Nicholas showed us his butterfly collection. He had done a splendid job of spreading them (better than I ever have, let alone at his age). I tried to impress upon him the need for punctilious labeling, a tedious business that raises a butterfly from a mere curio to a specimen of scientific value.
-- Robert Michael Pyle, ChASINg Monarchs

Cooper had always been very punctilious about observing the rules laiddown in the . . . brochure.
-- Josef Skvorecky, Two Murders in My Double Life


Punctilious derives from Late Latin punctillum, "a little point," from Latin punctum, "a point," from pungere, "to prick."

#16

plenipotentiary \plen-uh-puh-TEN-shee-air-ee; -shuh-ree\, adjective:
1. Containing or conferring full power; invested with full power; as, "plenipotentiary license; plenipotentiary ministers."

noun:
1. A person invested with full power to transact any business; especially, an ambassador or diplomatic agent with full power to negotiate a treaty or to transact other business.

There were two accounts, one in a news article, the second in the editorial section, telling the minihistory of Pol Pot, sometime plenipotentiary ruler of Cambodia.
-- William F. Buckley Jr., The Redhunter

At that time, Egypt was our protectorate, which meant the High Commissioner was the plenipotentiary of George V and carried independent authority.
-- David Freeman, One of Us


Plenipotentiary derives from Latin plenus, "full" + potens, "powerful."



be sure to watch the video.....

#15

en·ve·lope [en-vuh-lohp, ahn-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.
a flat paper container, as for a letter or thin package, usually having a gummed flap or other means of closure.
2.
something that envelops; a wrapper, integument, or surrounding cover.
3.
Biology. a surrounding or enclosing structure, as a corolla or an outer membrane.
4.
Geometry. a curve or surface tangent to each member of a set of curves or surfaces.
5.
Radio. (of a modulated carrier wave) a curve connecting the peaks of a graph of the instantaneous value of the electric or magnetic component of the carrier wave as a function of time.
6.
the fabric structure enclosing the gasbag of an aerostat.
7.
the gasbag itself.
8.
Electronics. the airtight glass or metal housing of a vacuum tube.
9.
the technical limits within which an aircraft or electronic system may be safely operated.
—Idiom
10.
push the envelope, to stretch established limits, as in technological advance or social innovation.
Also, envelop.



WATCH VIDEOS

#14

copse \KOPS\, noun:
A thicket or grove of small trees.

A lit window shone from between the trees below them, then vanished again as the car dipped over a ditch and passed through a copse.
-- Kate Bingham, Mummy's Legs

Among the mountains, hills, streams, waterfalls, and little copses, the child rejoiced in "savouring the delights of freedom" that stimulated his boyish dreams and reveries.
-- Suheil Bushrui and Joe Jenkins, Kahlil Gibran: Man and Poet

They sang freely in the copses and thickets round Bohain, and in the ruins of the mediaeval castle where he played as a boy.
-- Hilary Spurling, The Unknown Matisse


Copse derives from Old French copeiz, "a thicket for cutting," from coper, couper, "to cut." It is related to coupon, at root "the part that is cut off."



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ferryhalim

#13

booboisie \boob-wah-ZEE\, noun:
A class of people regarded as stupid or foolish.

Until then, he'd dismissed Hollywood as a purveyor of machine-made fodder for the booboisie, but he found, much to his surprise, that the movies weren't nearly as bad as he'd claimed.
-- Terry Teachout, quoted in "Writing Mencken," by Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online, November 15, 2002

He was primarily a radical freethinker who noisily waged war against the booboisie.
-- Richard Lingeman, "Disturber of the Peace", Washington Post, November 3, 2002


Booboisie is a blend of boob and bourgeoisie. It was coined by H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), American editor and critic.

#12

sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.

noun:
1. A long word.

As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like 'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
-- Campbell Patty, "The sand in the oyster", The Horn Book Magazine, May 15, 1996

Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as "epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
-- Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer", Washington Post, November 19, 2000

They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times, to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of manners in the Colonies.
-- William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum", The Atlantic, March 1972

. . .her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians (that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
-- David Browne, "Books/The Week", Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998


Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."



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enchanted letterforms

#11

milksop \MILK-sop\, noun:
An effeminate or weak-minded person; an unmanly man.

But though intelligent and 'good tempered', he was also something of a milksop, unlike his younger brothers who were 'full of courage'.
-- Saul David, Prince of Pleasure

And what a milksop I'll be thought and what a tyrant you'll be thought and how you'll be dreaded accordingly.
-- John Butler Yeats, quoted in W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1 by R. F. Foster


Milksop comes from Middle English, literally a piece of bread sopped in milk.

#10

we have broken into the double digits. what shall we do?


spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:
The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:



We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.
The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].
It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.
Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?
When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!
Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].



Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

#9

hoi polloi \hoi-puh-LOI\, noun:
The common people generally; the masses.

Lizzie insisted that her children distinguish themselves from the hoi polloi by scrupulous honesty.
-- Kate Buford, Burt Lancaster: An American Life

The exchange of roles in "The Prince and the Pauper" suggests that a man of the people can be a benevolent ruler because of his humble roots, that a prince can become a better ruler through exposure to hoi polloi.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "In Classic Children's Books, Is a Witch Ever Just a Witch?", New York Times, December 22, 1992

America's cereal queen [Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post Cereal fortune] had the same problems that the hoi polloi have -- philandering husbands, messy divorces, soggy Grape-Nuts.
-- Maureen Dowd, "Rich Little Rich Girl", New York Times, February 12, 1995


Hoi polloi is Greek for "the many."

from dictionary.com

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One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
- Rita Mae Brown

#8

flummox \FLUM-uhks\, transitive verb:
To confuse; to perplex.

And when a poll's results happen to upset the conventional wisdom, orconfound the experts, or flummox the pundits, then that's a poll toremember.
-- Michael Kagay, "Unexpected Results Make for Memorable Polls", New York Times, March 23, 2000

The chronological order of the Stuart, Hanover, Lancaster and TudorBritish royal houses had me flummoxed.
-- Sara Ivry, "Game Show Wannabe: I Coulda Been a Millionaire", New York Times, February 27, 2000

Flummoxed by the surreality of history and the mind-bogglingchanges unleashed by the 60's, many writers in that era became minimalists,withdrawing, turtlelike, inside their own homes and heads.
-- Michiko Kakutani, "New Wave of Writers Reinvents Literature", New York Times, April 22, 2000


The origin of flummox is unknown.

from dictionary.com

#7

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\, noun:
A morbid fear of the number 13 or the date Friday the 13th.

Thirteen people, pledged to eliminate triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, today tried to reassure American sufferers by renting a 13 ft plot of land in Brooklyn for 13 cents . . . a month.
-- Daily Telegraph, January 14, 1967

Past disasters linked to the number 13 hardly help triskaidekaphobics overcome their affliction. The most famous is the Apollo 13 mission, launched on April 11, 1970 (the sum of 4, 11 and 70 equals 85 - which when added together comes to 13), from Pad 39 (three times 13) at 13:13 local time, and struck by an explosion on April 13.
-- "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday", Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996


Triskaidekaphobia is from Greek treiskaideka, triskaideka, thirteen (treis, three + kai, and + deka, ten) + phobos, fear.

In Christian countries the number 13 was considered unlucky because there were 13 persons at the Last Supper of Christ. Fridays are also unlucky, because the Crucifixion was on a Friday. Hence a Friday falling on the thirteenth day is regarded as especially unlucky.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes1:

Napoleon
Herbert Hoover
Mark Twain
Richard Wagner
Franklin Roosevelt


1. Source: "It's just bad luck that the 13th is so often a Friday," Electronic Telegraph, September 8, 1996

from dictionary.com


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Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.

Raymond Chandler (1888 - 1959)

#6

For some reason unknown, today's theme is MEAT.

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meat [meet] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.
the flesh of animals as used for food.
2.
the edible part of anything, as a fruit or nut: Crack the walnuts and remove the meats.
3.
the essential point or part of an argument, literary work, etc.; gist; crux: The meat of the play is the jealousy between the two brothers.
4.
solid food: meat and drink.
5.
solid or substantial content; pith: The article was full of meat, with few wasted words.
6.
a favorite occupation, activity, etc.: Chess in his meat.
7.
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pork, esp. bacon.
8.
Slang: Vulgar. penis.
9.
Archaic. the principal meal: to say grace before meat.
—Idiom
10.
piece of meat, Slang.
a.
a person regarded merely as a sex object.
b.
a person, as a prizefighter or laborer, regarded merely as a strong or useful physical specimen.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE mete food, c. OHG maz, ON matr, Goth mats]

—Related forms
meatless, adjective

from dictionary.com