| ARCHIVE OF DEFINITIONS |
CALUMNY
Pronunciation - \KA-lum-nee\
MOE'S Example At
first, the newspapers
and media in general painted a
flattering portrait of the man. Handsome
with boyish good looks, highly educated
yet humble, very polite and
well-schooled in the art of social
etiquette, and from a good family whose
contributions to the community were
generous and genuine. It's little
wonder, then, that women were often
drawn to him. Looking back at those
early impressions, one cannot help but
think about the shocking deceit. For if
CALUMNY is to slander wth malice, then
here was the opposite - to heap praise
upon the avatar of evil. He charmed many
an innocent young soul - before
beheading them. Yes, we have learned
much from Ted Bundy.
Literary Example: ETYMOLOGY
"Calumny" made an appearance in these
famous words from Shakespeare's Hamlet:
"If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this
plague for thy dowry: be thou chaste as
ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not
escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery,
go." "Calumny" had been in the English
language for a while, though, before
Hamlet uttered it. The term first
entered English in the 15th century, and
came from the Middle French word
"calomnie" of the same meaning.
"Calomnie" came from the Latin word
"calumnia," (meaning "false accusation,"
"false claim," or "trickery"), which
itself comes from the Latin word
"calvi," meaning "to deceive."
BAROQUE
Pronunciation - \buh-ROKE or buh-RAHK\
"To be BAROQUE is to have no MONET". [courtesy of Diana C's husband, Paul]
MOE'S
Example: Petunia Porckchop
married into money, as was her wish. She
gathered about her great hordes of
interior designers, architects, and
stylists of all stripes, in her plan to
build a fine BAROQUE castle with huge
gargoyles, towers, domes, and whatever
struck her tasteless fancy. Inside, her
dining room featured a mahogany table,
twenty feet in length, and the surface
of this table was inlaid and carved to
her specifications: grotesque
caricatures of her former husbands, ten
in all, shown in the throes of death,
the contortions that poisonous ingestion
tends to induce. Her current husband,
fifty years her senior, loathed the
extravagance, and particularly shuddered
when dinnertime arrived, at which point
he would once again be forced to survey
the hideous BAROQUE details of the
table. He loved Petunia despite her many
flaws, yet the old man was not too
senile or foolish as to realize his face
could be the next to adorn the table.
Perhaps that is the reason there was a
new sous-chef hired every three or four
months, for, by order of the patriarch
and unbeknownst to his scheming wife, it
was the job of the sous-chef to sample a
liberal helping of the old man's meal
every evening prior to serving. One
night, however, the sous-chef fell ill
and was unable to work. And today, that
infamous BAROQUE dining table has eleven
caricatures carved ornately into its
storied surface. Petunia eats there
alone but she has made her "eligibility"
known in her social milieu. Bon appetit,
Petunia. ETYMOLOGY
"Baroque" came to English from a French
word meaning "irregularly shaped." At
first, the word in French was used
mostly to refer to pearls. Eventually,
it came to describe an extravagant style
of art characterized by curving lines,
gilt, and gold. This type of art, which
dated from about 1550 to 1750, was
sometimes considered to be excessively
decorated and overly complicated. It
makes sense, therefore, that the meaning
of the word "baroque" has broadened to
include anything that seems too ornate
or elaborate. Labeling something
"baroque" is usually uncomplimentary
now, despite the fact that it was
certainly a legitimate art form in its
time.
WHAMMY
Pronunciation
MOE'S EXAMPLE: Somehow I
knew that trip
to Haiti last winter was a bad idea. It
wasn't just the infamous water that put
the DOUBLE WHAMMY on me, either - those
wicked paranoid runs to the toilet and
the jungle fever with its horrid
hallucinations. Was it just a dream, or
did I really see that voodoo mama
sticking pins in the little doll, the
handsome, comely little replica of my
own fine self? Little Me, if you will.
For, back home in the first world, the
tech market has come crashing down upon
my skull [the one pinned by Lady Voo],
and my Volvo thinks it is a Volkswagen
Beetle. Beware of the DOUBLE WHAMMY, I
warn you now - stay away from the groves
of Papa Doc. Oh, and I'd avoid Cuba just
now, too, if you catch my drift.
Dictionary Example:
"The nation's working poor have been hit
by another whammy," said the senator,
referring to a recent tax hike.
ETYMOLOGY
The ultimate origin of "whammy" is not
entirely clear, although it is assumed
to have been created by combining "wham"
("a solid blow or impact") with the
whimsical "-y" ending. The first example
of "whammy" in print was in 1940, but
the word was popularized in the 1950s by
the cartoonist Al Capp in the comic
strip "Li'l Abner." His character
Evil-Eye Fleegle could paralyze someone
with the sheer power of his gaze. The
"single whammy" was a look with one eye,
and the fearsome "double whammy" used
both eyes. As you may know, "double
whammy" has found a place in English as
a general term as well; it means "a
combination of two adverse forces,
circumstances, or effects" -- in other
words, a one-two punch. AMBROSIA
Pronunciation
MOE'S Example: One
person's plain and
mundane food can be another's AMBROSIA,
a
gourmet treat befitting divinity itself.
For instance, when I was a young
tadpole, I thought peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches on Wonder bread were
the treat of the gods, a sweet and
crunchy AMBROSIA that adults somehow
failed to appreciate. Now, as an adult,
I still treat myself occasionally to
this indulgence [now on dark rye]
although it has lost its status as
AMBROSIA, that position now taken by
Cherries Jubilee. Mmmmmm.....
A Literary Example:
"We feasted that evening as on nectar
and AMBROSIA; and not the least delight
of the entertainment was the smile of
gratification with which our hostess
regarded us, as we satisfied our
famished appetites on the delicate fare
she liberally supplied." (Charlotte
Bronte, Jane Eyre)
ETYMOLOGY
"Ambrosia" literally means "immortality"
in Greek; it is a derivative of the
Greek word "ambrotos," meaning
"immortal," which combines the prefix
"a-" (meaning "not") with "-mbrotos"
(meaning "mortal"). In Greek and Roman
mythology, only immortals -- gods and
goddesses -- could eat ambrosia. Those
mythological gods and goddesses also
drank "nectar," which, in its original
sense, refers to the "drink of the
gods." (Even today, you'll often find
the words "ambrosia" and "nectar" in
each other's company.) While the
"ambrosia" of the gods prevented death,
we mere mortals use "ambrosia" in
reference to things that just taste or
smell especially delicious.
GADZOOKERY
\gad-ZOO-kuh-ree\
: the use of archaisms (as in a
historical novel)
MOE'S Example:
"Get rid of the GADZOOKERY," DC's
editor cautioned. "The character
Mirabella can
perfectly well say 'please' instead of
'prithee.'" Actually, there is the
question of whether Mirabella even has a
character; she is more of a caricature
in this fiction. GADZOOKS! Watch out for
anachronisms when you write about the
past.
"Gadzooks . . . you astonish me!" cries
Mr. Lenville in Charles Dickens'
Nicholas Nickleby. We won't accuse
Dickens of gadzookery ("the bane of
historical fiction," as historical
novelist John Vernon called it in
Newsday magazine), because we assume
people actually said "gadzooks" back in
the 1830s. That mild oath is an
old-fashioned euphemism, so it is
thought, for "God's hooks" (a reference,
supposedly, to the nails of the
Crucifixion). But it's a fine line
today's historical novelist must toe,
avoiding expressions like "zounds" and
"pshaw" and "tush" ("tushery" is a
synonym of the newer "gadzookery," which
first cropped up in the 1950s), as well
as "gadzooks," while at the same time
rejecting modern expressions such as
"okay" and "nice."
AD
HOMINEM
Pronunciation
1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices
rather than intellect
MOE'S Example:
Instead of defending his own record,
George Bush
struck back at his opponent, John
McCain, with AD
HOMINEM tactics, such as television
smear commercials and mass telephone
campaigns with negative messages. It
reminds me of fond memories of mom. If I
didn't clean the mess in my bedroom, she
used to tell my girlfriend I still
sucked my thumb and wet my bed. To this
day, though, my bedroom is immaculate.
And what has all this to do with George
Bush, you may ask. Nothing at all
actually, except my mom used to keep me in line
with AD HOMINEM strategy, bless her.
"Ad hominem" literally means "to the
person" in New Latin (Latin as first
used in post-medieval texts). In
centuries past, this adjective usually
modified "argument." An "argument ad
hominem" (or "argumentum ad hominem," to
use the full New Latin phrase) was a
valid method of persuasion by which a
person took advantage of his or her
opponent's interests or feelings in a
debate, instead of just sticking to
general principles. The second sense of
"ad hominem" appeared only in the 20th
century, but it is the sense more often
heard today. The word still refers to
putting personal issues above other
matters, but perhaps because of its old
association with "argument," "ad
hominem" has become, in effect, "against
the person."
VERTIGINOUS
PRONUNCIATION
1 a : characterized by or suffering from
vertigo or dizziness b : inclined to
frequent and often pointless change :
inconstant
2 : causing or tending to cause
dizziness
3 : marked by turning : rotary
MOE'S Example:
In Moscow, we saw "Swan Lake" from the
VERTIGINOUS perspective of the Bolshoi
Theatre's uppermost balcony. But
Natasha and I met some Russian mafia on
the way home, so that put a bit of a
damper on my planned romantic evening.
In fact, as I strolled home alone and
fantasized about the lovely Natasha, my
lusty reveries made me VERTIGINOUS and a
cabbie almost ran me down in my dizzied,
disoriented state. Next time, I think
I'll cook her dinner at home!
"It is generally necessary to avoid
crowded rooms and the vertiginous
influence of the dance," one
19th-century medical work advised. We're
not sure what condition this advice was
aimed at, but it may well have been
"vertigo," a disordered state
characterized by whirling dizziness.
"Vertiginous," from the Latin
"vertiginosus," is the adjective form of
"vertigo," which in Latin means "a
turning or whirling action." Both words
descend from the Latin verb "vertere,"
meaning "to turn." ("Vertiginous" and
"vertigo" are just two of an almost
dizzying array of "vertere" offspring,
from "adverse" to "vortex.") The
"dizzying" sense of "vertiginous" is
often used figuratively, as in
"vertiginous medical discoveries may
drastically change life in the 21st
century." Many of you will recall
Hitchcock's film, "Vertigo", a
masterpiece and one of MOE'S favorites.
Part of Speech - noun
Definition
*1 : a misrepresentation intended to
blacken another's reputation
2 : the act of uttering false charges or
misrepresentations maliciously
calculated to damage another's
reputation
"In the opinion of most people his frank
debonair manner, his charming boyish
smile, and the infinite grace of that
wonderful youth ... were in themselves a
sufficient answer to the CALUMNIES, for
so they termed them, that were
circulated about him." (Oscar Wilde, The
Picture of Dorian Gray)
Part of Speech - adjective
Definition[s]
1 : of, relating to, or having the
characteristics of a style of artistic
expression prevalent especially in the
17th century that is marked generally by
use of complex forms, bold
ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of
contrasting elements often conveying a
sense of drama, movement, and
tension
*2 : characterized by grotesqueness,
extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance
\WHAM-ee\
Part of Speech - noun
1 a : a supernatural power bringing bad
luck b : a magic curse or spell
*2 : a potent force or attack;
specifically : a paralyzing or lethal
blow
\am-BRO-zhuh\
Part of Speech
noun
1 a : the food of the Greek and Roman
gods b : the ointment or perfume of the
gods
*2 : something extremely pleasing to
taste or smell
3 : a dessert made of oranges and
shredded coconut
Part of Speech - noun
\add-HAH-muh-nem\
Part of Speech
adjective
*2 : marked by an attack on an
opponent's character rather than by an
answer to the contentions made
\ver-TIH-juh-nuss\
PART OF
SPEECH
adjective
It's ancient, first mentioned in a poem by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus in the second century AD. It is believed to have come into English via French from a Greek word abrasadabra (the change from s to c seems to have been through a confused transliteration of the Greek). It originated as a secret and mystical word with a Gnostic sect in Alexandria called the Basilidians (named after their founder Basilides of Egypt). It was probably based on Abrasax, the name of their supreme deity (Abraxas in Latin sources), but is sometimes said to have been constructed from the initial letters of three Hebrew Words: Ab, the father, Ben, the son, and Acadsch, the holy spirit.
It was used as a charm, written in the shape of a triangle on a piece of parchment worn round the neck, and was believed to have the power to cure toothaches, malaria and other scourges. And Abraxas itself was said to have magical powers of its own, as a word that represented the number of days in the year, 365. This was derived by adding up the numerical values of its seven Greek letters by a process called gematria. For this reason, it was often engraved on amulets and precious stones.
APPLE OF [ONE'S] EYE
This evocative phrase turns up both in the King James Bible: "He kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy), and in Shakespeare: "Flower of this purple dye, / Hit with Cupid's archery, / Sink in apple of his eye", (A Midsummer Night's Dream). But it's older than either of these, almost as old as the language, since the first recorded examples can be found in the works of King Alfred at the end of the ninth century.
At this time, the pupil of the eye was thought to be a solid object and was actually called the apple, presumably because an apple was the most common globular object around. So the apple of one's eye was at first a literal phrase describing the pupil. Because sight was so precious, someone who was called this as an endearment was similarly precious, and the phrase took on the figurative sense we retain. King Alfred actually uses it in this way, and presumably it wasn't new then.
Our modern word pupil, by the way, is from Latin and didn't appear in English until the sixteenth century. It's figurative in origin, too, though in a more self-obsessed way. The Latin original was pupilla, a little doll, which is a diminutive form of pupus, boy, or pupa, girl (the source also for our other sense of pupil to mean a schoolchild.) It was applied to the dark central portion of the eye within the iris because of the tiny image of oneself, like a puppet or marionette, that one can see when looking into another person's eye.
MOE'S EXAMPLE - Even though Darva Conger accepted Rick Rockwell's thirty-five thousand dollar wedding ring and was fully aware of the intention of Fox's "marry a millionaire" concept, she stated that she had no physical attraction to him whatsoever; Rick was not THE APPLE OF HER EYE! She used her new-found fame, however, rto make a small fortune posing for a Playboy centerfold. Fair enough, Darva, but can you say "gold-digger", hmmmm?
"PEANUT GALLERY"
- in the context: "That is enough from the peanut gallery".
It has a theatrical origin, and goes back to America at the end of last century. The peanut gallery was the topmost tier of seats, the cheapest in the house, a long way from the stage. The same seats in British theatres were, and still are, often called "the gods" because you are so high you seem to be halfway to heaven, up there with the allegorical figures that are often painted on the ceiling. On both sides of the Atlantic, these seats attracted a less affluent class of patron, with a strong sense of community, often highly irreverent and with a well-developed ability to heckle - hence, the modern figurative meaning.
A significant difference between the American and British theatres is that American patrons ate peanuts; these made wonderful missiles for showing their opinion of artistes they didn't like.
Most Americans of a certain age [hi, fellow boomers] will know the phrase because it was used in a slightly different sense in the fifties children's television program, the Howdy Doody Show. It was the name for the ground-level seating for the kids, the "peanuts", though the phrase was almost certainly derived from the older sense. They were just as noisy and irreverent as their theatrical forebears, or indeed the groundlings of Shakespeare's time, with a liking for low humour and a total lack of sense or discrimination.
Babel or babel
Pronunciation - \BAY-bul or BA-bul\
1 : a city in Shinar where the building
of a tower is held in Genesis to have
been halted by the confusion of
tongues
MOE'S Example:
My aunt Delilah holds her renowned
semi-annual Tupperware party with much
pomp, ceremony, and a barbecue, the
latter an event she rigorously attempts
to snare me into performing. I mark
this nasty bit of business religiously
on the kitchen calendar with big red
stars and a solid alibi as to why I,
most regrettably, would not be available
on that date to barbecue for the usual
gaggle of blue-haired Marge-Simpsonesque
matrons. Recently, however, my cunning
aunty turned the proverbial tables on
me. She changed the date without
informing me, so that I came strolling
in the door one Saturday afternoon with
every intention of squandering the day
with my webtv. I opened the door and
there they were, a herd of
dimple-pinching septuagenarians
engaged in a BABEL of separate gossipy
conversations. There was no way out.
Hari kari seemed extreme. Moments later,
I was flipping burgers, mumbling
expletives, and wondering where I had
gone wrong. But all I could hear was the
BABEL of schizoid voices in my aching
head. Etymology
The story of the Tower of Babel comes
from the Bible, specifically, Genesis
11:4-9. It describes an attempt by
Noah's descendants to build a giant
tower that would reach to heaven. God
interrupted the project, however, by
causing the builders to begin speaking
different languages. Construction of the
tower ceased, and the people were
dispersed over the earth. The account of
the Tower of Babel, which may have been
inspired by an actual tower in
Babylonia, is generally read as an
attempt to explain the diversity of
languages on earth. The story has also
given English a word for any situation
that calls to mind the noisy chaos that
would surely have ensued as the workers
first tried to communicate using
different languages.
PIG IN A
POKE
ETYMOLOGYAs my Oxford English Dictionary puts it,
this expression means "to buy anything
without seeing it or knowing its value."
Most people might wonder what a "poke"
is, or what a pig would be doing in one.
That's not surprising, given how rarely
one sees a "poke" these days. The "poke"
in "pig in a poke" is an archaic word
for "bag" or "sack." When you went to
market hundreds of years ago, you'd most
likely come home with your purchases in
such a "poke" -- not one of those filmy
and annoying things you get at
supermarkets today, but a proper sack,
made of burlap or canvas or the like.
Since merchants at the farmers'
markets of 14th century Europe varied in
their honesty, a smart shopper would be
careful to check the poke he was handed
to be sure that it really contained what
he had paid for. Such caution was
especially important in the case of "big
ticket" purchases such as a live
suckling pig, since unscrupulous
merchants were not above substituting a
stray cat of the appropriate weight for
the pig in the poke handed to an unwary
purchaser. The phrase "don't buy a pig
in a poke" -- originally purely
practical advice for 14th century
shoppers -- eventually came to be used
as a warning applicable to any situation
in which we are asked to accept an
unfamiliar object or idea on faith.
By the way, can you guess what other
common phrase came from the moment when
the dishonest merchant's ruse was
revealed and the unlucky buyer learned
the true nature of his purchase? That's
right -- "letting the cat out of the
bag."
MOE'S
EXAMPLE Elmer went to the
farmer's market to buy some fresh pork
and a cheery vendor offered him a
bargain, with the warning, "Now, don't
let the cat out of the bag, Elmer, or
everyone and his dog will demand my
half-price deal. But for you, my friend,
this pre-wrapped bag of pork is
half-price." The package was huge. Elmer
liked a bargain and he trusted the
chatty vendor, so he paid the man and
proudly walked off with his purchase.
At home, he handed the package to his
wife to cook for dinner and went out to
feed the chickens and to chase off the
ferrets who had been a nuisance in the
county. At dinner that evening, his wife
remarked
about the chewiness of the meat, "I
think you bought us A PIG IN A POKE,
here, Mr. Frugal. "I've never tasted
ferret before but it must be the other
white meat." Elmer replied, "well, that
vendor did mention something about not
LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG." Never
buy A PIG IN A POKE or you might have to
ferret out whether you, your wife, and
everyone and his dog has cat in his gut.
[And you thought "Fatal Attraction" was
stomach-turning with that pet rabbit
stewing away.] Benji, where are you,
boy?
GARRULOUS
MOE'S Example: Charlie
the chatterbox
they called him in sixth grade, a
GARRULOUS child who believed in never
using one word where twenty will do. I
met him again recently, some twenty
years later, and he's become the
antithesis to his childhood personality
- now a quiet, soft-spoken, laconic man.
I think the change may have something to
do with his wife, Morticia - a GARRULOUS
woman who could talk the ears off a
cornfield. Poor Charlie probably can't
get a word in edgewise.
Dictionary Example: "With a few
judicious revisions, a good
editor can often transform GARRULOUS
writing into elegant prose."
Anyone who has ever been plagued by a
babbling chatterbox will know that a
garrulous individual can be tedious
indeed. Next time you are trapped by
one, perhaps it will help to distract
yourself by thinking about the history
of the word "garrulous." It's an old
word, one that has been part of English
since at least 1611. It derives from the
Latin verb "garrire," which means (no
surprise here) "to chatter" or "to
babble."
DESULTORY PRONUNCIATION -
\DEH-suhl-tor-ee\
MOE'S
Example: University freshmen and
sophomores often go through a period of
indecision and frustration when they
cannot decide on a major. They apply
only a DESULTORY effort, jumping back
and forth in a plethora of obscure,
unrelated courses with no clear goal of
where they are heading academically.
This DESULTORY and willy-nilly wavering
disappears when they
eventually discover a true passion,
which may become a life study or
vocation.
"His studies are very desultory and
eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of
out-of-the-way knowledge which would
astonish his professors." (Arthur Conan
Doyle, A Study in Scarlet)
The Latin word "desultorius," the parent
of "desultory," literally means "of a
circus rider who leaps from horse to
horse." "Desultorius" comes from the
Latin verb "desilire," meaning "to leap
down." It makes sense, therefore, that
someone or something "desultory" jumps
from one thing to another. A "desultory
conversation" leaps from one topic to
another, and doesn't have a distinct
point or direction. A "desultory
student" might skip enthusiastically
from one subject to another but never
develop a great deal of knowledge in any
particular area. A "desultory comment"
is a digressive one that jumps away from
the topic at hand.
DEUS EX
MACHINA Pronunciations
MOE'S Example: Unlike
Hollywood
movies, which often tend to provide
poetic endings, Custer was not rescued
by any such DEUS EX MACHINA at the
battle of Little Big Horn. In the
movies, god-like characters played by
John Wayne or Gary Cooper, would save
the day against incredible odds; they
acted as the DEUS EX MACHINA in such
movies. This device is less often used
in more serious current film or plays,
where realism replaces the "happy
ending", yet genres such as romantic
comedy will always require a variation
on the ancient DEUS EX MACHINA.
ETYMOLOGY
The Latin term "deus ex machina" is a
translation of a Greek phrase of the
same meaning, and means literally "god
from the machine." "Machine," of course,
refers to the crane that held the god
over the stage in ancient Greek and
Roman drama. The practice of introducing
a god at the end of a play to unravel
and resolve the plot dates from at least
the 5th century BC; Euripides (circa
484-406 BC) was one playwright who made
frequent use of the device. "Deus ex
machina" has also long been applied to
unexpected saviors or to improbable
events that bring order out of chaos;
for example, the arrival of the U.S.
Cavalry just in time to avert tragedy in
a western film.
PRONUNCIATION - \KICH\
MOE'S Example:
Luis Jimenez -- who works the line
between art and KITSCH as well as anyone
-- has created an entire Texas
honky-tonk out of cutout figures.
Similarly, my friend Billy-Bob collects
KITSCHY velvet Elvis wall coverings and
has a whole zoo of plastic flamingos
adorning his front lawn.
ETYMOLOGY
"Loud plaid purses . . . festooned with
pompoms are in such bad taste, they're
good." Featured at a Greenwich Village
shop whose "owner's keen eye for kitsch"
(Elle, November 3, 1988) was responsible
for the inventory, such items intimate
what kitsch isn't -- fine art -- and
what it aspires to do -- appeal to
certain tastes. Not limited to paintings
on velvet or plastic flamingos, since
the 1920s "kitsch" has been our borrowed
German word for things in the realm of
popular culture that dangle, like car
mirror dice, precariously close to being
rubbish. The highbrow's trash is the
kitsch collector's treasure, however.
Eiffel Tower pepper grinders and
dashboard hula dancers make some folks
cry "Eureka!"
MALAPROPISM
Paul, who was given to blurting out
malapropisms, said the lecturer had
rambled too much and gone off on a
"tandem."
Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard
Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, was
known for her verbal blunders. "He is
the very pine-apple of politeness," she
exclaimed, complimenting a courteous
young man. Thinking of the geography of
contiguous countries, she spoke of the
"geometry" of "contagious countries,"
and she hoped that her daughter might
"reprehend" the true meaning of what she
was saying. She regretted that her
"affluence" over her niece was small.
The word "malapropism" derives from this
blundering character's name, which
Sheridan took from the French term
"malapropos," meaning "inappropriate."
AVATAR MOE'S Example:
To millions of people around the
world, Mother Teresa was an AVATAR of
selflessness, piety, and generosity. By
contrast, Hitler was the AVATAR of evil. ETYMOLOGY
The concept of avatars has been
around for centuries. The word "avatar"
traces to a Sanskrit term meaning
"descent," and in Hinduism it usually
refers to one of the ten human or animal
forms the god Vishnu would assume when
he descended to earth to combat evil.
When English-speakers first adopted the
word, they used it in a sense similar to
the original Sanskrit term, but "avatar"
has been broadened and generalized
considerably to cover many kinds of
representations of people or ideas.
These days, it is often used in
cyberspace contexts, where it refers to
on-screen representations (sometimes
accurate and sometimes fanciful) of the
person operating the computer or the
character a person portrays in an
on-line game or chat.
RECIDIVISM
\rih-SIH-duh-vih-zuhm\
MOE'S Example:
RECIDIVISM among pastry and chocolate
lovers who try to limit their intake is
high. There is a rumor that Honeybuns
aka Private Pastry, who had been doing
so well on her low-sugar diet, fell into
RECIDIVISM while baking home-made
moonpies for the fiftieth wedding
anniversary party of Kari and Larry. She
scarfed down ten marshmallow moonies
before General Alpha and the MALLRAT
militia arrived upon the pathetic scene
and dragged her off to the cooler. At
her court martial, Colonel Claw advised
community service rather than kp duty,
wisely recognizing the high risk of
RECIDIVISM among MALLRATS who are left
alone in the kitchen.
"Recidivism" means literally "a falling
back" and usually implies "into bad
habits." It comes from the Latin word
"recidivus," which means "recurring."
"Recidivus" itself came from the Latin
verb "recidere," which is a composite of
the prefix "re-" and the verb "cadere"
(meaning "to fall") and means "to fall
back." "Recidivists" tend to relapse, or
"fall back" into old habits and
particularly crime. "Deciduous" and
"incident" are two other English words
that have roots in "cadere." "Deciduous"
comes from verb "decidere" ("de-" plus
"cadere"), which means "to fall off."
And "incident" comes from "incidere"
("in-" plus "cadere"), which means "to
fall into."
QUIXOTIC
Pronunciation: kwik-'sä-tik
1 : foolishly impractical especially in
the pursuit of ideals; especially :
marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or
extravagantly chivalrous action MOE'S EXAMPLE:
He courted his
true love in an old-fashioned, QUIXOTIC
way he thought she would love: opening
the car door, kissing her hand, and
taking her on surprise picnics. It was
only later that he discovered his wallet
was
missing. AFFECTATION Part
of speech: noun MOE'S EXAMPLE: A brave
member of the MALLRATS went undercover
to infiltrate the troll and hacker
community whose members had been
disrupting his newsgroup. He took on the
AFFECTATIONS of these parasites: the
false posts promising friendship and a
desire to belong and help others. For
the newsgroup members, this person was
not the gentleman they thought they had
known and he could not tell them without
exposing his undercover mission. Were
all his previous acts of kindness merely
AFFECTATION rather than the genuine man
they had thought him to be? After two
months, he came forth and posted the
reason for his change of behavior, his
mission, and the members were much
relieved and proud of his noble
intentions. He was, in the end, a true
MALLRAT, without AFFECTATION.
MARTINET Pa
rt of speech: noun EXAMPLE: President
Eisenhower was a fine leader during the
post-war era, although those who worked
closely with him often remarked that his
military bearing could sometimes mark
him as a MARTINET
ASSIDUOUS Part of
speech:
adjective MOE'S
EXAMPLE:
INNOCUOUS PART OF SPEECH - ADJECTIVE MOE'S EXAMPLE:
Private Forrest Gump
was a good-hearted, patriotic, simple
man, INNOCUOUS in that he would never
wish malice to come upon a fellow human
being. He is the embodiment, the
incarnation, of all that is true and
good about humankind, despite our
inherent flaws, and therefore provides
us with inspiration and hope in a world
full of hate, war, evil, tragedy. His
INNOCUOUS character is what makes him
and Spielburg's movie so touching.
PART OF SPEECH - noun
*2 : often not capitalized: a
confusion of sounds or voices b : a
scene of noise or confusionPronunciation[s]
garrulous • \GARE-uh-lus or
GARE-yuh-lus\ •
PART OF SPEECH - adjective
1 : pointlessly or annoyingly
talkative
2 : using or containing many and
usually too many words
Part of Speech -
1 : marked by lack of definite plan,
regularity, or purpose
2 : not connected with the main
subject
3 : disappointing in progress or
performance : sluggish
\DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kih-nuh or
DAY-uhs-eks-muh-SHEE-nuh\
PART OF SPEECH - noun
1 : a god introduced by means of a crane
in ancient Greek and Roman drama to
decide the final outcome
*2 : a person or thing (as in fiction or
drama) that appears or is introduced
suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a
contrived solution to an apparently
insoluble difficultyKITSCH
PART OF SPEECH - noun
: something that appeals to popular or
lowbrow taste and is often of poor
quality
PRONUNCIATION
\MA-luh-prah-pih-zuhm\
PART OF
SPEECH - noun
1 : the usually unintentionally humorous
misuse or distortion of a word or
phrase; especially : the use of a word
sounding somewhat like the one intended
but ludicrously wrong in the context
2 : malaprop : an example of
malapropism
Example sentence:
Part of speech - noun
Pronunciation - \AV-uh-tahr\
*1 a : an incarnation in human
form
b : an embodiment (as of a
concept or philosophy) often in a
person
2 : a variant phase or version of a
continuing basic entity
Part of
Speech - noun
: a tendency to relapse into a previous
condition or mode of behavior;
especially : relapse into criminal
behavior
Function: adjective
Etymology: Don Quixote
Date: 1815
2 : CAPRICIOUS, UNPREDICTABLE
synonym see IMAGINARY
- quix·ot·i·cal /-ti-k&l/ adjective
- quix·ot·i·cal·ly /-ti-k(&-)lE/
adverb
Syllables: 4
- af-fec-ta-tion
Pronunciation: ae fihk teshEn
Definition: 1. falseness or
superficiality of appearance or
behavior; pretense.
Synonyms: pretense,
pretentiousness pretentious,
affectedness affected, artificiality,
artificial
Similar Words: unnaturalness,
unnatural, posturing, posture,
sham, show
Definition: 2. a specific instance of
such pretense.
Synonyms: mannerism, pose,
airs, show
Similar Words: imposture
Syllables: 3 -
mar-ti-net
Pronunciation: mar tih
neht
Definition: a person who
enforces very strict discipline, esp. in
the military.
Derived Words:
martinetish, adj.
Syllables: 4
as-sid-u-ous
Pronunciation: E sI ju
ihs
Definition: 1. persistent and
unremitting; constant.
Definition: 2. persevering and tireless;
diligent:
Synonyms: serious (1),
efficient (1), systematic (2), pragmatic
(1), ), businesslike (adj)
Similar
Words: precise, thorough, orderly
Example: an assiduous worker.
Derived Words: assiduously, adv. ;
assiduousness, n. ; assiduously, adv. ;
assiduity, n.
When the newsgroup members
decide to engage in a project, each
person works ASSIDUOUSLY until a close-to-perfect result has been achieved. It's a team effort and works with great consistency.
DEFINITION - harmless, innocent
