Probity

The Word of the Day for September 30 is "probity."

probity: (noun) complete and confirmed integrity; uprightness; having strong moral integrity.

Synonyms: honesty, rectitude

Usage: In the political arena, where probity may not be widespread, he has always been held in high esteem by colleagues from both sides of the aisle as an honest and honorable man, often grudgingly admired for his legitimate, yet unstated, claim to the moral high ground.

Relevance to my life: I was surprised when, discussing my probity, B said that I had "a strong moral compass," since I often agonize over whether something really is "the right thing to do;" perhaps like so many other things, rightness, and even morality, are subjective and open to interpretation: one person's honorable hero is another's unprincipled scoundrel.

What it is NOT: anything to do with "probe," so get that out of your filthy little minds. No giggity-giggity-probity-probity, mmmkay?

I chose my own word of the day today, because the pre-selected one is cardiomegaly (n) "an enlarged heart."

I just can't have fun with that or make it relevant to my life. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough. Sue me.

Febrile

The Word of the Day for September 29 is "febrile."

febrile: (adjective) Of, relating to, or characterized by fever.

Synonyms: feverish

Usage: The mother took her febrile and sweating child to the pediatrician.

Relevance to my life: When I was suffering from a double shot of the flu and pneumonia, I spent last November in an otherworldly condition; one day as I stood, dazed and floaty, looking out the kitchen window, I saw three huge crows fighting over an object which appeared to me, in my febrile state, to be a blackened human skull. Eventually, I saw the tattered black Hefty garbage bag fluttering in the grass and realized that it was not a skull, but some hunk of food stolen from the neighbor's uncovered trash can.*

What it is NOT: feeble (adjective) weak, lame, in a weakened state -

He gave me a febrile excuse for breaking up with me: he just didn't feel like making the effort to go out any more. wrong

It's possible from context that febrile and feeble may be confused with one another since when a person has a fever he may also be in a weakened state.

Three days of a rattling cough and high fever left him feeble and shaking, unable to stand for very long, even in the shower.

*See what a fever of 103.5 and an over-active imagination can do for you? Although people seem to be hard-wired to see faces out of abstract patterns; it's a survival instinct which helps an infant focus on smiling parental faces, I tend to see gargoyles and skulls popping out of abstractness in acoustical tiles, water spots on wallpaper and plaster, and irregularities in the warp and woof of carpeting. I can't even tell you what crazy stuff I saw in the shadows creeping and thrashing on my walls at night.




Speaking of fevers:

Flyblown

The Word of the Day for September 28 is "flyblown."

flyblown: (adjective)1. spoiled and covered with eggs and larvae of flies.
   2. a. Tainted; corrupt
       b. Dirty or rundown

Synonyms: sordid, squalid

Usage: The gang met at a flyblown, grimy little bar on the edge of town to plan its next heist.

Relevance to my life:  Just a few months ago after I had stopped working and yet another relationship seemed destined for the shitheap, it appeared to me that my future prospects were as lively as a flyblown, rotting corpse.

Emergency Services found the poor girl dead in her family's flyblown house, amid piles of rotting garbage, 3-foot-high mounds of feces and with over one hundred malnourished cats wandering around.*

I know. I'm so cheery today.

*This is a real-life case in the news here in central NY. The case is still a  mystery, no one has yet been charged after almost 4 weeks because authorities are apparently still investigating the matter but have named her father, step-mother and step-brother, "Persons of Interest."

There has been a public outcry against Social Services because they'd investigated the family a few years earlier, but closed the case. Last month, the girl was found hanged in her bedroom.

She was 11 years old, and the school picture they've published in the news media shows the face of a very sad little girl.

Congeal

The Word of the Day for September 27 is "congeal"

congeal: (verb) Become gelatinous.
(especially of blood, grease etc) to solidify when cooled*

Synonyms: jell, set

Usage: We waited patiently for the jello to congeal before cutting it into fun shapes with cookie cutters.

Relevance to my life: The turkey grease in the bottom of the roasting pan had already congealed into a shiny smear and the dirty dishes lay stacked in the sink, when a few slightly inebriated late-arrivals rang the doorbell just in time for my spicy pumpkin pie and homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

*Although it often has the meaning of something liquid solidifying, I have heard it used more figuratively in the sense of an idea settling, as in:

I tend to sit at the computer with a blank Word document blinking at me for a few minutes letting my thoughts congeal into something more coherent before launching into writing.

What it is NOT: I can't recall ever having heard this word misused; it's not terribly close in spelling or pronunciation to another word  (that I can think of) other than "congenial," and that one is relatively well-know so it's not likely to be abused, right? Right. Keep your ears alert, as will I. :)

Well, now I want pumpkin pie. Or even better, my pumpkin-swirl cheesecake with the pecan-ginger snap crust. *drool*

Who's stopping by for pie?

Abstruce

The Word of the Day for September 26 is "abstruse."

abstruse: (adjective) difficult to understand; difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge

Synonyms: deep, recondite

Usage: The professor's lectures were so abstruse that students tended to avoid them.

Relevance to my life: Overcoming communication differences between men and women tends to be one of the greatest difficulties in relationships; being of an entirely different species from men, I often have a difficult time decyphering their abstruse actions and language.

What it is not: a synonym for obtuse (dense, dull-witted) -
In the Shawshank Redemption, Andy says wonderingly to Warden Norton, "How can you be so obtuse," a question which landed him with a month in solitary confinement. I guess the warden didn't appreciate having his intelligence questioned.

It is also not: a synonym for cessation of exercise hostilities -
After battling multiple sets of crunches, leg-lifts and the bicycle exercise, I gave in a called an abstruse. (Abs truce... get it?)  LOL

Ok, ok. That was bad.

Sometimes you have to take the easy ones.

Volition

The Word of the Day for September 26 is "volition."

volition: (noun) 1. The act or instance of making a conscious choice or decision.
      2.  A conscious choice or decision.
      3. The power or faculty of choosing; the will.

Synonyms: willing**

Usage: Without volition I leaned toward her, as a tree is swayed by the wind.

Relevance to my life: Stripped of my volition, I heeded the siren song of chocolate and, giving in, baked a batch of my Crisis Brownies.

It often comes conveniently pre-packaged in the expression "of one's own volition," which is a synonym for "willingly" as in:

The brutal case of pneumonia I had suffered that Estonian winter had left me so weakened and anemic that, one day upon entering the house and smelling the liver sizzling in the skillet, I rushed into the kitchen and, of my own volition, devoured a heaping helping of the iron-rich meat.*

What it is NOT: "violation" - I can only consider your reading my emails and IMs a volition of my privacy. wrong

* I hate liver. Offal is, well, awful. Hell, I was a Vegan for some years, but gave in because, dammit, sometimes I just want a juicy steak.

**Actually, I am not in complete agreement with TheFreeDictionary here. Technically, "willing" is not a synonym for "volition" since "willing" is an adjective and "volition" a noun. A better straight synonym would be the noun "will."

Fixity

The Word of the Day for September 24 is "fixity."

fixity: (noun) The quality of being incapable of mutation.

Synonyms: immutability, immutableness

Usage: Darwin challenged the fixity of species with his theory of evolution.

Relevance to my life: One beau's persistent phone calls, emails, Instant Messages, text messages and late-night drive-bys past my house - after I'd broken off our relationship - demonstrated a fixity of intent which annoyed me enough to prompt me to christen him "Stalker Boy."

What it is NOT - but perhaps should be: (a synonym for the idiom "a quick fix.") I had been on the phone for so long last night that I desperately needed a fixity of coffee to peel my eyes open this morning.

I'm having two tons of fun with this. Perhaps I could do this for a living: (yet another) Devil's Dictionary for the 21st century.

Dream big, right?




Whatever. *sigh*

Unlettered

The Word of the day for September 23, is "unlettered."

unlettered: (adjective) Uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication.

Synonyms: ignorant, nescient, unlearned

Usage: On points where the learned have, in purity of heart, been compelled to differ, the unlettered will necessarily be at variance.

Relevance to my life: One lesson I have learned from my online dating ventures is that the more unlettered a man is, the better he likes me, as evidenced by messages such as: "Your [sic] a beautiful women [sic]" and "I like intelligence [sic] girls." How can I not be sick with despair over the state of education in this country, to say nothing of my romantic prospects?

All-new feature!

What it is NOT- (any form of a verb): With each click of the backspace key, and with extreme spite and malice, he unlettered my Word document;

or

Every time some of these pundits open their mouths on television, they unletter themselves by demonstrating their ignorance.*

* I really do like this possible definition as a reflexive verb, though. :)

Note- why is this text editor fucking up my post?

Meanly

The word of the day for September 22 is "meanly."

meanly: (adverb) In a miserly manner.

Synonyms: humbly

Usage: They lived meanly and without ostentation

Relevance to my life: Natalie and Lucy cried out in protest at how meanly I doled out the dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, whose number in the package from the Perdue factory was already fairly meager, further evidence of my firm status in their eyes as the Meanest Mommy in the Entire World, nay... the Entire Universe.

Ahh, kids. I tell them - as my dad told me- that it builds character.

Side note: I am working on another blog (non-dictionary-like) for the day. Are you as excited as I am? :p

Colloquial

The Word of the Day for September 21 is "colloquial."

colloquial: (adjective) Characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation.

Synonyms: conversational

Usage: She wrote her essays in a colloquial style that the teacher strongly criticized.

Relevance to my life: My inner Militant Grammarian asserts that the phenomenon of text-speak, with its complete disregard for spelling conventions and grammar prescriptions, is a better example of impending illiteracy than it is of colloquial language.

Call me a language snob, but there it is. Needless to say, I don't text.

Hell, I only have a cell phone for emergencies anyway, and even when I do remember to take it with me, it's almost never turned on. I can't use it at home because my house still has all the original plaster and lath walls which, very conveniently, shield my house from all manner of spy satellites and other intelligence-gathering devices. It'd be quite handy if I were a terrorist.

As it is, it's just a nuisance, really.

Unstudied

The Word of the Day for September 20 is "unstudied."

unstudied: (adjective) Not contrived for effect; natural.

Synonyms: uncontrived

Usage: She walked with an unstudied grace that the other models envied and imitated.

Relevance to my life: The unstudied ease with which the man whom I would later dub "The Player*" tossed off his lies was, in retrospect, amazing; if liars could receive Academy Awards for deception, then that bastard would walk home with twenty.

*My, isn't post-separation dating a fun venture.


A funny note about "unstudied:" In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bennett says to Mr. Collins:

"...it is happy for you that you posses the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment or are they the result of careful study?"

to which Mr. Collins replies:

"They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time,and though I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging  such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible."

I love it. I wonder how hard he practices to achieve that "unstudied air."

Ok, maybe I'm a dork for finding that hilarious, but Jane Austen was the queen of irony.

Circumference

The Word of the Day for September 18 is "circumference."

circumference: (noun) 1. The boundary line of a circle.

2. a The boundary line of a figure, area or object

    b. The length of such a boundary.

Synonym: circuit, compass, perimeter, periphery

Usage: He had walked the full circumference of his land, repairing his fence along the way.

Relevance to my life: While the circumference of my patience may be an infinite loop, the virtue itself is quite finite.

Oh my god. I had a long post, including a stellar grammar tangent, but when I hit post, Tom's flying monkeys sent it spinning into the MySpace ether. I don't have the spirit to attempt to recreate it. *sigh*

I may have to bake another batch of Crisis Brownies, though I should probably start dragging my ass to the gym again and flog myself on the elliptical trainer instead.

Monitory

The Word of the Day for September 17 is "monitory."

monitory: (adjective) Conveying an admonition or a warning

Synonyms: admonitory, cautionary, exemplary, warning

Usage: She shot him a monitory glance* and he quickly changed the subject to one less controversial.

Relevance to my life: The worst part of my nightmare from the other night was the s2bx's shaking a monitory finger in my face as he spat out, "You've really done it now!" after he, his entire family and assembled friends thought that they'd caught me in flagrante delicto with a relative from the distaff side, when really, it was one of those colossal mistakes that form the basis of a sitcom episode.

*From my brief search this morning, it appears that the most frequent usage of "monitory" as defined above comes in pre-packaged phrases like: "shoot a monitory glance," "shake a monitory finger" or "make a monitory gesture."
 
I did see a few "monitory policy" examples, and since they were also associated with banking and economics I assumed that the writer meant "monetary." 

Then I noticed that a few of these sources were Indian and Pakistani, and possibly an example of that peculiarly sub-continent brand of English.

A side note: apparently one can not type "on  c l o s e r scrutiny" here. I think it confuses it with a Javascript command. Fucking Myspace, ruining my mojo.

Frisson

The Word of the Day for September 16 (my birthday) is "frisson."

frisson (noun) A moment of intense excitement.

Synonyms: chill, quiver, shiver, shudder, thrill, tingle.

Usage: The story's ending arouses a frisson of terror.

Relevance to my life: Although today's 40 feels exactly the same as last night's 39, I feel a frisson of horror whenever I glance over at my Myspace profile and see the number 40 sitting there in stark black and white, a quiet yet smug reminder that my Lifeclock is going "Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock."

Crystalline

The Word of the Day for Sunday, September 14, 2008 is "crystalline."

Crystalline: (adjective) Transmitting light; able  to be seen through with clarity.

Synonyms: crystal clear, limpid, lucid, pellucid, transparent

Usage: This water is of such crystalline clarity than the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness.

Relevance to my life: The crystalline drops of condensation caught the amber light of early evening's setting sun and, like golden tears, languidly slid down the chilled bottle of Boodles sitting on the counter as I unsteadily cut another fat lime into generous slices.

Dammit, only two commas in that "relevance to my life" sentence.

Disengage

The Word of the Day for September 12, 2008 is "disengage."

disengage: (verb) To release from something that holds fast, connects or entangles.

Synonym: withdraw

Usage:  Fiercely he strove to disengage his weapon, but Hordle John  bent his arm slowly back, until, with a sharp crack, like a breaking stave, it turned limp in his grasp. 

Now, for the all-new feature which every dictionary entry should include

Relevance to my life:  Gradually, over a course of years, Babs disengaged herself from friends, family and life in general until at last, the horrific stench of decomposing flesh wafting from her dark, shuttered house accompanied by a steady stream of stray dogs running through the front door, warned her neighbors that all was not right within, and prompted them to ask each other, "Does someone even live there now?" "I don't know. I thought she'd moved." "What was her name again?"*

I love run-on sentences with lots of commas.

That was too easy. I hope that tomorrow's WotD is "zymurgy."


*Note: Before anyone jumps ugly on me or rushes off to call a mental health professional, this is dark humor, not a suicide threat. No need to stage an intervention. Trust me, dark humor keeps me going. Well, that and Boodles.