Flout
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 14, 2009
flout
\FLOUT\ | verb
1 : to treat with contemptuous disregard : scorn
2 : to indulge in scornful behavior
The Republicans are making contemptuous scornful behavior a way of life. It doesn’t matter what Obama says, they’re going to stand for the exact opposite and go out of their way to actively try and make whatever he’s proposing fail. They don’t care what happens to the country, as long as they can turn public opinion against the President it will make them happy. They need to be strung up by their thumbs and dipped in hot tar until their screams can be heard in Reykjavik. That’s not exactly what this word is all about, not precisely; the more exact meaning would be insisting that the conservative asshats be flouted because of their despicable behavior. But I’d rather they be dipped in hot tar; flouting is too kind for these morons.
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Vignette
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 8, 2009
- In: word a day
- 2 Comments
vignette
\vin-YET\ | noun
1 : a running ornament or design (as of vine leaves, tendrils, and grapes) on a page
2a : a picture (as an engraving or photograph) that shades off gradually into the surrounding paper
2b : the pictorial part of a postage stamp
3a : a short descriptive literary sketch
3b : a brief incident or scene (as in a play or movie)
The only meanings of this word I ever knew before were the last two. I kind of really love that the picture on a stamp is a vignette, and I love the “shades off gradually into the surrounding paper” one too. I don’t know why but I feel a story in there somewhere, an artist who does nothing but vignettes.
I’m a writer (if you can call me that) who writes nothing but vignettes. I’ve had a couple of ideas for stories with actual plots and chapters but I can’t seem to make them work. I’m a scene girl it seems, through and through. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’d be nice to write a full story and that you could even think vaguely about getting published.
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Ephemeral
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 5, 2009
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© f 1.2; click image for original picture
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Kibitzer
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 5, 2009
kibitzer
\KIB-it-ser\ | noun
1 : one who looks on and often offers unwanted advice or comment; broadly : one who offers opinions
I am not a kibitzer. I don’t even like to kibitz. First I don’t think my advice is worth very much. Second it just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Occasionally with people that I know extremely well I will give my opinion about something going on in their life. But that’s very occasional and only with people I consider myself close to. Otherwise I say mind your business is a good policy to live by.
Interestingly enough, Wikipedia says it’s specifically related to giving unwanted advice or commentary while watching a game; Wiktionary isn’t so specific so what’s the official Wikimedia position on kibitzing? We may never know. I did learn that there’s a movie called The Kibitzer from 1930, which was based on a play by the same name that starred Edward G. Robinson (he was snubbed for the film so Hollywood’s been making those odd decisions for decades I guess).
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Melee
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 2, 2009
- In: music| trivia| word a day
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melee
\MAY-lay\ | noun
1 : a confused struggle; especially : a hand-to-hand fight among several people
I love this word. It sounds so refined yet it defines something with no refinement at all. And wouldn’t you rather be in a melee than a brawl? It makes you think you were having some kind of classy fight. Although, I wouldn’t mind having a brouhaha or a skirmish. And a tussle wouldn’t be too bad either.
Someone has named their band Melee, which is just plain silly. A pop group called Melee makes no sense whatsoever. (Don’t be fooled by the URL of the site. Melee most definitely doesn’t rock.)
Sand castle virtues are all swept away, in the tidal destruction, the moral melee.
Jethro Tull! Now Jethro Tull most definitely does rock. Ian Anderson made it cool to be a flute player. And I never knew he was Scottish; now I want to hear him talk.
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Tenebrous
Posted by: foxrafer on: June 1, 2009
tenebrous
\TEN-uh-brus\ | adjective
1 : shut off from the light : dark, murky
2 : hard to understand : obscure
3 : causing gloom
I am tenebrous. And yet I don’t have much to say about this word. I mispronounce it; I want to put the emphasis on the second syllable but apparently it’s the first. I like it both ways, which will make it hard to remember how to say it right. The correct pronunciation makes me think of tenuous. I think you could be both tenuous and tenebrous.
Here we have another very nice word that is being used in some kind of odd game. I think the game is EverQuest; the site is Allakhazam’s Magic Realm, and the page is a forum about the Tenebrous Mountains. On the one hand I like that the people who play these games are being exposed to really interesting vocabulary words. On the other hand, I don’t know if they fully grasp the meaning of the words as they’re playing the games. Maybe they do, maybe that’s all part of the fun of it. I really don’t know.
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- foxrafer: I haven't even thought of this blog for so long; people can't comment if I don't post. :-) Seeing this is making me want to try picking it up again. H
- JanPattersonRN: i don't comment as often as i should, but i love these.
- unknowntheartist: you're definitely right about them looking scared but gorgeous in most photos. i found a pic of a mom and three babies looking at the camera and while
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