07Sep September 7, 2006 – Pervicacious
Pervicacious \puhr-vih-KAY-shuhs\, adjective:
Refusing to change one’s ideas, behavior, etc.; stubborn; obstinate.
In fact, I’m a word nerd. I get a kick out of tossing a few odd ones intomy column, just to see if the pervicacious editors will weed them out.
— Michael Hawley, “Things That Matter: Waiting for Linguistic Viagra”, Technology Review, June, 2001
One of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was heard of.
— Samuel Richardson, Clarissa
The language of the bureaucrats and administrators must needs be recognized as an outgrowth of legal parlance. There is no other way to explain itspervading, pervicacious and pernicious meanderings.
— New York Law Journal, May 27, 1909
Pervicacious is from Latin pervicax, pervicac-, “stubborn, headstrong,” from root pervic- of pervincere, “to carry ones point, maintain ones opinion,” from per-, “through, thoroughly” + vincere, “to conquer, prevail against” + the suffix -ious, “characterized by, full of.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for pervicacious
No Matches. I am going to use “stubborn” because the phrase is too long.
Yay for Stubborn Clay
I WON’T GIVE YOU THIS LINK!
I want it NOW! Seen it before, but that doesn’t make it unfunny!
YOU CAN’T MAKE ME GIVE IT TO YOU
07Sep September 6, 2006 – Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude \ver-uh-suh-MIL-uh-tood; -tyood\, noun:
1. The appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true.
2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real.
In an attempt to create verisimilitude, in addition to the usual vulgarities, the dialogue is full of street slang.
— Wilborn Hampton, “Sugar Down Billie Hoak’: An Unexpected Spot to Find a Father”, New York Times, August 1, 1997
For those plays, Ms. Smith interviewed hundreds of people of different races and ages, somehow managing to internalize their expressions, anger and quirks enough to be able to portray them with astonishing verisimilitude.
— Sarah Boxer, “An Experiment in Artistic Democracy”, New York Times, August 7, 2000
The old man’s massive forehead, penetrating eyes and enormous beard lent verisimilitude to this unappealing portrait.
— “Charm itself”, Economist, October 16, 1999
Verisimilitude comes from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, from verus, “true” + similis, “like, resembling, similar.” The adjective form is verisimilar.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for verisimilitude
Apparently these students are testing the verisimilitude of their imaginations… poor Quentin.
Truly this is the link.
05Sep September 5, 2006 – Arcane
Arcane \ar-KAYN\, adjective:
Understood or known by only a few.
Under Indonesia’s arcane system of land tenure, disputes between local residents, and between locals and developers, are commonplace.
— “Not Fair.”, TheEconomist, July 26, 1997
While addressing a problem in the arcane field of mathematical logic, he imagined a machine that could mimic human reasoning.
— Paul Gray, “Alan Turing”, Time Pacific, March 29, 1999
Practitioners of this arcane art combine highly abstract mathematical deduction with some of the basic behavioral assumptions of micro-economics to produce theories of the behavior of voters, of representative assemblies, of bureaucracies, and even of courts.
— Jerry L. Mashaw, Greed, Chaos, and Governance
Arcane comes from Latin arcanus, “shut, closed, secret,” from arca, “chest, box.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for arcane
Lots to choose from today! More bands… sigh. What else? Hmm…
I have a preternatural weakness for breakdancing and Michael Jackson dancing. Also, I love glow-in-the-dark. If only I could combine them…
Break the link!
Not that i agree with graffiti or anything, but it can be pretty cool to see it done.
04Sep September 4, 2006 – Surcease
Surcease \SUR-sees; sur-SEES\, noun:
Cessation; stop; end.
One of his clearest remembrances from childhood was the feeling that swept over him when, on a Saturday morning, the sun had sequestered itself behind a cascade of clouds and rain, thick, relentless walls of rain, came pounding down with no promise of surcease, black greasy rain that eradicated all hopes of an outdoor day.
— Stanley Bing, Lloyd: What Happened
When flights are delayed and the airport concourse looks like the subway at rush hour, children crawling among luggage and lines winding to pay phones, anxious travelers yearn for surcease.
— Betsy Wade, “Airline Clubs: Worth the Cost?”, New York Times, August 24, 1997
Listening to academics going on about desire is a profound anti-aphrodisiac treasure for those of us seeking surcease from worldly temptations.
— Ron Rosenbaum, “Sex Week at Yale”, The Atlantic, January/February 2003
Surcease comes from Old French sursis, past participle of surseoir, “to refrain,” from Latin supersedere, “to sit above, to sit out,” from super, “above” + sedere, “to sit.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for surcease
Only one hit on the word today and I think the filmmaker thought it was a verb. It’s a trailer for a film that I can find no other reference to elsewhere on the net. It’s an odd film too. Looks like some kind of morality play about bullying or something. Sort of homo-erotic too. Supposed to have come out last month. Enjoy
I always place the link at the surcease of the post.
03Sep September 3, 2006 – Insouciant
Insouciant \in-SOO-see-uhnt\, adjective:
Marked by lighthearted unconcern or indifference; carefree; nonchalant.
The insouciant gingerbread man skips through the pages with glee, until he meets his . . . demise at the end.
— Judith Constantinides, “The Gingerbread Man”, School Library Journal, April 2002
They don’t seem to care whether they become stars or not, and their irony . . . has a scoffing, insouciant feel.
— Thomas Frank, “Pop music in the shadow of irony”, Harper’s Magazine, March 1998
The British right is not so rich in ideas and projects that it can afford to be insouciant about a new one.
— John Lloyd, “The Anglosphere Project”, New Statesman, March 13, 2000
Insouciant is from the French, from in-, “not” + souciant, “caring,” present participle of soucier, “to trouble,” from Latin sollicitare, “to disturb,” from sollicitus, “anxious.” The noun form is insouciance.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for insouciant
This seems appropriate.
I suppose I could give the link, but it’s no big deal, nothing no one else would do. I’m totally nonchalant about it.
This one is interesting. It was made as a gift from one good friend to another on the recipient’s wedding day. I just like the combination of the music and the art. The end sequence was surprising, but somehow doesn’t feel inappropriate given the fact that this is a private communication between two people.
02Sep Septermber 2, 2006 – Confute
confute \kuhn-FYOOT\, transitive verb:
To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false.
Having settled in Rome in 1486, he proposed 900 theses and challenged any scholar to confute them, agreeing to pay his expenses.
— David S. Katz and Richard H. Popkin, Messianic Revolution
Instinct, intuition, or insight is what first leads to the beliefs which subsequent reason confirms or confutes.
— Bertrand Russell
As he says, a professor of geography does not feel obliged regularly to confute those who believe that the earth is flat.
— Geoffrey Wheatcroft, “Bearing False Witness”, New York Times, May 13, 2001
Its organizer is the Rev. Geoffrey Wilson, who wants to confute the Darwinist heretics by proving that the island is the location of the Garden of Eden.
— Adam Hochschild, “The Floating Swap Meet”, New York Times, May 28, 2000
Confute is from Latin confutare, “to check the boiling of a liquid; to put down; to silence.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for confute
This is a tough word. There are only four hits in the search and they are all misspellings of confuse or confusion.
One is an amatuerish video from a foreign band and the other three are AMV‘s. I picked my favorite AMV of the three there. I don’t generally like AMV’s, but I wasn’t given too much choice.
Staring at the Link
Incidentally, until I did this search I didn’t know that Disturbed had covered “Land of Confusion” by Genesis. It’s really good. It’s too bad that the two AMV’s that used the song didn’t do a better job.
02Sep September 1, 2006 – Acquiesce
Day late, sorry. Twice the work today then
Acquiesce \ak-wee-ES\, intransitive verb:
To accept or consent passively or without objection — usually used with ‘in’ or ‘to’.
At the same time, sellers might acquiesce to mafia involvement in their business as a way of ensuring payment for goods: if the buyer defaults, the mafioso will collect.
— Louis S. Warren, The Hunter’s Game
The British were not prepared to acquiesce to the return of the Chinese to Tibet, and determined to counter the reassertion of Chinese influence.
— Tsering Shakya, The Dragon in the Land of Snows
France would probably express regret that a military strike had become necessary, but would acquiesce in it.
— Craig R. Whitney, “France Pushes for Last-Ditch Diplomatic Solution.”, New York Times, February 20, 1998
Acquiesce comes from Latin acquiescere, “to give oneself to rest, hence to find one’s rest or peace (in something),” from ad, “to” + quiescere, “to rest, to be or keep quiet.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for acquiesce
Sigh. This one is both a band and a song (mostly a song by Oasis, but there are one or two bands in there too).
Most of the choices seem to be Oasis footage or AMV’s. There is this one. It may not be manly, but babies are cute so shut up!!!
Also, Microsoft Word is Dumb
31Aug August 31, 2006 – Explicate
Explicate \EK-spluh-kayt\, transitive verb:
To explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity.
I can cite a case — my own — of a young person’s being altered politically by a novel, but I cannot explicate the process, let alone explain it in terms of the author’s intention or literary strategies.
— Mary McCarthy, “The Lasting Power of the Political Novel”, New York Times, January 1, 1984
The French baccalaureate exam asked students to explicate a passage from Kant.
— Cullen Murphy, “Common Stock”, The Atlantic, February 2001
Explicate comes from Latin explicare, “to unfold; to unfold the meaning or sense of; to explain, expound, or interpret,” from ex-, “out” + plicare, “to fold.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for explicate
Fourth day in a row where 95% of the YouTube hits are in a foreign language. This time its in French. I have two videos tonight. One is actually in French, but it is a much better look at parkour than the last one. The middle section with David Belle in the park on the rock-climbing wall is pretty cool. Enjoy.
One of the few videos filmed in the US actually uses a French song. It’s fun and quirky though and it made me chuckle. FYI, for those of you, like me, from Not-California, Vons is a grocery store chain. Enjoy!
Also, I have some HUGE news that I don’t know if I can share yet. This is going to be so cool! More details as I can make them available.
30Aug August 30, 2006 – Requisite
requisite \REK-wuh-zit\, adjective:
1. Required by the nature of things or by circumstances; indispensable.
2. That which is required or necessary; something indispensable.
Those with the requisite talents made drawings and watercolors of the birds, the flowers, the untouched landscapes that unfolded before them.
— Barbara Crossette, The Great Hill Stations of Asia
In this way, 2,156 buildings were laboriously hoisted, a quarter of an inch at a turn, until they reached the requisite height and new foundations could be built beneath them.
— Cornelia Dean, Against the Tide
Rather than seeing mindfulness as a kind of talent, like artistic flair or musicality, he believes that everyone willing to make the requisite effort can attain it.
— Winifred Gallagher, Working on God
Patience and an enquiring mind are absolute requisites for tracing family histories.
— Mike Anderiesz, “Working the web: Genealogy”, The Guardian, January 17, 2002
Requisite derives from Latin requisitus, past participle of requirere, “to require.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for requisite
Today’s search is apparently about artistic pretension. The first one is real pretension, please follow the link and read the neo-post-modern bullshit (“emergent state,” “four track aesthetic”) that accompanies his *ahem* art piece. The poor tree.
This guy, on the other hand, packs even more BS into his description, in 1/5th the space, except I think he’s fully aware of his bullshit. In that context, this is a fun little riff on “modern art.” By the way, don’t ask for the Stroganoff recipe, it doesn’t taste as good as it sounds.
Link here.
29Aug August 29, 2006 – Sui Generis
sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\, adjective:
Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.
This man, in fact, was sui generis, a true original.
— Ruth Lord, Henry F. du Pont and Winterthur
They’re a special case, a category of their own, sui generis.
— Eric Kraft, Leaving Small’s Hotel
In the degree of their alienation from their society and of their impact on it, the Russian intelligentsia of the nineteenth century were a phenomenon almost sui generis.
— Aileen M. Kelly, Toward Another Shore
William Randolph Hearst did not speak often of his father. He preferred to think of himself as sui generis and self-created, which in many ways he was.
— David Nasaw, The Chief
Sui generis is from Latin, literally meaning “of its own kind”: sui, “of its own” + generis, genitive form of genus, “kind.”
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for sui generis
Another one with a band name. Sigh. Gawsh, too bad I don’t speak or read Brazilian.* I might have found the only English or non-language video in the whole search.
Remember, the number one rule of Kitty Fight Club (KFC?) is “No one talks about Kitty Fight Club!”
* I know Brazillians speak Spanish and not Brazillian (cuz it’s a dead language).**
** I know it’s Portugeuse.