Category: Word of the Day

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Word of the Day –  Sophistry

  • Noun:  Sophistry
    1. subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation
    2. sophism
  • Synonyms:
    1.  paralogy
    2. paralogism
    3. false logic
    4. fallacious reasoning
    5. flaw in the argument
    6. inconclusive reasoning
    7. reasoning in a circle
    8. begging the question
  • Usage:
    1. “Privately, he knew that this was sophistry and so did any other Member competent to judge the matter.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Robert A. Heinlein‘s Methuselah’s Children.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day –Bespoke

  • Noun: Bespoke
    1. made for a particular customer or user
    2. dealing in or producing custom-made articles
    3. engaged
  • Synonyms:
    1. custom
    2. customized
    3. specialized
    4. tailored
    5. custom-made
    6. tailor-made
    7. special
    8. custom-tailored
  • Usage:
    1. “Custom courts are becoming more common, but a lot of pickleball is being played on tennis courts marked with bespoke boundary lines to show where the pickleball stops. By square footage, a tennis court is three times larger, so “picklers” have much less ground to cover.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading: Editorial: Can pickleball save democracy? We’ve heard worse ideas.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Doyenne

  • Noun:  Doyenne – feminine form of the French word doyen
    1. The senior member of a body or group
    2. a person considered to be knowledgeable or uniquely skilled as a result of long experience in some field of endeavor
    3. the oldest example of a category
  • Synonyms:
    1. old hand
    2. old-timer
    3. stager
    4. vet
    5. veteran
    6. warhorse
  • Usage:
    1. “While playing a game with Drew Barrymore on her daytime talk show, the lifestyle doyenne was asked to wave flags to a series of dating questions – green for yes, red for no and yellow for being on the fence. Asked if she would date a man with as many tattoos as Davidson, Stewart waved the green flag.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading the CNN article: Martha Stewart responds to those wanting her to date Pete Davidson

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Maledicent

  • Adjecitve:  Maledicent
    1. addicted to speaking evil.
    2. slanderous
  • Synonyms:
    1. slanderous
    2. reproachful
  • Usage:
    1. In a 1995 speech on Senate decorum, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) denounced senators who accuse their colleagues of dissembling: “The use of such maledicent language on the Senate floor is quite out of place, and to accuse other senators of being liars is to skate on very, very thin ice, indeed.”
  • Encountered:
    1. Sent to me by a subscriber to Curmudgeon-Alley

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day –Backronym

I do not usually do two Word of Day in succession, but I received an email listing contronyms. While not related, they are readily lumped together.  See this link to see a lits of contronyms: 75 Contronyms (Words with Contradictory Meanings)

  • Noun: Backronym
    1. an existing word, phrase, or abbreviation that has been made into an acronym (= a set of letters in which each is the first letter of a word in a name or phrase):
      • The Amber Alert system came from the name of a missing child, but later the backronym “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response” was created.
      • BASIC is an acronym (for Beginner’s All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), not a backronym.
  • Synonyms:
    1.  not unsurprisingly – could not find any
  • Usage:
    1. “ A more reputable source, the fact-checking site Snopes, debunks this theory, noting that the acronym “chicken and lettuce under bacon” doesn’t appear in any sources prior to the advent of the internet. It is more likely a backronym inspired by the classic BLT sandwich. So where did the name really originate?”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading What Does The ‘Club’ In Club Sandwich Really Mean?

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Plenum

  • Noun:  Plenum
    1.  a space or all space every part of which is full of matter;an air-filled space in a structure especially : one that receives air from a blower for distribution (as in a ventilation system)
    2. a general assembly of all members especially of a legislative body
    3. the quality or state of being full
  • Synonyms:
    1. body
    2. chamber
    3. house
    4. parliament
    5. assembly
    6. congress
    7. council
    8. diet
  • Usage:
    1. “There was no answer, in words. Inertia isn’t a word; it is a mathematical concept used in mathematically certain aspects of plenum. I was stuck.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Robert A. Heinlein‘s Methuselah’s Children.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Pellucid

  • Adjective: Pellucid
    1. admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion a pellucid stream
    2. reflecting light evenly from all surfaces
    3. easy to understand
  • Synonyms:
    1. translucent
    2. transparent
    3. clear
    4. crystal clear
    5. crystalline
    6. bright
    7. glassy
    8. limpid
    9. unclouded
  • Usage:
    1. “…the house had an enormous tropical garden under a dome so pellucid that Thorby did not realize it was there until Leda had him touch it.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Robert A. Heinlein‘s Citizen of the Galaxy.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Purdah

  • Noun: Purdah
    1. seclusion of women from public observation among Muslims and some Hindus especially in India
    2. a state of seclusion or concealment
  • Synonyms:
    1.  bonnet
    2. hat
    3. kerchief
    4. mantle
    5. protector
    6. shawl
    7. veil
    8. wimple
  • Usage:
    1. “In any case I’m to go… with the understanding that I remain in strict purdah. I shan’t mind; I’ll use the time on my data.”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Word of the Day – Ouroboros

  • Noun:  Ouroboros
    1. a circular symbol that depicts a snake or dragon devouring its own tail and that is used especially to represent the eternal cycle of destruction and rebirth
    2.  something (such as a never-ending cycle) that is likened to or suggestive of the Ouroboros symbol
  • Synonyms:
    1. amazingly an Internet search found none…
  • Usage:
    1.  From the section talking about the current Missouri Attorney General, Eric Schmidt: “For the most part, that’s involved fastidiously tracking the latest fronts in the United States’ ongoing culture wars, from mask-mandate mania to critical race theory panic to attacks on trans people — and then suing the shit out of everyone involved. Often that’s the state’s underfunded public schools, which then have to spend what little taxpayer money they’re allotted on fending off the AG’s  legal attacks, which are also funded by taxpayers, thereby creating something of an ouroboros of perfectly wasteful spending. Oh, and he also sued China over COVID-19 — totally on behalf of the people of Missouri, not at all a transparent campaign stunt. ”
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Riverfront Times article A Missouri Voter’s Guide to the Most Batshit Senate Race in History

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

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Supernumerary

Señora and I spent the Fourth of July day floating in the pool of some friends and munching between dips. As people are wont to do under these pleasant circumstances, aided by the benumbing influence of a warm sun and cold libations to the deity of summer, our conversation ranged over a wide range of topics.  Basically anything that popped into our minds. Ms. Sikeston related a story about a male relative that had 3 nipples.  For obvious reasons, he was somewhat embarrassed to go to the beach.

I then began to harp on a pet peeve of mine. There are at least two movies I know of with characters with extra nipples/breasts. Continue reading “Supernumerary”