1. bailiwick — area of expertise or skill “I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you with your cuticular problem,” said the podiatrist. “Not my bailiwick, I’m afraid.” 2. cadge — to obtain through imposition upon one’s generosity or friendship He tried to cadge another drink from his hostess in spite of his …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Little Science, Less Life
The Science of Life, by Alfred Adler (1929: Garden City, NY) I approached The Science of Life with admittedly high expectations. I have read with pleasure the writings of the other two-thirds of the psychoanalytic triumvirate of Freud, Jung, and Adler, and this was my first exposure to the works of Adler. Thus I was …
Friday Vocabulary
1. apotropaic — intended to ward off evil Before retiring in our quaint hotel room deep within vampire country, we placed crosses and apotropaic garlic before each window and upon the door. 2. gob — mouth As the wrench slammed into his left elbow his right fist was lashing out, catching the attacker smack …
Friday Vocabulary
1. interest — a cause or business in which a person has a share The conflicting interests between the king and the nobles initiated the events which culminated in the French Revolution. 2. purview — area of expertise Standard & Poor’s insistence that the United States must immediately reduce its debt seems beyond its …
Friday Vocabulary
1. uffish — “a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish” [Lewis Carroll] Our path into the bar was blocked by an uffish oaf who, claiming some sort of rôle as a bouncer, sought to gainsay our entry. 2. tympany — swelling of the bowels caused …
Friday Vocabulary
1. ceteris paribus — with all other things remaining the same A fifty percent decrease in income for those earning over five million dollars per annum, ceteris paribus, would have little to no effect on the world as a whole. 2. notaphily — the study or collecting of paper money The introduction of the …
Friday Vocabulary
Note: Today’s vocabulary comes from my high school days, an actual English assignment I turned in one week, lo, oh-so-many years ago. My apologies 1. intrepid — dauntless The intrepid explorer carefully circuited around the yellow patch of snow as he neared the pole’s barber shop on his maggot-driven sled. 2. labyrinth — maze …
Friday Vocabulary
1. stramineous — straw-like It is hardly worth responding to the stramineous arguments of my opponents, who apparently have never read the story of the the Three Little Pigs. 2. maudlin — foolishly tearful or sentimental Among the travellers of the Mormon Trail were several women poets, who composed fierce though maudlin elegies to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. nascent — beginning to exist or develop Though some pundits have pointed to a nascent sense of interdependence among the world’s people, more likely we’ll just see more of the same. 2. nescience — the state of not knowing Conspiracy theories may derive as well from a human tendency to insist upon “yes/no” …
Friday Vocabulary
1. myrmidon — blindly loyal follower and carryer-out of a leader’s orders If Hunstman refuses to sign the No Tax Increase pledge, the Tea Party myrmidons may exact their revenge by ensuring that he cannot gain the Republican nomination. 2. metempsychosis — transmigration of the soul The disavowal of spirit or soul (call it …