#85

raillery \RAY-luh-ree\, noun:
1. Good-humored banter or teasing.
2. An instance of good-humored teasing; a jest.

I moved from one knot of people to another, surrounded by a kind of envious respect because of Sophie's interest in me, although subjected to a certain mordant raillery from some of this witty company.
-- Peter Brooks, World Elsewhere

Her raillery and mockery are fun -- but ultimately rather tiring, and tiresome.
-- Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, "Eastward Ho!" review of Shards of Memory, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, New York Times, September 17, 1995

Raillery is from French raillerie, from Old French railler, "to tease, to mock."



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#82

ergo \UR-go; AIR-\, adverb:
Therefore; consequently; -- often used in a jocular way.

The general observation has always been: Dogs form packs; the leader of the pack is the strongest, wisest, and largest individual; a human being among dogs fits that description; ergo we are the leader of any dog pack.
-- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Dogs Never Lie About Love: Reflections on the Emotional World of Dogs

Armani isn't interested in fashion that moves on (ergo he isn't interested in fashion).
-- Sinead Lynch, "The waist land", Times (London), October 9, 2000

People who do not suffer fools gladly, gladly suffer flatterers. (Ergo, flatterers are no fools.)
-- Richard Stengel, You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery

Ergo is from Latin ergo, consequently, therefore.




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#79

pleonasm \PLEE-uh-naz-uhm\, noun:
1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, "I saw it with my own eyes."
2. An instance or example of pleonasm.
3. A superfluous word or expression.

Dougan uses many words where few would do, as if pleonasm were a way of wringing every possibility out of the material he has, and stretching sentences a form of spreading the word.
-- Paula Cocozza, "Book review: How Dynamo Kiev beat the Luftwaffe", Independent, March 2, 2001

Such a phrase from President Nixon's era, much favored by politicians, is "at this moment in time." Presumably these five words mean "now." That pleonasm probably does little harm except, perhaps, to the reputation of the speaker.
-- Eoin McKiernan, "Last Word: Special Relationships", Irish America, August 31, 1994

Pleonasm is from Greek pleonasmos, from pleon, "greater, more."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pleonasm




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#73

verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:
1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.
2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.

In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang.
-- Wilborn Hampton, "Sugar Down Billie Hoak': An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father", New York Times , August 1, 1997

For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude.
-- Sarah Boxer, "An Experiment in Artistic Democracy", New York Times , August 7, 2000

The old man's massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait.
-- "Charm itself", Economist , October 16, 1999



Verisimilitude comes from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, from verus, "true" + similis, "like, resembling, similar." The adjective form is verisimilar.

#56

brain grenade
a bottle of beer, due to its effects on brains.
the game's about to start, toss me a brain grenade Jack.

Heineken or Guinness?





http://www.janvonholleben.com/dreams_of_flying.php?n=1

#44

quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\, adjective:
1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.
2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.

Erasmus thought More's career as a lawyer was a waste of a fine mind, but it was precisely the human insights More derived from his life in the quotidian world that gave him a moral depth Erasmus lacked.
-- "More man than saint", Irish Times, April 4, 1998

She also had a sense of fun that was often drummed out under the dull, quotidian beats of suburban life.
-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy


Quotidian is from Latin quotidianus, from quotidie, "daily," from quotus, "how many, as many, so many" + dies, "day."

#40

glabrous \GLAY-bruhs\, adjective:
Smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness.

How much more powerful then will be the effect -- next week? next month? soon enough -- when Gore, resplendent, clean-shaven, glabrous in his glory, returns from the dead! Radiant! Reborn!
-- Lance Morrow, "Al Gore, and Other Famous Bearded Men", Time, August 16, 2001

We offered to the rebarbative Senator Patrick Leahy's demands on us amused resistance and the promise to buy the glabrous old boy a proper hairpiece.
-- R Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "Jumpin' Jim Jehoshaphat!", The American Spectator, July 1, 2001


Glabrous is from Latin glaber, "smooth, bald."



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#38

badinage \bad-n-AHZH\, noun:
Light, playful talk; banter.

Ken was determined to put the cares of the world behind him and do what he loved best -- having a few celebrity friends round and enjoying an evening of anecdote and badinage over a bottle or two of vintage bubbly and some tasty cheese straws.
-- Bel Littlejohn, "My moustache man", The Guardian, March 24, 2000

The badinage was inconsequential, reduced to who knew whom and wasn't the weather glorious in St. Tropez, or the Bahamas, Hawaii, or Hong Kong?
-- Robert Ludlum, The Matarese Countdown


Badinage comes from French, from badiner, "to trifle, to joke," badin, "playful, jocular."



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P.S. go see Stardust.

#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."



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