1. raptus — seizure; ravishing, rape; medieval form of marriage by abduction Of course the most famous person accused of raptus is last week’s featured poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. 2. posture chair — office chair designed to support and conform to natural human form Ryback leaned back in the dark wooden posture chair which was …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Book List: 1000 Books
As I’m trying not to procrastinate quite as much as I did last time I finished a tranche of one hundred books, let’s get right down to the listing of all those last books read, from #901 through my thousandth (!) book read since beginning this silly little book tracking project back in the two-thousand-teens. …
Friday Vocabulary
1. williwaw (also williwau) — savage squall off cragged coasts in near-polar waters Never have I viewed a sudden storm with such joy as I did when I saw the dark clouds rage behind us in what had been clear waters as the williwaw arose suddenly to confound our pursuers. 2. sere — dry, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. corybantic — crazed, wild, frenzied, orgiastic We have no need for corybantic preaching and unbridled emotional appeal, for our program is a sane and reasoned approach of proven value. 2. spencer — short tight jacket of 19th century, often trimmed with fur when worn by women and children Not even taking time to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. loathe — to detest, to feel disgust for or towards I simply loathe the new branding, and don’t even get me started on what they’ve done to the mascot. 2. loath — unwilling, averse, reluctant Loath as I was to bring the bad news to Elsa, I realized that it was, after all, …
1000 Books! (!)
It gives me very great pleasure to announce that late last night (that is to say, early this morning) I finished reading my 1000th book since I began tracking my reading, way back in 2015. My wife actually gave me as a birthday gift ten years ago the book database software (along with a barcode …
Friday Vocabulary
1. tropopause — atmospheric boundary layer between troposphere and stratosphere The air temperature will be at a minimum, ceteris paribus, at the tropopause, rising as the descent is made through the troposphere to the ground. 2. ovinity — the state of sheep, sheep-like nature Hengval believed that most humans lived always in a wretched …
Friday Vocabulary
1. casern — garrison lodging, barracks I tied my horse to one of the pillars holding up a sort of porch roof before the unimpressive casern of the Trebitsch regiment, for I saw no stables. 2. gangrel — [Scots] tramp, vagabond; gangling person “Don’t try to cheer me with your gangrel wisdom, for I’ve …
Friday Vocabulary
1. parallax — apparent difference in position due to change in location of observation point Before adjusting for parallax in your rifle scope, make sure that your reticle is properly focused. 2. bursary — [British] college scholarship; institutional treasure, esp. for ecclesiastical institutions Some say that Lord Peter only funded the bursary to make …
Book List: 900 Books
After finally getting around to giving you the listing for books #701 – #800, I managed to place my brain into a state of suspended animation, going through the motions and going to work, and completely neglecting the fact that I’d also promised to give you the Book List for #801 – #900. So here …