#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.




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#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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#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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#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."



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#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.



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