{"id":5239,"date":"2026-03-27T10:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5239"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:45:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:45:24","slug":"friday-vocabulary-382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=5239","title":{"rendered":"Friday Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. steppe-witch<\/strong> \u2014 any of the easily dislodged round plants of the Russian steppes which roll with the wind after dying off, tumbleweed<\/p>\n

The children will tell you that a <\/em>steppe-witch brings you luck, but this dried monster lodged beneath the staff car had brought us only ill fortune.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Pelmanism<\/strong> \u2014 memory training system using duplicate images which the trainee repeatedly reveals in order to recall location of the second duplicate image<\/p>\n

Abigail searched the roll-top desk as if playing at some demented form of <\/em>Pelmanism, opening first this drawer then that, closing the first and then the second, riffling through the inbox then the outbox, opening a third drawer then the first again, until finally fixating on the small drawer inset between the black and red inkwells.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. buckra<\/strong> \u2014 [slang<\/em>] white person<\/p>\n

“So I’m supposed to stop everything to attend to any <\/em>buckra who blesses my shop with his presence?”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. clodpole<\/strong> \u2014 stupid fellow<\/p>\n

We knew Mr. Evan’s new driver from school, a real <\/em>clodpole who’d failed eighth grade so many times they finally let him have a diploma before the army called him up to serve in Korea.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. whistlepig<\/strong> \u2014 woodchuck<\/p>\n

Avery claimed that he had once dug a <\/em>whistlepig out of his hole, and I believed that no more than this fresh nonsense he was purveying.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. dispreader<\/strong> \u2014 [archaic<\/em>] one who spreads or disseminates (something)<\/p>\n

Brother Hawthorn was hailed as a great <\/em>dispreader of the Holy Word, which was why it was all the more surprising that he’d been asked to leave Bayswater.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. blandish<\/strong> \u2014 cajole, convince someone through flattery; butter up, sycophantically praise<\/p>\n

With murmured approval of the barmaid’s eyes and, erm, other features, followed by seemingly offhand questions, Miles <\/em>blandished the well-worn tankard tosser into telling us what we needed to know.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. riancy<\/strong> \u2014 gaiety, joviality<\/p>\n

Preston, however, heard this devastating news with aplomb, and, not wishing to cast a shadow over his daughter’s event, affected a marvelous air of <\/em>riancy and bonhomie during the party until the last guests had departed for their carriages or bedrooms.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. osetra<\/strong> (also ossetra<\/strong>) \u2014 caviar from the eponymous Russian sturgeon<\/p>\n

I have always preferred the nuttiness of <\/em>osetra, and I left the beluga to the others.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. fulminatory<\/strong> \u2014 thundering, booming; censorious<\/p>\n

But in the middle of his <\/em>fulminatory peroration Higgins paused, as if struck by a sudden surprising thought, and backtracked once more to the image of the young boy left bereft of father and mother by the actions of the woman in the dock.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bonus Vocabulary<\/h4>\n

(British & Anzac kid’s game)<\/p>\n

French cricket<\/strong> \u2014 informal game using cricket bat (or any such stick) and soft ball (e.g., a tennis ball) with no wickets where batsman tries to fend off ball thrown at or between his legs<\/p>\n

Uncle Harry managed to distract the cousins and their friend Lester by introducing them to the ‘sport’ of <\/em>French cricket and soon had all five of them haring off into the woods and down to the lake in search of the ball which he pelted one-handed hither and yon all while holding a Foster’s in his other fist.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. steppe-witch \u2014 any of the easily dislodged round plants of the Russian steppes which roll with the wind after dying off, tumbleweed The children will tell you that a steppe-witch brings you luck, but this dried monster lodged beneath the staff car had brought us only ill fortune.   2. Pelmanism \u2014 memory training … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Friday Vocabulary”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[112,69],"class_list":["post-5239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-bonus-word","tag-vocabulary","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5239"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5242,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5239\/revisions\/5242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}