GAME: Word of the Day (WOTD)

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:07 am

Word of the Day for Tuesday July 12, 2005

introspection \in-truh-SPEK-shuhn\, noun: The act or process of self-examination; contemplation of one's own thoughts and feelings; a looking inward.

Bill could be harshly self-critical, while Mac -- though not oblivious of his mistakes -- had no time for introspection.
--Kai Bird, The Color of Truth

Romanes acknowledged that to interpret an animal's thought processes this way required a heavy dose of inference from our own mental patterns, which we access through introspection.
--Stephen Budiansky, If a Lion Could Talk

Religion absorbed Bailey, and following a period of intense introspection, he began a long quest to become a Congregationalist minister.
--Thomas G. Dyer, Secret Yankees

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Introspection derives from the past participle of Latin introspicere, "to look inside," from intro-, "to the inside" + specere, "to look."

Winship · Post by **Winship** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:19 am

In an act of introspection, the geologist wondered if he really should be taunting the Volcano Goddess.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:46 am

After an exceedingly brief moment of introspection, the previously somnolent Volcano Goddess ameliorated her divine wrath by vomiting her fury on the temerarious souls who'd so foolishly defiled her sacred slopes.

She was particularly incensed by the (now deceased) geological party's failure to bag their own excement earlier that morning, despite clearly posted rules by the National Park Service.

"Sh*t on me, will you ?!" she fumed to herself ... as she enjoyed a good post eruption smoke.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:08 am

Word of the Day for Wednesday July 13, 2005

malfeasance \mal-FEE-zuhn(t)s\, noun: Wrongdoing, misconduct, or misbehavior, especially by a public official.

But more often than not the same board members who were removed by the chancellor for malfeasance subsequently manage to get reelected in a political process that defies any form of accountability.
--Diane Ravitch and Joseph Viteritti, New Schools for a New Century

Cagney family conjecture was that Grandpop Nelson, with the temper of a dozen Furies, had likely committed some malfeasance in his native town forcing him to change his name when he left.
--John McCabe, Cagney

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Malfeasance is derived from Old French malfaisant, present participle of malfaire, "to do evil," from Latin malefacere, from male, "badly" + facere, "to do."

Post by **laurie** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:56 pm

It is a true malfeasance that nobody made a post using malfeasance until now.

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:40 am

Word of the Day for Friday July 15, 2005

atelier \at-l-YAY\, noun: A workshop; a studio.

A garage in Montparnasse served as Leo's atelier, and there he labored on his huge triptychs, mixing his paints in buckets and applying them with a kitchen mop.
--Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version

After Groton, he would attend the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, then settle in Paris, rent an atelier and paint.
--Benjamin Welles, Sumner Welles: FDR's Global Strategist

His atelier was the headquarters of a lively little cottage industry.
--Rollene W. Saal, "Listening for Voices That are Muted," New York Times, January 25, 1987

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Atelier comes from French, from Old French astelier, "carpenter's shop," from astele, "splinter," from Late Latin astella, alteration of Latin astula, itself an alteration of assula, "a shaving, a chip," diminutive of assis, "board."

Post by **Ghost** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:32 am

Word of the Day for Monday July 18, 2005

ersatz \AIR-sahts; UR-sats\, adjective: Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.

Meanwhile, a poor copy was erected in the courtyard; many an unsuspecting traveler paid homage to that ersatz masterpiece.
--Edith Pearlman, "Girl and Marble Boy," The Atlantic, December 29, 1999

All we can create in that way is an ersatz culture, the synthetic product of those factories we call variously universities, colleges or museums.
--Sir Herbert Read, The Philosophy of Modern Art

Then there was the sheaf of hostile letters larded with ersatz sympathy, strained sarcasm or pure spite.
--"Time for GAA to become a persuader," Irish Times, Monday, April 13, 1998

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Ersatz derives from German Ersatz, "a substitute."

Post by **Ghost** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:28 am

Word of the Day for Tuesday July 19, 2005
flummox \FLUM-uhks\, transitive verb: To confuse; to perplex.

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

The chronological order of the Stuart, Hanover, Lancaster and Tudor British 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-boggling changes 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

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The origin of flummox is unknown.

Oh no,

where did it come from I'm sooooo confu . . . flummoxed.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 9:02 am

"Bollox!" blurted Alex. "Those big dumb lummox alchoholics flummoxed me as I tied off the hagus stomachs and spilled booze on three of the Stephen Pollocks!"

"Just chill man," said Lance, coughing. "Here - take a haulix of this bad boy..."

Post by **laurie** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:18 pm

I'm flummoxed by the thought that Felonius has suddenly turned into one of the X-Men ...

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:24 pm

Indeed. Who'd have thought that in opening his much ballyhooed comics atelier, that the old boy would have devolved into an ersatz echo of his former literary glory.

I think perhaps an intervention is in order, to save our old friend.

Post by **laurie** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:06 pm

We should give him time for a bit of introspection before the intervention. It always works better if the vict... I mean, subject... decides to correct his behavior on his own.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:59 pm

/me pictures poor Felon repeatedly scrawling (with growing temorariousness) "It was a dark and stormy night ..." during the height of Typhoon Haitang's malfeasant bluster yesturday.

Poor guy.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:13 am

Laugh it up, fuzzballs.

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:13 am

Word of the Day for Wednesday July 20, 2005

iota \eye-OH-tuh\, noun: 1. The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the English i. 2. A very small quantity or degree; a jot; a bit.

Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler taught us that the Earth moves and rotates while the heavens stand still, but this did not change by one iota our direct perception that the heavens do move and that the Earth does not budge.
--Julian Barbour, The End of Time

He has not moderated his demands one iota in seven years.
--Charles Krauthammer, "The Last Deal, or No Deal," Time, July 17, 2000

I couldn't help feeling that in spite of every iota of evidence to the contrary, something was about to happen.
--Jane Smiley, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton

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Iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet. The word jot also derives from iota.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:17 am

GENRE: Erudite Lovers' Quarrel

"I don't owe ya one iota," George said.

"No," sniffed Lucy. "You just think you're Yoda following your coda looking down at the world from some high-and-mighty pagoda while you're boffing Rhoda to meet your quota!"

There was a pause.

"Sorta," he amended presently. "Care for a soda?"

"Like a punctured aorta," she snarled.

Post by **Darb** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:41 am

Sweet !

Post by **Ghost** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:27 am

FELON:

Post by **Ghost** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:45 am

Word of the Day for Thursday July 21, 2005

ennui \on-WEE\, noun: A feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction arising from lack of interest; boredom.

He glanced at his heavily laden bookshelves. Nothing there appealed to him. The ennui seemed to have settled into his very bones.
--Amanda Quick, With This Ring

He was often off sick or playing hooky and suffered from a kind of ennui, a mixture of listlessness and willful melancholy.
--Elisabeth Roudinesco, Jacques Lacan (translated by Barbara Bray)

Yet if she felt anything it was ennui, . . . the grey sky and the cold wind obliterating every impulse she might have felt to seek comfort in another climate, another landscape.
--Anita Brookner, Falling Slowly

He was ashamed and unhappy, adrift with a senseless ennui.
--Brian Moynahan, Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned

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Ennui is from the French, from Old French enui, "annoyance," from enuier, "to annoy, to bore," from the Latin phrase in odium, "in hatred or dislike."

Winship · Post by **Winship** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:53 am

Despite some very dexterous, comical and attention-grabbing posts there seems to be an ennui in the Word of the Day Thread.

Post by **Darb** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:04 am

Having *finally* located the forum's poorly marked and exceedingly hard-to-find co-ed bathroom, Brad set about relieving his sense of literary ennui with a good metaphorical weewee.

Post by **clong** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:13 am

from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack Lyrics:

A Bereth thar Ennui Aeair!
Calad ammen i reniar
Mi 'aladhremmin ennorath.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
i chin a thul lin miriel...

general consensus seems to be that ennui is not the correct Sindarin for plural form of western (should be annui), but that's what they actually sing in the movie.

felonius · Post by **felonius** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:57 am

Potpourri?

Post by **clong** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:33 am

There was a young fellow from Tyne
Put his head on the South-Eastern line;
But he died of ennui,
For the 5.53
Didn't come till a quarter past nine.
â€”Anonymous

Rhymes From a List Found in Odgen Nash's Papers after He Died

Who else can rhyme ennui--
can we?
Who else pairs Methuselah
with lollapalooza,
Icarus
with licorice?
Truth is, none of us.
Nash, R.I.P.
â€”Beth Ann Fennelly

According to http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/nash.work.html Nash wrote a poem called "Hook, line and ennui" but I can't find it anywhere online.

Post by **Ghost** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:12 am

Word of the Day for Friday July 22, 2005

assuage (uh-SWAYJ), verb: 1. To make milder or less severe; to reduce the intensity of; to ease; to relieve. 2. To appease; to satisfy. 3. To soothe or calm; to pacify.

His generosity toward a group of young graffiti writers was, perhaps, one way to assuage his guilt.
--Phoebe Hoban, Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art

Even with the requirement of lay review boards, the code will fail to assuage concerns of the church's most vocal critics that the unseemly methods of the past won't repeat themselves.
--"Bishops take step in right direction," Chicago Sun-Times, November 15, 2002

If only she would come outside
and let us meet her--face to face;
perhaps our words could turn
her anger's tide, perhaps
we could, if not erase,
at least assuage her rage.
--Euripides, Medea, edited by David R. Slavitt and Palmer Bovie

In one final attempt to assuage fears, the agency claims that these audits will comprise only "1.1 percent of the total audit-related contacts planned for the year."
--Daniel J. Pilla, "IRS prepares to intensify its kinder, gentler audits," Insight on the News, April 29, 2002

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Assuage comes from Latin ad + suavis, "sweet".