To absolve (ab-ZOLV) – from the Latin for “to loosen” – is to free from guilt or blame; to set free or release, as from some duty, obligation, or responsibility. Example (as used by Daniel Levis today): ” When you give [your readers] an enemy to blame, you are essentially feeding their compulsion to be right. [...]
By Early To Rise | Mon, May 30, 2011
Serendipity (ser-un-DIP-ih-tee) – from a Persian fairy tale titled The Three Princes of Serendip – is good luck; an aptitude for making fortunate discoveries by accident. Example (as used by Cybil Shepherd): “I had the serendipity of modeling during a temporary interlude between Twiggy and Kate Moss, when it was actually okay for women to look [...]
By Don Hauptman | Fri, May 27, 2011
Can you spot anything wrong with these sentences, found online? “A rich mixture of ylang-ylang and palmarosa essential oils creates a sensual aroma.” “Soulful Situations is a sensual sound experience that offers soul, jazz, R&B and beyond.” Article Title: “Heightening the Sensual Experience of a Well-Designed Landscape” In all of the above cases, sensual should be sensuous. Why? A reliable [...]
By Early To Rise | Thu, May 26, 2011
A soporific (sop-uh-RIF-ik) – from the Latin – is something that causes sleep. Example (as used by Dr. Thomas S. Szasz): “The greatest analgesic, soporific, stimulant, tranquilizer, narcotic, and to some extend even antibiotic – in short, the closest thing to a genuine panacea – known to medical science is work.”
By Early To Rise | Wed, May 25, 2011
To bloviate (BLOH-vee-ate) – a pseudo-Latin Americanism – is to speak pompously. Example (as used by Christy Lemire in an Associated Press review of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides): “An early chase sequence, in which Johnny Depp as the randy Captain Jack Sparrow escapes the clutches of the puffy, bloviating King [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, May 24, 2011
Wonk (WONGK) – from the Old English – refers to something that’s crooked; off-center; askew. Example (as used by Tom Carson in a NYT review of 2030: The Real Story of What Happens in America by Albert Brooks): “… this novel is unmistakably the work of a cable-news omnivore who’s been let out of his cage [...]
By Early To Rise | Mon, May 23, 2011
To supperate (SUP-yuh-rate) – from the Latin – is to fester; to form or discharge pus from a wound or sore. Example (as used by Christopher Hitchens in a NYT review of To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild): “The post-1918 frontiers of the former Ottoman Empire… are still a suppurating source of violence and embitterment.”
By Don Hauptman | Fri, May 20, 2011
Every few years, my friend Mardy Grothe assembles a new collection of quotations. The defining characteristic of these anthologies is that all the entries share an interesting or quirky theme. His latest work, Neverisms, just published, is generating a lot of favorable attention in the media and among his many admirers, myself included. A neverism (Mardy [...]
By Early To Rise | Thu, May 19, 2011
Mephitic (muh-FIT-ik) – from the Latin – means noxious; offensive to the smell. Example (as used by Dale Peck in The New York Times): “Over everything presides ‘a sort of mephitic fog,’ a pervasive, sulfuric stink.”
By Early To Rise | Wed, May 18, 2011
Something that’s minatory (MIN-uh-tor-ee) – from the Latin – is threatening or menacing. Example (as used by George Eliot in The Mill on the Floss): “He was often observed peeping through the bars of a gate and making minatory gestures with his small forefinger while he scolded the sheep with an inarticulate burr, intended to strike [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, May 31, 2011
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