Vocabulary from GoT

·         Yielding– inclined to give in; submissive; compliant

·         Zeitgeist - the ideas prevalent in a period and place, particularly as expressed in literature, philosophy, and religion

·         Fealty – the obligation or engagement to be faithful to a lord

·         Privy - a toilet located in a small shed outside a house or other building; an outhouse.

·         Succor - Assistance and support in times of hardship and distress.

·         Papist – a Roman Catholic

·         Recusancy - refusal to submit to established authority

·         Profligacy - reckless extravagance or wastefulness in the use of resources

·         Apostate - a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle

·         Insalubrious – unhealthy

·         Manacles – a shackle for the hand

·         Besmirch - to bring shame or disgrace on somebody's reputation

·         Flagon – a large bottle of wine/liquor

·         Simpering – to smile in a silly manner

·         Paramour – a secret lover

·         Asunder – into parts

·         Spurn – to reject with disdain

·         Peripatetic – walking or traveling about

·         Regicide – the deliberate killing of a monarch

"Fortunately I am not the first person to tell you that you will never die. You simply lose your body. You will be the same except you won't have to worry about rent or mortgages or fashionable clothes. You will be released from sexual obsessions. You will not have drug addictions. You will not need alcohol. You will not have to worry about cellulite or cigarettes or cancer or AIDS or venereal disease. You will be free."

Cookie Mueller

Vocabulary Word "Alumni"

A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university.

Alumnus and alumna both come from Latin and preserve Latin plurals. Alumnus is a masculine noun whose plural is alumni, and alumna is a feminine noun whose plural is alumnae. Coeducational institutions usually use alumni for graduates of both sexes. But those who object to masculine forms in such cases may prefer the phrase alumni and alumnae or the form alumnae/i, which is the choice of many women's colleges that have begun to admit men.

OFFENSE

“People are offended by the truth.”

“Fighting, not getting along, and not loving one another offends the Holy Spirit.”

“Where there is unity there is blessings.”

---Joyce Meyer

Vocabulary

Maricón: Literally, "faggot." Used in Spanish with intimates; you call someone a maricón when you know them. Alternatively, "maricón" can be someone who despises the community.Mariconieando

Mariconería: Literally, "faggotry." It's a way of carrying oneself. Also a reunion of "maricones" who act very feminine.

The Blue Angels

I take back all the !S*H&I@T# I said about the Blue Angels.  They were and are fabulous to watch!

The Drug Gangs Vocabulary

The Drug Gangs Vocabulary

By Tom Morganthau

·         Bleak – (adjective) providing little comfort or shelter

·         Maraud – (transitive/intransitive verb) to rove around carrying out violent attacks or looking for plunder, or raid a place in search of plunder

·         Ominous – (adjective) suggesting or indicating that something bad is going to happen or be revealed

·         Rousts – (transitive verb) to make somebody get up, make a move, or take action, especially abruptly or roughly

·         Lull – (verb) to agree to give somebody a false sense of security so that an unpleasant situation takes the person by surprise

·         Welsh – (intransitive verb) to fail to fulfill or honor an obligation entered into or incurred

·         Nexus – (noun) a connection or link associating two or more people or things

·         Echelon – (noun) a level of authority or rank in an organization or system

Vocabulary (Anne Frank)

1.      Adage – (noun) a traditional saying that expresses something considered to be a general truth

2.      Adroit – (adjective) displaying physical or mental skill

3.      Ardent – (adjective) feeling great passion

4.      Bemoan – ( transitive verb) to express grief or disappointment about something

5.      Blithe – (adjective) happy, cheerful, and carefree

6.      Boisterous – (adjective) full of noisy enthusiasm and energy, and often roughness or wildness

7.      Brooch – (noun) ornament pinned to clothes

8.      Brooding – (adjective) to focus the attention on a subject persistently and moodily

9.      Brusque – (adjective) abrupt, blunt, or curt in manner of speech

10.  Clandestine – (adjective) kept or done in secret , often to conceal an illicit or improper purpose

11.  Communal – (adjective) used or shared by all members of the a group or community

12.  Concertina – (noun) a small accordion with button keys

13.  Condole – (verb) to express sympathy or sorrow

14.  Coquetry – (noun) dalliance; flirtation

15.  Curtly – (adverb) rudely brief

16.  Dastardly – (adjective) mean, treacherous, or cowardly

17.  Dejected – (adjective) being in low spirits

18.  Deluge – (noun) a great flood

19.  Despondent – (adjective) extremely unhappy and discouraged

20.  Dregs – (plural noun) small solid particles found in liquids such as coffee or wine that sink to the bottom of a container and are most in evidence when the container in nearly empty

21.  Dungarees – (noun) a sturdy hard-wearing blue-denim fabric

22.  Elicit – (verb) to provoke a reaction

23.  Enhance – (transitive verb) to make greater, as in value, beauty, or reputation

24.  Epistle – (noun) a letter written by the apostle Paul or other early Christian writers and included as a book of the Bible

25.  Estrangement – (transitive verb) to cause somebody to stop feeling friendly or affectionate toward somebody else or sympathetic toward a tradition or belief

26.  Expedient – (adjective) appropriate, advisable, or useful in a situation that requires action

27.  Fatuous – (adjective) showing a lack of intelligence or thought combined with complacency

28.  Florin – (noun) a unit of currency used in Great Britain between 1849 and 1968, equivalent to two shillings

29.  Furbelow – (noun) a gathered or pleated piece of material, especially as an ornament on a woman’s garment

30.  Goad – (transitive verb) to provide or incite somebody into action

31.  Harangue – (noun) a long pompous speech especially before a gathering

32.  Impertinent – (adjective) showing a bold or rude lack of respect, especially to a superior

33.  Incendiary – (adjective) causing or capable of causing fire

34.  Incensed – (transitive verb) to cause to be extremely angry; furious

35.  Indignant – (adjective) characterized by or filled with anger aroused by something unjust, mean, or unworthy

36.  Inflation – (noun) the condition of being puffed up with pride

37.  Instigator – (noun) one who causes a process to start

38.  Intermezzo – (noun) a short piece of music that is performed between longer movements of an extended musical composition

39.  Irrevocable – (adjective) impossible to retract or revoke

40.  Jocular – (adjective) with a playful joking disposition

41.  Listless – (adjective) lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort

42.  Lumbago – (noun) a painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain

43.  Meted – (transitive verb) to give out something such as punishment or justice, especially in a way that seems harsh or unfair

44.  Pensive – (adjective) thinking deeply about something, especially in a sad or serious manner

45.  Perceptive – (adjective) having or showing keenness of insight, understanding, or intuition

46.  Pique – (noun) a bad mood or feeling of resentment, especially when brought on by an insult, hurt, pride, or loss of face

47.  Placard – (noun) a sign or notice for display in a public place

48.  Pogrom – (noun) an organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a minority group

49.  Prefabricated – (transitive verb) to produce something in an unoriginal or standardized way

50.  Pseudonym – (noun) a name that is not somebody’s original name, especially one used by an author in publications

51.  Regaled – (transitive verb) to provide with great enjoyment

52.  Reproach – (transitive verb) to bring shame upon

53.  Sabotage – (noun) an action taken to undermine or destroy somebody’s efforts or achievements

54.  Seethe – (intransitive verb) to be in a state of extreme emotion, especially unexpressed anger

55.  Surreptitious – (adjective) done in a concealed or underhand way to escape notice, especially disapproval

56.  Throng – (noun) a large group of people gathered or crowded closely together; a multitude

57.  Torment – (transitive verb) great physical pain or mental anguish

58.  Trill – (noun)a high-pitched warbling sound, especially one made by a bird

Vocabulary from "Nickel and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich

• Accolade – a ceremonial tap on the shoulder with the flat of a sword, given to mark the conferring of knighthood; praise approval

• Agape – gaping, open-mouthed

• Alight – to descend and settle

• Alma mater - a school, college, or university at which one has studied and, usually, from which one has graduated

• Altruism – unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others

• Aphasic – loss of speech

• Aplomb – dignity and confidence

• Aqueous – of water; watery

• Baleful – menacing; destructive

• Cadre – a group forming a nucleus of informed personnel in industry or the armed forces that can be increased when necessary

• Careen – to tilt or keel over to one side; to swerve

• Contemptuous – manifesting, feeling, or expressing the feeling or condition of despising something

• Conundrum – a hard question; a riddle

• Culled – picked; selected; picked out and killed

• Emissary – a person sent to conduct negotiations

• Encomium – high praise given in speech or writing

• Flippant – not showing proper seriousness

• Gentrification – a movement of middle-class families into an urban area causing property values to increase and having the secondary effect of driving out poorer families

• Glossolalia – the power of speaking in unknown languages as claimed by religious groups; also called the “gift of tongues”

• Improvidence – not providing for future needs; wasting one’s resources

• Indignation – anger aroused by something thought to be unjust or wicked

• Individualism - the moral stance, political philosophy, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, the state, or any other group or institution.

• Ineluctably – not to be avoided or escaped; inevitable

• Juggernaut – a large overwhelming object or institution

• Lavish – giving or producing something in large quantities; plentiful

• Mephitic – smelling unpleasant

• Milieu – environment; surroundings

• Offal – the parts that come off as waste from a butchered animal

• Panacea – a remedy for all kinds of diseases or troubles

• Penury – extreme poverty

• Permutation – a variation of the order of set things

• Pidgin – a simplified form of English or another language, containing elements of the local language and used for communication between people speaking different languages

• Posterity – future generations; a person’s descendants

• Postprandial – after a meal, especially dinner

• Prevaricate – to stray from or evade the truth; lie

• Propagation – to breed or reproduce from parent stock; to spread; to transmit

• Putative – reputed; supposed; alleged

• Recalcitrant – disobedient, resisting authority or discipline

• Servile – suitable for a servant; menial

• Skank – (slang term) an offensive term for a girl or woman who is regarded as unpleasant-looking and sexually promiscuous

• Slated – to make arrangements for

• Solipsism – the philosophical theory that the self is only knowable

• Squalid – dirty and unpleasant, especially because of neglect

• Stingy – spending or giving or given grudgingly or in small amounts

• Sumptuary law – laws which attempt to regulate habits of consumption; laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc.

• Supposition – supposing; what is being supposed

• Unctuous – characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor; excessively smooth or smug

• Unencumbered – not burdened with cares or responsibilities

• Vehemence – showing strong feeling

Vocabulary words taken from “The Social Animal” by David Brooks

• Idiosyncrasy – a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or a group. A psychological or temperamental peculiarity.
• Pleistocene - of, belonging to, or designating the geologic time, rock series, and sedimentary deposits of the earlier of the two epochs of the Quaternary Period, characterized by the alternate appearance and recession of northern glaciations and the appearance of the progenitors of human beings.
• Traipse – to walk or tramp about
• Rapt - Deeply engrossed or absorbed. 
• Ensconced - To settle securely or snugly; to cover or shelter
• Suffused - To overspread with or as with a liquid, color etc.
• Pantomime - The art or technique of conveying emotions, actions, feelings etc. by gestures without speech; action without words as a means of expression
• Paracosm - a detailed imaginary world involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps, even fantasy or alien creatures. Often having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is developed during childhood and continues over a long period: months or even years.
• Arduous - demanding great effort or labor; difficult
• Incontrovertible - impossible to dispute; unquestionable
• Overwrought - excessively nervous or excited; agitated
• Enamored - inspired with love; captivated
• Kvell - to be extraordinarily proud
• Dilettante - a dabbler in an art or field of knowledge. A lover of fine arts; a connoisseur
• Impasse - a road or passage having no exit. A situation that is so difficult no progress can be made
• Cadence - balanced, rhythmic flow
• Deleterious - having a harmful effect; injurious
• Jeremiad - a literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom
• Diction - choice and use of words in speech or writing
  
  

Quote of the week.

"You can't place a statistic on morality."

Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Quote of the week.

Vocabulary

Proliferate – to increase or grow at a rapid rate

Privy – made a participant in knowledge of something secret or private

Inclusion – the act of including

Confraternity – an association of persons united in a common purpose or profession

Diminutive – extremely small in size

Penchant – a definite liking; a strong inclination

Poignancy – physically painful

Transgressed – to go beyond or over

Astronomically - immense

Petri dish – a shallow circular dish used to culture bacteria or other microorganisms

Aesthetic – of or concerning the appreciation for good taste

Altruism - an attitude or way of behaving marked by unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Extol - to praise somebody or something with great enthusiasm and admiration

Invocation - a calling upon a greater power such as God or a spirit for help

Zeitgeist - the ideas prevalent in a period and place, particularly as expressed in literature, philosophy, and religion

Protracted - lasting or drawn out for a long time

Xenophobia - an intense fear or dislike of foreign people, their customs and culture, or foreign things

Pernicious - causing great harm, destruction, or death

Vocabulary

Tawdry – Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance

Narcissism – excessive love or admiration for oneself; erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of one's own body or self

Improbable – unlikely to take place or be true

Conventional – based on or in accordance with general agreement, use, or practice

Obliterated – to do away with something so as to leave no trace

Exhibitionistic – the act or practice of deliberately behaving so as to attract attention

Clichéd – having becoming stale or commonplace through overuse

Voyeur – an obsessive observer of sordid or sensational subjects

Inverted – reversed

Contemptible – deserving of disparaging or haughty disdain, as for something base or unworthy

Titillation – to excite somebody or stimulate somebody pleasurably, usually in a mildly sexual way.

Quote of the week

"Oppression is a systematic, institutionalized, socially based ideology that limits the power of individuals as members of social groups."

…Adela Vazquez

Marielito

The second wave of Cuban immigrants to the United States. The term “Marielito” applies to 125,000 Cubans who fled to the United States from the Cuban port of Mariel as part of the Mariel boatlift in 1980. Most of the people were black, unskilled, mentally ill, homosexuals, criminals, and generally poor. Some people in Cuba say that the day the Marielitos left was the day Cuba “flushed the toilet.”
Initially the refugees were seen as a “Latin American problem” by the Carter administration. Eventually, President Carter grittingly welcomed them with “open arms.” The Mariel immigrants were confronted by nativist backlash among white Americans and racial conflicts emerged within their own refugee community. Their compatriot predecessors had been white, well educated, and came from Cuba’s upper and middle classes.

Something happened to Morrissey in 1991

I am more than half way through Morrissey in Conversation: The Essential Interviews. As expected, I am totally digging the book. The interview, "Morrissey Comes Out! (For a Drink)" by Stuart Maconie, was impressionable. (They all kind of are in their own way.) I annotated so many things.

I'll start with the vocabulary.

• Bloke – a fellow; a man
• Pedantic – characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules
• Temerity – foolhardy disregard of danger; recklessness
• Ignominious – marked by shame or disgrace
  

Here are a few quotes that I thought were interesting.

"At the risk of sounding more pompous than I am, I was always more loved than admired…I was always loved and I felt it."

"I'm frighteningly happy."

"Given the competition, it's easy to shine…or at least gleam in reasonably buffed manner."

"And anyway, one way or the other, pieces about me, whether they praise or damn, are never tedious. They're always a good read."

"But I live in hope."

"You know I have standards and I won't lower them to put up with the merely trendy. I'm not frightened of people just because of their supposed hipness."

"I have very strict guidelines, very strict rules of basic taste in human beings as well as in music, which narrows life somewhat. Either the situation is right or, as in most cases, it's wrong."

Vocabulary

Staid – characterized be sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober

Poignant – keenly distressing in the mind or feelings

Grist – something that can be used to advantage

Anathema – a vehement denunciation; a curse

Ponce – (offensive slang (chiefly British English)) 1. a man who is effeminate in his manner and fussy in the way he dresses, 2. the same as a pimp; someone who procures customers for whores

Insular – suggestive of the isolated life of an island

Adulation – excessive flattery or admiration

Octomom

If you look in the dictionary under the word "selfish," a picture of a smiling Nadya Suleman would appear.

More vocabulary from Morrissey

"in excelsis" – in the highest degree

Ashen – resembling ashes, especially in color; vary pale: "A face ashen with grief."

Jingoism – chauvinistic patriotism

Prurient – inordinately interested in matters of sex; lascivious

Imbue – to inspire, permeate, or invade

Moot – to bring up as a subject for debate

Fey – having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairylike aspect or quality

Sacrosanct – regarded as sacred and inviolable

Ebullient – zestfully enthusiastic

Effusive – unrestrained or excessive in emotional expression; gushy

Monastic- strictly disciplined or regimented

Drivel – stupid or senseless talk

Umbrage – offense; resentment