joe kirkish

2010-02-28T14:29:00.000-05:00

despoil - des-POYL - ransack, devastate, pillage, ravage

Example: "Reuters Press reported that the massive earthquake to hit Chile yesterday despoiled a huge swath of the Andean country, as cars lay mangled and upended on streets littered with telephone wires and power cables; a new 14-story apartment building fell, while an older, biochemical lab at the University of Concepción caught fire. The mayor said that at least 300 people had been killed."

2010-02-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

gemuetlichkeit - ghem-OOT-lich-KITE - warmth, friendliness, a kind of coziness

Example: "Good news for guzzlers: Researchers at the U of California found that drinking beer in moderation not only produces feelings of gemuetlichkeit, but also builds strong bones & helps prevent osteoporosis."

2010-02-26T08:27:00.001-05:00

cloture - cloh-chyur - a procedure for ending a debate & taking a vote

Example: "Columnist Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post called a filibuster intentionally frustrating, but wonderful if you are trying to block something from happening. Senate rules allow members to supposedly debate a matter (to filibuster) indefinitely unless at least 60 out of 100 senators vote to cut off the filibuster; in other words, to invoke cloture. She wonders if cloture can occur with the ongoing filibuster over the health bill which remains now in 'debate'."

2010-02-25T09:28:00.000-05:00

sagacious - sah-GAY-shus - shrewd, keen, perceptive, discerning, sage

Example: "After watching 35-minutes of TV advertisements during an hour segment of the Olympics, an observer made a sagacious comment: 'No doubt about it; all ads lie.'"

2010-02-24T09:02:00.000-05:00

bucolic - bew-CALL-ik - relating to or characteristic of country life, especially noted for its rustic aspects

Example: "Hendrik, a young German fellow who volunteered to spend a year with Little Brothers in Upper Michigan's Copper Country, found the bucolic nature of the area very much to his liking."

2010-02-23T08:19:00.001-05:00

voracious - voh-RAY-shuss - insatiable, out-of-control, rabid

Example: "Jon Meacham, critic for Newsweek, voraciously attacks the government with hopes for a change, insisting that '...there is a renewed sense that Washington works only for itself, fighting for narrow partisan advantages while large national & international issues go unresolved.'"

2010-02-22T08:41:00.000-05:00

sturm und drang - shtoorm-un'-drahm - literally 'storm & stress,' a state of great emotional stress

Example: "Although the national economy has begun to bounce back, governors at a meeting of the National Governors Association said Saturday that the worst was yet to come at the state level, where revenues are still falling short of projections; therefore, they agreed, the sturm und drang also still exists at their level."

2010-02-21T10:29:00.000-05:00

brouhaha - BROO-ha-ha - a noisy, often heated uproar

"A brouhaha has erupted over the 'Family Guy' animated TV comedy, termed either irreverent or crass, depending on one's tolerance for unmannerly humor; it began with a Facebook posting from Sarah Palin as a personal 'kick in the gut' for its supposed depiction of a young woman with Down syndrome whose 'father is an accountant & mother used to be governor of Alaska.' The former governor (whose youngest child has Down syndrome) took it as an unacceptable personal insult."

2010-02-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

increment - IN-krih-MENT - an increase in something - often a series of small, often regular or planned increases

Example: "Regarding the ongoing issue of nuclear weaponry, Barry Blechman of the NY Times felt that 'Eliminating nuclear weapons incrementally through arms control agreements hasn't worked - the thinking has to be more bold.'"

2010-02-19T09:05:00.001-05:00

conjectural - kun-JEK-shur-ULL- debatable, contestable, moot

Example: "In a conjectural statement in Mark Yohs's book on sports, his claim about the greatest problem in amateur sports lies with the parents, not the contestants."

2010-02-18T09:28:00.001-05:00

ethos - EE-THOS - the main character, sentiment, moral nature or guiding beliefs of a person, group or institution

Example: "'The Hurt Locker,' up for an Oscar as Best Picture, has been explained by critic Hendrik Hertzberg with, 'The underlying ethos is that war is hell, but it does not demonize the soldiers it portrays...'"

2010-02-17T08:14:00.001-05:00

donnybrook - DON-nee-BROOK - fight, altercation, heated argument, uproar

Example: "Meteorologist Jeff Masters, in a donnybrook with other meteorologists, claimed in Time Magazine that the two major storms to hit Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington, D.C., suggest that while global warming may not make hurricanes more common, it could, in the future, intensify the storms that do occur & make them increasingly more destructive."

2010-02-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

depilate - DEP-il-ATE - remove the hair from

Example: "The reviewer of WOLFMAN in People Magazine condemned the film as more-of-the-same, but admitted that when Benicio Del Toro in the title role was depilated, he wasn't too bad; it was his hairy, violent moments that ruined his role."

2010-02-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

phoenix - FEE-NIX - mythical bird that would live for centuries, die in flames, then rise anew from the ashes.

Example: "Shoot off in either direction from 8 Mile Road in Detroit & you'll find, phoenix like, dozens of Michigan manufacturers that are discovering there is indeed life beyond the auto industry by converting their specialized auto-parts factories to build or design a hodgepodge of products - whether aircraft parts, solar cells, or batteries for electric cars."

2010-02-14T08:23:00.001-05:00

enigmatic - puzzling, bewildering, baffling, mystifying

Jacob Weisberg's column in Newsweek raised an enigmatic thought with, 'The list of culprits in our administration may be large, but it neglects what may be the biggest culprit of all: the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large'; anyone who says you can't have it both ways hasn't been checking opinion polls lately'."

2010-02-13T08:29:00.001-05:00

outré - ooh-TRAY - far out, excessive, startling

Example: "In Dubai, where almost everything is a kind of visual spectacle intended to make you gawk, the newly constructed half-mile high Burj Khalifa is by far the most outré."

2010-02-12T10:04:00.000-05:00

admonishing - ad-MON-ish-ING - fair warning, alerting, giving a word to the wise

Example: "With only days to go and unrelenting rain covering Vancouver's Olympic area, officials have turned to another dampening subject, admonishing contestants that 30 among them have already been eliminated by drug testing."

2010-02-11T09:03:00.001-05:00

revile - ree-VILE - scold, upbraid, vilify, lambaste, curse

Example: "AndrewChristie, referring to Obama in Newsweek as creating an 'inspiration gap,' added that 'if he acted like the people's champion he was elected to be, he still would be as reviled by the right as FDR was, but the people would be with him'."

2010-02-10T08:32:00.000-05:00

orgone - ORE-GOHN - a sexual energy or life force supposedly existing everywhere, that (according to Wilhelm Reich) can be gathered into an enclosed space for future therapeutic use

Example: "Strange information continues to follow the death of writer J.D.Salinger (Catcher in the Rye), including the fact that he was, admitted his granddaughter, 'an unpleasant recluse (a person who tends to prefer living alone) who drank his own urine, spoke in tongues, and sat for hours in an orgone box'."

2010-02-09T08:03:00.000-05:00

omnivore - AHM-nih-VORE - someone or something that eats both plants & animals

Example: A critic of books on food says, 'I have come across nothing more intelligent, sensible and simple to follow than the 64 principles outlined in a slender, easy-to-digest new book called 'Food Rules: An Eater's Manual,' by Michael Pollan - who also wrote 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' which concerns the daily battle between what a person wants to eat as opposed to what she/he ought to eat."

2010-02-08T08:21:00.000-05:00

misogynist - mis-AHJ-ih-NIST - a man who hates women

Example: "The overly masculine tone in the Super Bowl commercials is upsetting many people, particularly women, who are posting comments to blogs about the spots, decrying those spots as blatantly misogynistic."

2010-02-07T10:17:00.000-05:00

august (no capital letter, as found in the month, August) - ah-GUST - awe-inspiring, worthy of respect

Example: "Toyota, a company that built its august reputation with meticulous attention to quality, is now facing a credibility crisis as many little-known problems are surfacing with many of its models."

2010-02-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

preternatural - PREE-ter-NACH-ur-ull - beyond what is normal or natural, exceeding what is normal in nature

Example: "The record-breaking snow storm along the East coast has been labeled as preternatural, even apocryphal (too horrible to be believed), by newscasters witnessing it."

2010-02-05T08:33:00.000-05:00

avante-garde - ground breaking, trail-blazing, being ahead of the times

Example: "After applying 'passé' and 'dernier cri' to Super Bowl partying, we look ahead to discover what avante-garde columnist Emily Fredrix predicts: more drinking, but of the cheaper stuff - likely, she feels, due to the economy."

2010-02-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

dernier cri - dare-NYAIR CREE - the latest thing, up to date

Example: "The tradition of celebrating the entire Super Bowl day in Louisiana has become the dernier cri in various sports-minded cities in the upper Midwest."

2010-02-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

passé - pass-A - old-fashioned, out of date, archaic

Example: "Though officials are trying to make tail-gate parties passé, football fans refuse to break what long has become a tradition, especially at Super Bowl games."

2010-02-02T08:58:00.001-05:00

serendipity - sehr-en-DIP-ih-tee - luck, happenstance, kismet, chance

Example: "Though it's pure serendipity, ever since 1886 as many as 40,000 people gather on February 2 to see if a rodent, Punxutawney Phil, pops out of his hole in that Pennsylvania town; if he sees his shadow (as he did this morning), it heralds six more weeks of winter; if not, then an early spring is predicted.

2010-02-01T08:53:00.001-05:00

ephemeral - ee-FEM-er-ULL - temporary, fleeting, brief, pro tempore

Example: "When Helen Thomas became the first woman of the White House Correspondents Association, she was predicted to be in an ephemeral position due to her constantly thorny quizzing of the administration; actually, she lasted over half a century, with time to write 5 books covering her non-partisan, scathing political perceptions."

2010-01-31T08:34:00.000-05:00

incorrigible - in-KORR-ridj-ih-bull - not able to be corrected, improved or reformed; incurable; recidivous

Example: "J.D.Salinger, the author of 'Catcher in the Rye,' lived in in New England as an incorrigible hermit, in seclusion to his death on the 27th."

2010-01-30T11:28:00.001-05:00

surfeit - SIR-FIT - excess, overload, superfluity, too much of a good thing

Example: "The Week magazine recently pointed out a surfeit of surveys of questionable importance, many funded by fed money, including the following: There's a large increase in demand for double-D bra cups, largely due to obesity, breast implants, and the idea that a snug bra with wider cups is more appealing."

2010-01-29T08:33:00.000-05:00

excoriate - eks-KOHree-ATE - denounce, attack, censure, criticise

Example: "In a narrow vote the Senate gave Ben S. Bernanke a second four-year term as the head of the Federal Reserve on Thursday, after critics excoriated the central bank's conduct in the years leading up to the financial crisis."

2010-01-28T06:57:00.000-05:00

ruminate - ROOM-ih-NATE - to think about something very deeply

Example: "USA Today ruminates on the fact that when federal income tax was first established in 1913 the tax code was 400 pages; now, it stated, it is 70,320 pages."

2010-01-27T07:54:00.001-05:00

exorbitant - eks-OR-bih-tent - unreasonably high, excessive, unwarranted, disproportionate

Example: "The NY Times suggests that one of the possible reasons for a delay in the Nashville Tea Party next month is the exorbitant cost of Sarah Palin's reported speaking fee of $100,000 - yet to be confirmed, but if true it places her not that far off Tony Blair in the world list of unbelievably-overpaid-speakers."

2010-01-26T08:25:00.001-05:00

acerbic - ah-SIR-bik - bitter, sharp (tongued), harsh

Example: "Simon Cowell, whose acerbic putdowns of American Idol contestants , is leaving after nine seasons to produce & judge an American version of The X Factor, a talent competition he developed for Brit TV."

2010-01-25T08:13:00.000-05:00

narcissism - NAHR-sis-ISM - excessive or erotic interest in oneself & one's physical appearance

Example: "Commenting in the New Yorker magazine on modern autobiographies, Daniel Mendelsohn claims that 'it's the ostensible (obvious) narcissism that has irritated critics the most'."

2010-01-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

impolitic - im-POL-ih-TIK - ill advised, stupid, injudicious, unwise

Example: "The U of California Wellness Letter states that while plain air-popped popcorn is a healthy snack with few calories, buying movie theatre popcorn, loaded with harmful ingredients, is totally impolitic in any amount."

2010-01-23T09:11:00.001-05:00

exponential - EKS-poh-NEN-shul - becoming more & more rapid

Example: "Rough calculations based on a government's survey suggest that, while most foreign languages are vanishing from US classrooms, perhaps 1,600 American public and private schools are teaching Chinese, up from 300 or so a decade ago. And the numbers are growing exponentially, with China covering most of the expenses."

2010-01-22T08:18:00.000-05:00

hubris - HEW-BRIS - arrogance, insolence, excessive pride

Example: "According to Lisa Miller, when Rabbi Kushner heard about TV evangelist Pat Robertson's comment about the Haitian earthquake, he exclaimed, 'I think that it's supreme hubris to think you can read God's mind.'"

2010-01-21T08:26:00.001-05:00

indolent - IN-doh-LENT - idle, shiftless, slothful, loafing, inert, unindustrious

Example: "A new study on indolence, noted in The Week magazine, found that each additional hour spent plopped motionless in front of the TV every day increases the risk of dying by 11%."

2010-01-20T09:57:00.001-05:00

excoriate - eks-KOH-ree-ATE - criticize severely, denounce, vilify

Example: "NPR sports commentator Frank Deford this morning excoriated universities for excesses in placing sports over education, calling education often just an adjunct (supplementary) to sports."

2010-01-18T07:25:00.001-05:00

trope - TROPE - a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression

Example: "In commenting on 'The Book of Eli,' New Yorker's David Denby wondered if 'Filmmakers aren't using the world's end as a trope to license a neo-primitivist' manifestation."

2010-01-17T08:58:00.001-05:00

orthogonal - or-THO-gon-ul - University of Michigan law professor Richard D. Friedman discovered when he answered a question from Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, then added that it was "entirely orthogonal" to the argument he was making. Friedman attempted to move on, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stopped him.

"I'm sorry," Roberts said. "Entirely what?" "Orthogonal," Friedman repeated, and then defined the word: "Right angle. Unrelated. Irrelevant."
"Oh," Roberts replied.

2010-01-16T07:45:00.001-05:00

feckless - FEK-LESS - worthless, weak, ineffective, a waste of time

Example: "According to the Wall Street Journal, if you decide to watch the three hour football game on TV this weekend, you will see about 67 minutes of players standing around between plays, about 100 minutes of replays with the crowd shots and commercials, 3 seconds of the cheerleaders, 6 seconds of injured players and 11 minutes of actual playing time - a feckless way to spend an afternoon."

2010-01-15T09:55:00.001-05:00

apocalypse - uh-POCK-uh-LIPS - an event involving destruction on a catastrophic or awesome scale

Example: "The earthquake in Haiti aptly has been described by the media as apocalyptic."

2010-01-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

cacophony - kah-KOFF-oh-NEE - a harsh, unharmonious mixture of sounds

Example: "With people of Port-au-Prince living in the streets for fear that after shocks would bury them inside buildings, a cacophony of human sounds - babies crying, women screaming, and an accumulated rumble akin to crowds at a soccer match - fills the air, rising & falling in volume, endlessly.

2010-01-13T10:20:00.001-05:00

raze - RAYZ - destroy to the ground

Example: "Yesterday's cataclysmic earthquake in Haiti's capitol city, Port-au-Prince, has razed half the buildings and left thousands homeless or buried under rubble."

2010-01-12T15:10:00.001-05:00

perfidious - purr-FID-ee-YUSS - treacherous, two-faced, disloyal

Example: "After initiating prominent campaigns against smoking, foods with harmful trans fats and other commercial products considered perfidious to human beings, New York City has a new target: the food industry's excessive use of salt."

2010-01-11T09:30:00.001-05:00

boffo - BOFF-oh - highly successful

Example: "The vampire movie 'Daybreakers' has not pleased many critics, but thanks to teens it is guaranteed to be boffo at the box office."

2010-01-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

divisive - dih-VIH-siv - causing disagreement or hostility within or between groups that is likely to create a split

Example: Columnist Gail Collins, writing about the issue in the locker room of the Washington Wizards (formerly called the Bullets), stated, 'Gun control may be seen as a divisive issue, but most can agree that the Wizards players should not have brandished, during an argument, five handguns in their locker room.'"

2010-01-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

acrimonious - AK-rim-OHN-ynus - fiercely angry, bitter, caustic, vitriolic

Example: "The celebrated Nigerian 'panty-bomber' has brought condemnation to his entire country, resulting in immediate, acrimonious response from the people in that country who resent being painted with the same brush as a nation of potential terrorists."

2010-01-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

ad nauseam - ODD-NAH-zee-AHM - a reference to something that has been repeated so often it has become tiresome

Example: "With the Tiger Woods news fading, the press now tackles endless details on the "underwear bomber" ad nauseam; it was only a matter of time before even the comics picked it up, with Jay Leno's description of the Nigerian as wearing "Fruit of the Lunatic" and Stephen Colbert calling the event the "crapification of the pants-scape."

2010-01-07T09:15:00.001-05:00

comity - KOM-ih-TEE - courtesy & considerate behavior toward others

Example: "Senator Christopher Dodd followed another Democratic senator, Byron Dorgan, to decide not to run for re-election this year - voicing, among other reasons, the depressing fact that partisanship has created rigid political competition between the two parties and less honest cooperation, with comity no longer existing between them."

2010-01-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

elegiac - EL-eh-JAI-ik - usually a writing or work of art having mournful qualities

Example: "In a film called "The Soloist," the character of the street musician with a serious mental problem was presented in an elegiac fashion, developed to touch immediately the viewer's sympathies for the hapless genius."

2010-01-05T09:05:00.001-05:00

lieu - LEW - instead

Example: "A Napa Valley report states that, in lieu of stealing expensive wines from wineries, "panel thieves" now are running off with solar panels from the vineyards by the thousands."

2010-01-04T16:24:00.001-05:00

teratoid - TAIR-uh-TOYD - the alteration or development of an abnormality

Example: "Among the adjectives describing the new 1/2-mile high building in Dubai are these synonyms: hideous, abnormal, freakish, colossal, stupendous, teratoid, other-wordly."

2010-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

profusion - proh-FEW-zhun - an abundance or large quantity

Example: "The Week magazine added Frederick Mitterand to its list of public men caught in sex scandals, when the French culture minister was quoted as saying, 'The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available Asian boys put me in a state of desire that I no longer needed to restrain or hide.'"

2010-01-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

nirvana - NEAR-vah-nah - in Buddhism, the final goal, a transendent state in which a state of perfection is produced - resulting in a completely enjoyable experience.

Example: "Encouraging us not to delay pleasure, a Times science article says it can become a self-perpetuating process if one fixates on some imagined nirvana; the longer you wait to open that prize bottle of wine, for example, the more special the occasion has to be, and it may be delayed forever."

2010-01-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

etymology - et-im-OL-oh-JEE - the study of words & the historical development of their meanings

Example: "A woman from San Diego, curious about some words listed here in a previous posting, checked on three similar words to come up with the following:

'Well, although I couldn't discover an exactly shared etymology, neither hoarfrost nor rime is from Latin. Hoar (or hoarfrost) is from Old High German via Middle English (ME), "hor" or "her" (pronounced "hair," I imagine); rime is from OHN (old high Norse?) hrim via ME . My little Collins Gem weather book describes three types of ice which are called frost:

hoarfrost: White, feathery deposits of interlocking crystals
rime: Opaque, granular ice on the windward side of objects
glaze: A transparent layer of ice

but I betcha, way back in the mists of time, the "hor" and "hrim" derive from a single Indo-European root.'"

2009-12-31T11:12:00.001-05:00

vilify - VIL-ih-FIE, VIL-ih-fih-KAY-shun - speak or write about in an unpleasant manner, put down, castigate

Example: "The Week magazine attempted an analysis of Sarah Palin's amazing rise in popularity with the publishing of her book, despite harsh vilification by the general press."

2009-12-30T12:26:00.001-05:00

foment - FOH-MENT - stir up, incite, instigate, arouse, egg on

Example: "On NPR's morning news it was announced that a partisan plan has begun, to foment blame on the present administration for what the President called a 'systemic failure' in airline security."

2009-12-29T09:42:00.000-05:00

censorious - sen-SOAR-ih-US - severely critical

Example: "Sexual liberation has reached the military; in her censorious portrayal of sexual accosts while serving in Iraq, Capt. Margaret H. White declared her biggest threat came from her fellow soldiers."

2009-12-28T12:05:00.001-05:00

laud - LAHD - praise, esp. in a public context

Example: "Both the administration & the press have lauded the passengers on the Christmas flight from Amsterdam to Detroit for overcoming the Nigerian who planned to blow up the plane, and subsequently, prevent a terrorist attack."

2009-12-27T09:22:00.000-05:00

rime (sometimes "rime ice") - RIME - a kind of icy frost that coats things, usually due to humid air or moisture freezing when temperature drops

Example: "The local weather forecast in Lower Michigan predicts that the recent drizzle will result tomorrow in a coating of rime ice if temperatures drop to the freezing point."

2009-12-26T11:14:00.000-05:00

grandiloquent - grand-ILL-oh-KWENT - pompous or extravagant in language, style or manner, especially to impress

Example: "An ethnic cook on a local talk show raved grandiloquently about the curative powers of her chicken soup, particularly with regard to colds or the flu."

2009-12-25T10:30:00.001-05:00

dormant - DORE-MANT - in a deep sleep or, as with animals, falling into a period with functions slowed down

Example: "After 30 years of slowdown, the dormant nuclear industry seems to be swinging back, with 104 plants now running and sharply raising their output, and with more expected to be completed soon."

2009-12-23T11:48:00.001-05:00

simulacrum - SIM-you-LA-krum - an image or representation of someone or something

Example: "It's not well known, but in a remote area in Indiana the Army and the Indiana National Guard have turned an abandoned ramshackle complex into a simulacrum of a war-torn Afghan city, with a courthouse, a jail and a graffiti-smeared marketplace - where our troops practice before heading for the real thing."

(Just checked: also can be pronounced sim-YOU-lai-krum)

2009-12-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

concierge - kohn-see-AIRJ - someone hired by a hotel or apartment building to help guests or residents

Example: "According to an article in the NY Times, experts predict smartphone applications as personal concierges - handling everything from reservations to reimbursements."

2009-12-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

outré - ooh-TRAY - unusual, startling, far out, bizarre

Example: "As all the critics agree, 'Avatar' has a hackneyed plot, but the special effects are, to put it mildly, outré to the extreme!"

2009-12-20T09:19:00.001-05:00

avatar - av-ah-TAR - the god-like embodiment of someone who personifies. or is the manifestation of, an idea or concept

Example: "Buddhists believe that Buddha was an avatar - an Indian philosopher who renounced his life as a prince in order to develop & teach."

2009-12-19T15:20:00.001-05:00

zealous - zell-uss - having or showing great zeal (ardent devotion)

Example: "Facing beefed-up security on the border that now includes miles of new fencing, floodlights, drones, motion sensors and cameras - Mexican smugglers have stepped up their efforts to corrupt even the most zealous border police."

2009-12-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

ebullient - eh-BYOO-lee-ENT - cheerful, full of eager energy

Example: "Former Black Sabbath frontman, after repeated tries, finally passed his driving test; the ebullient man exclaimed, 'I'm legal now, so watch out!'"

2009-12-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

sacrilege - SAK-rih-LEJ - a violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred

Example: "An article in the NY Times revealed a custom unique to weddings in Pittsburgh - having a special table heaped with a variety of home-made cookies: "Not to bake cookies for the ceremony is considered a sacrilege by its citizens.'"

2009-12-16T10:34:00.001-05:00

intractable - in-TRAK-tah-BULL - hard to control or deal with, excessively stubborn

Example: Aluf Benn, an Israeli columnist, wrote that the normally intractable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seriously interested in making concessions to the Palestinians and coming to agreement on a two-state solution to decades of controversy."

2009-12-15T13:07:00.000-05:00

comity - KOM-it-ee - considerate behavior toward others; comity of nations is an association of nations for mutual benefit

Example: "It is a comity of nations that have assembled in Copenhagen to discuss global changes."

2009-12-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

capacious - cah-PAY-shus - roomy, having a lot of space inside

Example: "Digital camera owners are asked to note that a camera won't be of much use without a capacious memory card to store photos or videos on."

2009-12-13T09:47:00.000-05:00

imbroglio - im-BRO-lee-oh - an extremely confused, complicated or embarrassing situation

Example: "The Tiger Woods imbroglio might finally leave the front pages, now that he has confessed, apologized & promised to make reparation for his philanderings."

2009-12-12T09:00:00.001-05:00

invictus - in-VIK-tus - Latin for "unconquered"

Example: "Invictus is the title of a poem by William Ernest Henley, which Nelson Mandela read & was inspired by, while in a South African prison."

2009-12-11T08:26:00.000-05:00

egotist - ee-goh-tist - the practice of talking & thinking of oneself excessively due to an overblown image of self-importance

Example: "Ambrose Bierce once said, 'An egotist is a person of low taste - more interested in himself than me.'"

2009-12-10T08:56:00.001-05:00

bourgeois - boor-SZHWA - of the middle class, boring, conventional, materialistic, "square"

Example: "With three new biographies of Andy Warhol renewing interest in the 50s artist , critic David Wallace-Wells belittled him for his Campbell's tomato soup cans and elaborate multiple reproductions of movie stars, calling him 'a pop artist out to out-bourgeois the bourgeois.'"

2009-12-09T07:39:00.000-05:00

fait accompli - feht-ak-kom-PLEE - a done deed, a thing that has already happened

Example: "Delegates to the Copenhagen discussion on global waming have come to an early agreement that serious global changes have become a serious fait accompli."

2009-12-08T09:15:00.000-05:00

epiphany - ee-PIF-uh-NEE - insight, realization, manifestation

Example: "The Week magazine recently quoted 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who in a sudden epiphany wrote: 'Science is organization of knowledge; wisdom is organization of life.'"

2009-12-07T08:49:00.000-05:00

endemic - en-DEM-ik - the innate tendency to behave in a particular way

Example: "All China's barriers to higher consumption are endemic - their focus on one thing: making stuff."

2009-12-06T10:21:00.001-05:00

dystopia - dis-TOW-pyah - an imaginary place where everything is as bad as could be - opposite of "utopia," where everything is as good as could be

Example: "Whether true or not, we tend automatically to consider any Muslim-dominated country, like Iran or Afghanistan, to be a dystopia of dictatorial horrors."

2009-12-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

irascible - ee-RASS-sible - "hot-tempered, easily angered

"A New York Times article reported that the president's speech (indicating his troops for Afghanistan decision) was responded to negatively & immediately in typical knee-jerk reaction from the irascible Fox news outlets."

2009-12-04T08:37:00.000-05:00

insouciance - in-SOO-see-AHNS - casual lack of concern, indifference

Example: "A federal district court ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to properly maintain a navigational channel to the devastated flood during Hurricane Katrina - leading to billions of dollars in litigation against the federal government - as myopia, insouciance & shortsightedness."

2009-12-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

rife - bursting, overflowing, teeming, rampant

Example: "The town of Ontonagon came first in its race for money to build a children's playground; the people there are rife with excitement over it. Note the following comment: "I am so glad something good is happening for Ontonagen. I voted faithfully! Hooray for all the yoopers who helped make this happen. It shows what wonderful people they are - whether they live in the U.P. still, or not."

2009-12-02T08:09:00.000-05:00

preemptive - pree-EMP-tive - done before somebody else can act, seizing the initiative

Example: "In his most recent speech, President Obama declared that he would take preemptive action in Afghanistan."

2009-12-01T08:18:00.001-05:00

moratorium - MORE-uh-TOR-yum - suspension of activity, temporary prohibition of activity

Example: "Tiger Woods is attempting to place a moratorium on police activity regarding his well publicized car accident, which, he claims, took place on his own property and thus is of family, not police, issue."

2009-11-30T14:04:00.001-05:00

predation - pree-DAY-shun - the relationship of one animal species to another when one hunts, kills & eats the other

Example: "According to a publication from the DNR, congregating birds makes them more susceptible to predation, to everything from raptors to house cats."

2009-11-29T09:35:00.001-05:00

plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - ploo-sah-shahnj, ploo say lah mem shoze - the more things change, the more they remain the same

Example: "Reviewing Disney's 'The Princess & the Frog,' Allison Samuels commented on the new & daring racial theme; then, regarding the animation, wrote 'Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.'"

2009-11-28T10:02:00.001-05:00

curmudgeon - ker-MUD-jen - a stubborn & ill-tempered person, a surly person

Example: "A curmudgeon who happens to be a lawyer in Washington recently snarled, 'The economy is so bad Exxon just laid off 25 Congressmen.'"

2009-11-27T09:42:00.000-05:00

pillory - pill-oh-ree - to ridicule or castigate (reprimand severely) someone publicly

Example: "Despite a distinguished record as a US district judge in Indiana, David Hamilton has been pilloried as a judge for his supposed determination to chase Christians out of the public square in order to make space for Muslims."

2009-11-26T08:27:00.000-05:00

concurrent - kon-CURR-ent - simultaneous, at the same time

Example: "Concurrent with promises from auto manufacturers to increase gas mileage came this from a study by the UofM Transportation Research Institute: the average fuel efficiency of US cars has improved by only 3mpg since the days of the Model T."

2009-11-25T09:37:00.000-05:00

vicissitudes - vis-SIS-ih-TOODS - unexpected changes, particularly in one's fortunes

Example: "AAA predicts less people flying & more people driving longer distances for Thanksgiving, likely the result of current economic vicisssitudes."

2009-11-24T09:12:00.000-05:00

egregious - ih-GREE-zhus - in bad taste, blatant, extraordinarily ridiculous

Example: "According to the Sierra Magazine, a Berlin brothel in an egregious display of being patriotically "green" offers discounts for customers arriving by bicycle or public transportation."

2009-11-23T10:31:00.002-05:00

parochial - par-OAK-ee-AL - having a limited or narrow outlook, limited in scope, regional, myopic
esoteric - ESS-oh-TAIR-ik - understood by, or appreciated by, only a few

Example: "The movie 'The Blind Side' is universally accepted with a positive approval of 71% critical response, while the vampire film 'New Moon,' perhaps more esoteric than parochial in its intent, is aimed at a target audience of young women and is the largest box office success despite it's mere 29% critical approval."

2009-11-22T09:22:00.001-05:00

indigenous - in-DIDJ-en-US - native, home grown, originating in a specific region

Example: "The Afghan interior minister said, 'What we are talking about is a local, spontaneous and indigenous response to the Taliban; just give us the resources & we will defend our own country.' "

2009-11-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

erudite - AIR-you-DITE - having or showing great knowledge or learning

Example: "The most invigorating day - starting at 6am with Bob Edwards' spellbinding interviews and continuing with news intelligently covered by Scott Simon and other equally erudite NPR hosts - occurs each Saturday, not to be missed by people who hunger for fascinating programs no longer found on the biased or dumbed-down commercial stations."

2009-11-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

buzzword - buzz-word - a fashionable, in vogue word & sometimes a neologism (newly coined word), that is common to managerial, technical, administrative, and political work environments; there it rises to common usage, meant to impress or cover a range of more specific meanings

Example: "Opra is the latest person to be described with two overused buzzwords in today's news, as 'iconic' and 'out-of-the-box'."

2009-11-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

crapper - krap-per - Thomas Crapper, late 19th century plumber whose name became synonymous with a toilet, celebrated on his birthday, today.

Example: "According to legend, it was the doughboys of WWI who picked up on the name and referred to any toilet as a "crapper.'"