1. bore — large tidal wave caused either by meeting of two tides or by tidal water rushing into a narrow estuary Surfing the Pororoca—as the tidal bore formed at the mouth of the Amazon River is known—can be treacherous, not only because of the river’s sometimes dangerous wildlife, but also due to the flotsam …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Friday Vocabulary
1. sudarium — cloth for wiping the face, handkerchief; (specifically) the cloth used by Saint Veronica to wipe the face of Jesus The true gentleman, of course, sweeps the sweat from his brow using a sudarium and not the sleeve of his tunic. 2. Patagonian — of or relating to Patagonia, the southernmost lands …
Friday Vocabulary
1. horripilate — to have the hairs of one’s skin stand on end, from cold or fear, etc. I knew, I guess, when I felt her neck hairs horripilate at the mere mention of the doctor’s name. 2. chert — flinty quartz rock You can’t touch the front driveway, but we’re putting in a …
Friday Vocabulary
1. whang — thong, strip of hide or leather He knew enough of tanning to dress his own whang or glove leather from the small varmints he shot with his .22 rifle. 2. pilchard — small sea fish related to the herring; sardine In spite of the war the Atlantic production of herring and …
Friday Vocabulary
1. equiparable — equal in comparison, equivalent Well, it’s really a framing problem, because if you start comparing Animal Crossing to Citizen Kane you’re as foolish as if you asserted that Trump were equaparable to Lincoln. 2. wend — to go or to proceed in a certain direction; to flow, to run, to move …
Friday Vocabulary
1. epicene — having both male and female characteristics; weak, feeble Michael York strikes an epicene note in his portrayal of Brian Roberts in Cabaret. 2. tonneau — rear compartment of an automobile, esp. in earlier models While it may be fun to drive, you cannot store much in the tonneau of a 1962 …
Friday Vocabulary
1. feist — mongrel dog; truculent person or animal I wasn’t about to let some little feist ruin everything we’d worked towards for over a year. 2. git — (slang) fool, worthless person “You’d better listen, you git, if you don’t want your face mashed in!” 3. pluricentric — having multiple centers An …
500 Books (not really)
I’ve just now completed the 500th book since I began tracking my reading back in 2016. Of course, since I don’t really count comics and graphic novels towards my ‘Books Read’ total, I am not really asserting that I’ve read a spectacular half-chiliad of tomes, but just jotting this brief note in any case. (Comics …
Friday Vocabulary
1. closestool — (also close-stool) stool with hole in its seat, beneath which rests a chamber pot The room he showed me was well-appointed, large enough to have a separate small chamber for the closestool, unlike the mere nook hidden by a curtain I used in my own house. 2. franklin — freeholder of …
500 Days
Another fictive milestone, as I just recently passed the 500 day mark in terms of audio tracks listened to through my iTunes. The (not so) momentous event happened just yesterday (April 11, 2020) at approximately 1:40 in the morning, as I was just finishing listening to “The Joan Fuller Murder Case”, an episode of the …