#98

Genuphobia - Fear of knees.

#97

banana boat

noun
a ship designed to transport bananas

#96

imbroglio \im-BROHL-yoh\, noun:
1. A complicated and embarrassing state of things.
2. A confused or complicated disagreement or misunderstanding.
3. An intricate, complicated plot, as of a drama or work of fiction.
4. A confused mass; a tangle.

Imbroglio derives from Italian, from Old Italian imbrogliare, "to tangle, to confuse," from in-, "in" + brogliare, "to mix, to stir." It is related to embroil, "to entangle in conflict or argument."

#95

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:
The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.
-- "Congressman Henry Lee's Eulogy for George Washington" , December 4, 1908

The setting sun as usual shed a melancholy effulgence on the ruddy towers of the Alhambra.
-- Washington Irving, The Alhambra

Nice gave him a different light from Paris -- a high, constant effulgence with little gray in it, flooding broadly across sea, city and hills, producing luminous shadows and clear tonal structures.
-- Robert Hughes, "Inventing A Sensory Utopia: The paintings Matisse did in Nice include some of his best", Time, November 17, 1986

From Latin ex, "out of, from" + fulgere, "to shine." The adjective form of the word is effulgent.

#94

Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance, style and Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval.

platitude \PLAT-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:
1. Staleness of ideas or language; triteness.
2. A thought or remark that is banal, trite, or stale.

Yet a curious thing happens in this book: Whatever promise it offers of satire and enlightened vision dissipates into cliche and platitude.
-- Edward Rothstein, "Against Galactic Rhetoric", New York Times, April 3, 1983

The average sports memoir is a prodigy of simpering modesty and high-minded platitude: enough to rot the mind and sap the morals of the sturdiest child.
-- Wilfrid Sheed, "Take Me Back to the Ballgame", New York Times, September 18, 1966

She'll have to cut the platitudes and start saying something unusual and provocative, which she hasn't yet.
-- Jonathan Alter, "Why It's Time to Let Loose", Newsweek, December 6, 1999

Platitude derives from French plat, "flat." It is related to plate, a flat piece of metal or a flat dish in which food is served or from which it is eaten; and plateau, a broad, level, elevated area of land. The adjective form of platitude is platitudinous.

#91

paean \PEE-uhn\, noun:
1. A joyous song of praise, triumph, or thanksgiving.
2. An expression of praise or joy.

Bud Guthrie had written a paean to the grizzly, calling it the "living, snorting incarnation of the wildness and grandeur of America."
-- David Whitman, "The Return of the Grizzly", The Atlantic, September 2000

If you look at what British writers were saying about England before and after the war, you read for the most part a seamless paean to the virtues of the nation's strength and identity.
-- Hugo Young, This Blessed Plot

Paean comes from Latin paean, "a hymn of thanksgiving, often addressed to god Apollo," from Greek paian, from Paia, a title of Apollo.