Kinetic

The word of the day for October 10 is "kinetic."

kinetic: Supplying motive force; characterized by motion.

Synonyms: energizing

Usage: The bustling market was the kinetic center of the city, and movement seemed to radiate outward from it.

Relevance to my life: A kinetic sleeper, Lucy often assaults me after climbing into bed with me and falling asleep: a belt across the bridge of the nose here, a bony knee or elbow lodged into my ribs there, it reminds me an awful lot of the third trimester of my pregnancy with her.*

What it is NOT:

• kinesthetic (adj) - Referring to the sense that detects body's position in space, its weight, or movement of the extremities.
  Very much like the word "proprioception," which refers to the ability to sense the position and location and orientation and movement of the body and its parts.
  
  My sense of proprioception is whacked: no joke, I often walk into doorways, hitting them with my shoulder, like a cat without whiskers, missing a crucial sense; other times my balance is eerily good.
• frenetic (adj) - Wildly excited or active; frantic; frenzied.
  
  Although "frenetic" implies energy, it has a wilder, emotional connotation to it than kinetic does.
  
  

*Seriously, sleeping with this kid next to you requires protective padding. She's lucky she's so damn cute.






And now, an example of kinetic art. I don't know if I'm more child-like or childish, but I thought this was too cool:

Rattlebrained

The Word of the Day for October 9 is "rattlebrained."

rattelbrained: (adjective) Giddy and talkative; foolish.

Synonyms: rattlepated, scatterbrained, scatty

Usage: Grandpa's rattlebrained, crackpot ideas always made us laugh.

Relevance to my life: I had not realized just how rattlebrained I appear when I get nervous and begin babbling inanely until I saw a short video clip of myself, made so that someone could hear my voice and its delightful accent; that first clip was so alarming that I had to go on and make several more, but since each was worse than the last, I fixed myself some Dutch courage and finally, hours later, ended up with clips that were amusing, and a bit embarrassing. I really do look like a dork sometimes.

What it is NOT: "ratatouille" - a French stew of vegetables: zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. Yeah, I know, not an obviously misunderstood one, but I have a funny anecdote to go with it so you're stuck.

So this one Saturday I had the girls, and Lucy had been cranky all day ever since her dad had dropped them off that morning. She is usually a cheery little monkey, and gets over any morning crabbiness quickly, so I was wondering what was up.

I asked her, "Lucy, what is up with you today? Why are you so cranky?"

and she replied, stomping her foot: "Because I stayed up too wate wast night watching Watatouille!"

heh

Example from literature: Nothing is leaping to mind at the moment; it certainly could be used to describe Lydia Bennett, (again, Jane Austen's P&P), as in "Lydia's rattlebrained schemes to get a husband," but it sounds more like a word found in those cheesy Regency romance novels written for bored 20th century middle-America, whitebread, slightly puritanical housewives. You know, the ones that make frequent use of "flibbertigibbet," and "cicisbeo." It's like genteel porn for nice girls, because the seduction ends with a passionate kiss... *fade to black* No juicy details whatsoever.

Yeah, I read them all when I was a young teenager and then moved on to the slightly racier ones, those books which introduced me to all sorts of giggle-worthy euphemisms, like "love button" and "throbbing member." Oh yeah, baby. If our parents only knew that a lot of our practical pre-sex sex education came courtesy of Kathleen Woodiwiss and Johanna Lindsey, well... it would explain a lot. Forget Lady Chatterly's Lover, hand me Fires of Winter! Actually, no, I like D.H. Lawrence.

Well, that was a pleasant tangent. I'd like to thank you all for going on this morning ramble with me. Enjoy your coffee!

Now I'm cracking up. God, I am easily amused. I can't help but think of Shakespeare when I hear "rattlebrained."


The Shakespearean insult of the day is:

You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe!

Taken from: Henry IV, part 2


I can't think of a better time to add a clip from the reduced Shakespeare Company. If they come to a town near you, go see them.

Here is Othello, performed as a rap:

Here are all of Shakespeare's comedies distilled into one:

Odoriferous

The Word of the Day for October 8 is "odoriferous."

odoriferous: (adjective) Having a natural fragrance.

Synonyms: sweet-scented, sweet-smelling, perfumed, scented, odorous, sweet, aromatic.
Although it often has the connotation of something pleasant-smelling, it can also be a straight synonym for "malodorous" or bad-smelling.

Usage: There were large bottles filled with serpents, ticketed according to their species; dried lizards shone like emeralds set in great squares of black wood, and bunches of wild odoriferous herbs.

or

The odoriferous corpse lay in the bathtub for a full week before anyone thought to do anything about it. By then, the doorway to the bathroom was buzzing with a moving curtain of blowflies.

Relevance to my life: When I've just fixed my gin and tonic, I like to hold it my hand first and breathe in the lovely odoriferous fume of lime, tonic and juniper before diving in for that first crisp sip that dances on my tongue.

Example from literature: In Walter Scott's Ivanhoe,* Cedric the Saxon receives some unexpected visitors one evening, one priest, another one a knight and both of them Normans, so Cedric wants to overdo the hospitality a bit so that his house guests would have no reason to scoff at Saxon hospitality. There was a bit of a "divide" between the Normans and the Saxons in the 12th century. It was that whole Norman invasion of 1066. It sort of changed things. Forever. It actually changed the English language, but that's another topic for another day. :)

"Oswald, broach the oldest wine-cask; place the best mead, the mightiest ale, the richest morat, the most sparkling cider, the most odoriferous pigments, upon the board; fill the largest horns--Templars and abbots love good wines and good measure-- Elgitha, let the lady Rowena know we shall not this night expect her in the hall, unless such shall be her especial pleasure."

*I love this book. I don't even know how many times I've read it. My copy is an old one, too - one of those fabric-bound hardcover books. It reeks of that old-book smell, you know what I mean? I love that smell even though it tends to make me sneeze.

I also liked the movie adaptation they made of it way back in the 80s. I had the hugest crush on Anthony Andrews. Oh yeah.

And now, for your entertainment, some jousting!

HUZZAH!

Ok, after watching that twice I don't know whether to read the book again or watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. heh

Patter

The Word of the Day for October 7 is "patter."

patter: (noun)

1. the glib, rapid speech of comedians or salesmen.
2. chatter
3. the jargon of a particular group

Synonyms: line of gab, spiel

Usage: The automobile salesman spoke about the old car so approvingly and at such length that the customers soon began to grow tired of his patter.

Relevance to my life: Jack and Victor's merciless, rude and rapid-fire attacks on the bartender's lame attempt at patter leave me in stitches: in a battle of wits, Boaby the barman is completely unarmed against the two crotchety old bastards. I haven't stopped laughing since I was turned on to Still Game*.

What it is NOT: "pater" as in Pater Familias, or Head of the Household -
In O Brother, Where Art Thou, after the fateful encounter with his ex-wife Penny and her fiance, Vernon T. Waldrip, that got him banned from the Woolworth, the wayward Ulysses Everett McGill is sitting in a movie theater with Delmar O'Donnell discussing his grievances with women:

Everett: Believe me, Delmar, a woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man.

Delmar: Everett, I never figured you for a pater familias.

Everett: Oh-ho-ho-ho yes. I have spread my seed.

I love that movie.

*See video below for an example of Jack and Victor versus Boaby the Barman:

Condescension

The Word of the Day for October 6 is "condescension."

condescension: (noun) A communication that indicates lack of respect by patronizing the recipient.

Synonyms: disdain, patronage

Usage: Natasha did not like the visitor's tone of condescension to childish things.

Relevance to my life: In her interview with Katie Couric, the repugnant condescension in Governor Palin's disdainful comment, "Nooo, I worked all my life; in fact I've usually had two jobs..." when referencing some mythical scenario involving parents' giving their kids a passport and a backpack upon graduating and urging them to travel the world, struck me as incredibly offensive and testified further to how out of touch she is with who really makes up the country. If she sincerely believes that this is a large segment of the population, then she is far more rooted in willful ignorance than I had previously thought.*

What it is NOT: Condoleeza Rice's ESP -

"Why is everyone running aorund like crazy in the White House Situation Room?"

"Oh, that's just Condi sensing something."    rimshot

--->better:   "condensation:" (noun) any liquid that has condensed from a vapor, esp. on a window or glass -

The drops of condescension on my chilled Gin and Tonic rolled lazily down the glass and onto the coffee table, forming a ring on the wood because I'd been to lazy to hunt up a coaster. wrong


Example from literature: again, from Jane Austen - in Pride and Prejudice the idiotic Mr. Collins described the attitude of his patronizing patroness (Lady Catherine de Bourgh):

Mr. Collins was eloquent in her praise. The subject elevated him to more than the usual solemnity of manner, and with a most important aspect he protested that "he had never in his life witnessed such behavior in a person of rank - such affability and condescension, as he had himself experienced from Lady Catherine."

That cracks me up. Jane Austen's grip on irony was amazing and amusing. :)

*I was seriously pissed off and offended by Governor Palin's comment when asked why she hadn't gotten a passport until a year ago. Rather than giving a simple explanation, she immediately went offensive with it, and frankly, that was unnecessary and demonstrates what little class she possesses.

Yes, I traveled.  You bet your ass I did.

I got a master's degree in teaching English as a Foreign Language so I could travel extensively, if I wanted to, and pay my way doing it. I met lots of other ex-pats doing the same thing. None of us were from prep schools or rich families. There was nary a trust fund baby among us; neither were we all overprivileged liberal brats. We came from a wide range of political, social and economic backgrounds, but we all shared the desire to travel and experience other cultures and we found ways to afford it by working for it.

Governor Palin then went on to assert that the way she learned about the world and gained a global perspective was via education and books, a claim which she belies every time she opens her mouth. I have rarely seen a more provincial, close-minded asshole. The thought that she might actually be that close to so much political power chills me to the bone.


Ok. No more political-talk from me. I have to worry about blowing an aneurysm in my brain.

Despairing

The Word of the Day for October 2 is "despairing."

despairing (adjective) Characterized by or resulting from despair; hopeless.

Synonyms: desperate

Usage: The set-back to their hopes made them despairing and desperate.

Relevance to my life: The Great Online Dating Experiment I have embarked on over the past two years has left me despairing of ever being in a normal relationship again. Although the prospect of a wider pool of applicants is indeed a lure for some, so is the temptation to toss back the small ones in hopes of a bigger catch: I feel like a small mutated sea bass in an ocean of brightly-colored tropical fish.

If only I were joking.


Boy, do I need this weekend away with my girlfriends. I may even get a tattoo.



And just because this makes me laugh every time I see it:






Yes, I do have a juvenile sense of humor sometimes.

Unprejudiced

The Word of the Day for October 1 is "unprejudiced."

unprejudiced: (adjective) Free from undue bias or preconceived opinions.

Synonym: impartial

Usage: I claim to be an absolutely unprejudiced witness.

Relevance to my life: I could have easily been considered an unprejudiced juror in one contentious local case going to trial last year because, in my depression, I had neither read the local newspapers nor turned on the news for some time except to catch the weather: I hadn't even heard of the crime. I was a defense team's dream.

What it is NOT: spelled like "unprejudice"  -
Don't forget the damned "d" at the end of the word, people! This is the past participle of the verb used as an adjective. If there were such a word as "unprejudice," it would be a noun.  Even then, it'd probably be wrong, since in English we generally use the un- prefix on adjectives and verbs. As always, there are exceptions. It is English after all. 

That doesn't change the fact that "unprejudice" is still not a word. If you're looking for a noun that means "unprejudice," the first one that pops into my head is "impartiality."

* Not a real word, though perhaps it ought to be.