Word of the Day

[D. Allan]

moiety noun (plural moieties)

1. one of two parts of something

2. anthropology each of two social or ritual groups of a people

3. chemistry a distinct part of a large molecule

mid-15c., from O.Fr. meitiet, from L. medietas "half," from medius "middle" –Online Etymology Dictionary

I think we might consider the following formulæ:

a moiety + x = a quorum

two moieties = a plenum

a plenum + x = a nimiety

vulgarly known a a glut (not to be confused with a plethora)

O dearth, where is thy sting?

- Michael Tide, Reader’s Comments, 4 July 2010

General Sir William Slim was in command of the British forces, which included a moiety of soldiers from the Indian Army, with their many British officers. –Jan Morris, ‘Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944 by Fergal Keane’ The Times of London, 15 May 2010

Gloucester: …………… but now, in the division of the

kingdom, it appears not which of the Dukes he values most, for

equalities are so weigh'd that curiosity in neither can make

choice of either's moiety. –Shakespeare, ‘The Tragedy of King Lear,’ 1606

If teenagers weren't breaching tradition by dancing with a partner of the same moiety (or kinship group), they were certainly stretching it to its limits. –Liza Power, ‘Stepping stones,’ The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March 2010

When the government started moving Aboriginal people around in the past they lost their totem system, their moiety system. – Joel Gibson Indigenous Affairs Reporter,

Piece by piece, the family is found,’ The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 Oct. 2008

Also aware that the patient’s thyroid contained many plasma cells, normally known to produce antibodies to foreign moieties such as microbes, she astutely formed the idea that they were responding to a stimulus within the gland itself. – Obituary: Professor Deborah Doniach, The Times of London, 23 Jan. 2004

. It is important to note that as of now scientist have confirmed that the receptor only recognizes and binds to the nicotinic acid moiety and not other niacin moieties. – ‘Niacin and dyslipidemia,’ The Washington D. C. Examiner, 21 May 2009

I assure you, in these times, no man

has his servant more obsequious and pliant, than

gentlemen their creditors: to whom, if at any time

you pay but a moiety, or a fourth part, it comes more

acceptably than if you gave them a new-year's gift.

– Ben Jonson, ‘Every Man Out of His Humor,’ 1599

[D. Allan]

nimiety noun

more than is needed; an excess

from Late Latin nimietas, from Latin nimius, excessive

There is a nimiety, a too-muchness, in all Germans. -Coleridge, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

If you can read this, you have a nimiety of erudition. –Jeremy Busch, “It’s Latin to Us – Laugh Lines Blog,” New York Times, 31 May 2008

Happy to get a new vocab word that I might be likely to use altho I already have a NIMIETY of pretentious words. –sharon, “Readers’ Comments,” The New York Times, 3 July 2010

The Oceanic did not fall short of what we had been led to expect. In fact, if she had a fault it was nimiety, a disposition to give too much food, too much service, too much entertainment. –Michael Sterne, “A Bountiful Cruise to Bermuda and the Bahamas,” New York Times, 1 Feb. 1981

I think we might consider the following formulæ:

a moiety + x = a quorum

two moieties = a plenum

a plenum + x = a nimiety

vulgarly known a a glut (not to be confused with a plethora)

O dearth, where is thy sting? -Michael Tide, ‘Reader’s Comments,’ New York Times, 04 July 2010

[D. Allan]

animadvert (ann eh mad vert) verb

to speak out against

origins: 1630s, "to take notice of;" the sense of "to criticize, blame, censure" is from 1660s; from L. animadvertere "to notice, to take cognizance of," lit. "to turn the mind to". –Online Etymology Dictionary

Your worship is pleased to be jocular,” answered the parson; “but I do not only animadvert on the sinfulness of the action—though that surely is to be greatly deprecated—but I fear his unrighteousness may injure him with Mr. Allworthy.- Henry Fielding (1707-1754), The History of Tom Jones

To write a pamphlet so ill that nobody will read it; to animadvert in terms so weak and insipid upon great evils, that no disgust is excited at the vice, and no apprehension in the evil-doer, is a fair use of the liberty of the press, and is not only pardoned by the friends of government, but draws from them the most fervent eulogium. –Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-Reformers

Your daughter’s critics were the ones with bad manners, to animadvert on the different eating conventions of others. -Philip Howard, “Modern times: fastidious foodies and the southern scone,” The Times of London, 29 Nov. 2008

[D. Allan]

advert noun & verb

noun, an advertisement

verb ,to turn the mind or attention to; to refer to

origin: ultimately from the Latin advertere “to turn toward”

LONDON An anti-smoking advert that depicts people with fish hooks in their mouths is being investigated after the Advertising Standards Authority received scores... – “’Violent’ advert under attack,” The Times of London, 10 Jan 2007

A camera company hung a trivial but expensive bit of advert-babble on him that said, “Image is everything.” –George Vecsey, “In Assessing Agassi, the Title Tells It All,” The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2009

To prove the truth of this remark, I need only advert to the intrigues of married women, particularly in high life, and in countries where women are suitably married, according to their respective ranks, by their parents. - Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” 1792

I advert to well known facts, for I have frequently heard women ridiculed, and every little weakness exposed, only because they adopted the advice of some medical men, and deviated from the beaten track in their mode of treating their infants. - Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” 1792

…. Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic. –Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

[D. Allan]

animadversion (ann eh mad VER zhun) noun

strong criticism

origins: 1590s, "criticism, blame," also sometimes in early use simply "notice, attention" (now obs.), from L. animadversionem (nom. animadversio) "perception, observation," –Online Etymology Dictionary

These jokes were accompanied by Freudian-style commentary, along with random animadversions on aspects of sixties life, like Zip Codes, hippies, women who swear, and Marshall McLuhan. –Jim Holt, “Punch Line, The history of jokes and those who collect them,” The New Yorker, 19 April 2004

Besides, this was 1962, and the Kennedy family was riding high. Pegler had been cautioned that animadversions on the royal family were not welcome. That, of course, had only stimulated his contrary appetites, indeed giving extra spirit to the chase. –William F Buckley, Jr., “Rabble-Rouser,When Westrook Pegler wroter a column, nobody was safe,” The New Yorker, 01 March 2004

This bill is mired in compromise,

A mishmash as one can surmise,

Passing it in this version,

Merits animadversion,

For once Grassley's comment is wise. – Larry Eisenberg, “Grassley a No on Financial Reform Bill,” New York Times, 14 July 2010

[D. Allan]

opprobrium noun

1. very strong criticism or censure of something that you do not approve of

2. the disgrace resulting from opprobrium

opprobrious adjective

1680s, from L. opprobrium "disgrace, infamy," from opprobare -Online Etymology Dictionary

...we ourselves have set a rule that a dissolute life in us is not a vice, or fault,or disgrace, while in women it means such utter opprobrium and shame that any woman of whom ill is once spoken is disgraced forever…. -Baldesar Castiglione in the second book of his Il cortegiano as quoted by R.S. Bear (University of Oregon) in his introduction to “Pamphilia to Amphilanthus” by Lady Mary Wroth (1586-1653)

Roman citizens sometimes assumed the career of a gladiator, and women (Amazones) occasionally fought in the arena, to such enthusiasm that, in AD 200, Septimius Severus forbade female combatants. In spite of the opprobrium, even senators and emperors competed. - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/gladiators.html

…she had been so often told she was like a gypsy, and “half wild,” that when she was miserable it seemed to her the only way of escaping opprobrium, and being entirely in harmony with circumstances, would be to live in a little brown tent on the commons; the gypsies, she considered, would gladly receive her…. –George Eliot (1819-1880), “The Mill on the Floss,” Book I, Chpt. XI

But there are common conclusions and questions: does the status of an Oscar-winning moviemaker like Mr. Polanski soften the focus of opprobrium reserved for priestly abusers like Bishop Vangheluwe? –Alan Cowell, “2 Men in 2 Different Moral Universes,” The New York Times, 16 July 2010

[D. Allan]

calumny noun

a comment or act of commenting about someone in a way that is untrue and unfair and is meant to damage their reputation.

Synonyms: injury, discredit, smear, slander

origins: from M.Fr. calomnie (15c.), from L. calumnia "trickery, subterfuge, misrepresentation, malicious charge," from calvi "to trick, deceive." -Online Etymology Dictionary

Like the tyger, that seldom desists from pursuing man after once having preyed upon human flesh, the reader, who has once gratified his appetite with calumny, makes, ever after, the most agreeable feast upon murdered reputation. –Oliver Goldsmith, from the dedication of “The Traveller”

...we ourselves have set a rule that a dissolute life in us is not a vice, or fault, or disgrace, while in women it means such utter opprobrium and shame that any woman of whom ill is once spoken is disgraced forever, whether what is said be calumny or not. –Baldesar Castiglione, “Il cortebiano”

How requisite such kind of treatment was to philosophy, in her early youth, will easily be conceived, if we reflect, that, even at present, when she may be supposed more hardy and robust, she bears with much difficulty the inclemency of the seasons, and those harsh winds of calumny and persecution, which blow upon her. –David Hume, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” Sect. XI

Hamlet: If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry:

be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape

calumny. Get thee to a nunnery. Go, farewell. Or if thou wilt

needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what

monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too.

Farewell. –William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1604

[D. Allan]

obloquy noun

1. Very severe criticism or condemnation, especially when it is public

2. Disgrace, loss of other people’s respect

Origin: mid-15c., "evil speaking," from L.L. obloquium "speaking against, contradiction," from ob "against" + loqui "to speak," –online etymology dictionary

The original sense of obloquy was ''evil-speaking,'' but the current sense is the result of all the defamation, vituperation and invective: dis-grace. –William Safire, ‘On Langusge; Impeachmentese,’ New York Times, 7 Feb, 1999

Though she persistently proclaimed her innocence, Mrs. Kelliher was held up to public obloquy as a poisoner in order to gain the insurance money of one of her victims. – ‘1910 Arsenic in Bed Caused Deaths,’ New York Times, April 5 2010

Petroleum geologists and engineers may not feel particularly in need of redemption, despite the obloquy dished out by many environmentalists. –Bryan Lovell, ‘Global warming’s proof in the puddingstone,’ The Times of London 29 Dec. 2008

There is praise for Iannis Xenakis and Marlene Dietrich—to whose funeral he sent five hundred roses—and obloquy for Vladimir Horowitz ("Such talent! And such a trivial mind"). –‘Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations,’ The New Yorker, 20 August 2001

Every age might perhaps produce one or two true geniuses, if they were not sunk under the censure and obloquy of plodding, servile, imitating pedants. –Jonathan Swift

My chastity’s the jewel of our house, Bequeathed down from many ancestors; Which were the greatest obloquy I’ th’ world In me to lose. – Shakspeare

[D. Allan]

...they had treated the Christian faith “with contempt, reviling it by parodying Christian beliefs scurrilously and in the most ludicrous manner”.-Frances Gibb, “Christian group demands prosecution of BBC over Jerry Springer – The Opera,” The Times of Londonm 21 Nov. 2007

scurrilous adjective

1. making or spreading untrue, scandalous claims about someone which could damage their reputation.

2. humorously insulting

scurrilously adverb

scurrilousness noun

scurrility noun

origins: from scurrile "coarsely joking" (1508, implied in scurrility), from L. scurrilis "buffoonlike," from scurra "fashionable city idler," later "buffoon." According to Klein, "an Etruscan loan-word." –Online Etymology Dictionary

CARLO BUFFONE, A public, scurrilous, and profane jester, that more swift than Circe, with absurd similes, will transform any person into deformity. –Ben Jonson, “Every Man Out of His Humor,” Characters of the Dramatis Personae (1599)

… have purged our Stages from all obscene and scurrilous jests; such as might either be guilty of corrupting the manners, or defaming the persons of any men of note in the City or Kingdome… -Anonymous, “The Actors Remonstrance,” 1643

I would you were a brother of the angle; for a companion that is cheerful, and free from swearing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning--- -Izaak Walton, “The Complete Angler” Part I

Interview with Jay Hormel, the man responsible for Spam He feels sure that he has heard all the Spam gags worth hearing. In his office at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minn., he keeps what he calls his Scurrilous File, in which he dumps letters of abuse that are sent to him by soldiers everywhere in the world. –Brendan Gill, “Spam Man,” the New Yorker, 11 Aug. 1945, p.15

...regrettable feature of modern American life that the lofty tenor of political debate is increasingly drowned out by the low drone of scurrility. –Gerard Baker, “How Republicans are cruising to defeat,” Times of London, 31 Aug. 2007

…

[D. Allan]

bilious adjective

1. relating to an illness caused by too much bile, which can cause vomiting; feeling as if about to vomit

2. literary - of a peevish, easily annoyed disposition

3. sickeningly unpleasant

biliously adverb

biliousness noun

1540s, "pertaining to bile, biliary," from Fr. bilieux, from L. biliosus, from bilis. Meaning "wrathful, peevish, ill-tempered" (as people afflicted with an excess of bile were believed to be) is attested from 1560s. This is the main modern sense in English and French; the more literal meaning being taken up by biliary. –Online Etymology Dictionary

The colors are often bilious, though the palette also turns gunmetal gray, bringing to mind “Sweeney Todd.” –Manohla Dargis, Movie Review, “Alice in Wonderland( Walt Disney Pictures)(2010)”, The New York Times, 05 March 2010

But if Mr. O’Brien was soaring, Mr. Letterman was roaring Wednesday night, unleashing a torrent of bilious commentary about the events at NBC, and digging deep into his own apparent lingering bitterness ... –Media Decoder, “On Late-Night Terevision, Hosts Jab Each Other,” New York Times, 14 Jan. 2010

HE waked up late next day after a broken sleep. But his sleep had not refreshed him; he waked up bilious, irritable, ill-tempered, and looked with hatred at his room. –Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), “Crime and Punishment,” Part I, Chapter III

[D. Allan]

http://www.theknittingvault.com/f_display/Lace%20Fichu_std.jpg

fichu (FEE – shoe) noun

1. a small lightweight triangular shawl worn around a woman’s shoulders and neck and crossed or tied in a loose knot at the breast.

2. a triangular cloth worn over a woman’s head and fastened under the chin or behind the head.

origins: 1803, from Fr. fichu, apparently a noun use of the adj. fichu “carelessly thrown on.” –Online Etymology Dictionary

Speaking of this soft shoulder drapery the fichu Is forging its way strongly... –“What the Well-Dressed Women Are Wearing,” -New York Times, 02 Jan. 1910

She had a bold, self-satisfied look, and her cap, edged with three lace flounces, her silk apron, and her fichu of fine black lace were little in accord with the staid and sober widow he had pictured to himself. –George Sand, The Devil’s Pool, XI. The Belle of the Village

The first time I visited Pamela, she was dressed in pink from head to toe in an empire-line frock with lace fichu and fluffy bolero, all home-made; at 88 she has rosy cheeks and soft wavy hair and looks girlishly pretty. –Jane Wheatley, “Valley girl: The circle of life,” The London Times, 18 Oct. 2008

Her hair tumbling free of its knot, the pink-flushed Queen reclines against a velvet cushion. The fichu of her frock curves across what is surely a heaving breast. –“Beneath the Starch, Victoria’s secret,” The Times of London, 12 March 2010

[D. Allan]

hap noun

1. unexpected good luck

2. chance, fortune, fate, happenchance, hazard

hapless adjective

haply adverb

c.1200, from O.N. happ "chance, good luck," –Online Etymology Dictionary

Loving goes by haps: Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. –Shakespeare

…could do little more than sit there, looking - well, hapless. It means unlucky, hap meaning fortune, and less meaning without. So Ms Hyslop lacks good fortune. –Magnus Linklater:Holyrood Sketch,”All the cross-party halllmards of hapless,” The Times of London, 27 March 2009

…most significant books of poetry of this past decade was The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson (2001), a tale of marital haps and mishaps… “Books of the Decade: The Critics’ Choices,” The Times (London), 16 Nov 2009

The idea is to be afloat, literally and metaphorically, inviting the hap and hazard of things. –The Times of London, “Literally superb,” 10 August 2003

It was heavy hap for that hero young

On his lord beloved to look and find him

Lying on earth with life at end,… Beowulf

Ill-omened dreams, too, with diverse visions often give me pause, and no day passes but brings some inauspicious hap. –“The Rape of Proserpine,” by Claudian

…and in part to repaire and reforme the same, if haply by some iniurious accident they were defaced. –Pliny

[Gail]

Is this word in the KJV? I've seen it before somewhere...

[John317]

Ruth 2:3

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. (KJV)

Ruth 2:3

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

[Gail]

Ruth 2:3

And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. (KJV)

Ruth 2:3

So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.

If you interpret this in the other sense, it was her very good fortune to find Boaz' field as well!

[John317]

Yes, and sometimes what people may say is just "chance" or "luck" is actually providential. I'm sure in the instance of Ruth, it was.

[D. Allan]

Also the adverb haply is used:

1 Sam 14:30

Mark 11:13

Luke 14:29

Acts 5:39

Acts 17:27

2 Cor 9:4

[D. Allan]

fey adjective

1. strange in any of several unusual ways: eccentric, whimsical, fairylike, otherworldly, magical

2. seeming to be touched in the head or crazy

3. Scots, doomed to die, full of the sense of coming death

feyness noun

feyly adverb

origin: Our word fay, “fairy, elf,” the descendant of Middle English faie, “a person or place possessed of magical properties,” and first recorded around 1390, goes back to Old French fae, “fairy,” the same word that has given us fairy. Fae in turn comes from Vulgar Latin Fāta, “the goddess of fate,” from Latin fātum, “fate.” If fay goes back to fate, so does fey in a manner of speaking, for its Old English ancestor fǣge meant “fated to die.” The sense we are more familiar with, “magical or fairylike in quality,” seems to have arisen partly because of the resemblance in sound between fay and fey. –Americian Heritage Dictionary

What, I wonder, would the great swordsman Errol Flynn have made of Johnny Depp’s fey, capering performance in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”? David Denby, ‘High Seas,’ The New Yorker, July 28, 2003

... they set about their fey wisps of songs with the frailty of a band weakened by vegan food... –Mark Beaumont, ‘C86 influences new branch of the family twee,’ The Times of London, May 29, 2009

David Pleat's skips and hands-to-the-sky gestures as he ran on to the pitch may have looked a little fey, but they were a charming outpouring of pure, non-aggressive joy. –Tom Dart, ‘The greatest managerial post-match celebrations,’ The Times of London, April 29, 2010

This silliness clashes irritatingly with the bloody violence of the murder: indeed the leaps from gruesome to fey sometimes drew laughter from the audience. –Kate Muir, ‘The Lovely Bones,’ The London Times, Feb. 19, 2010

“Weep for thy brethren

Weep for thy sweet sons,

And thy nighest kinfolk

Laid by the fight-side!

Yea, and thou Gudrun,

May’st greet for us twain

Sitting fey on our steeds

Doomed in far lands to die.” - from “The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs: The Lay of Hamdir"

[D. Allan]

nonplus (nan pluhs ) verb

to utterly perplex or bewilder someone so that they cannot think what to do, say, or think.

From Latin non plus (“‘no more, no further’”)

Synonyms: baffle, confound, confuse, dumbfound, perplex, puzzle

related words:

nonplused

nonplusing

It’s enough to nonplus an estate agent. Part idyllic hobbit cottage, part modern eco-experiment, an offbeat self-build home that defies description... The Sunday Times (UK), May 23, 2004

there is a nice background to the verb nonplus, which means "to make utterly perplexed"; it goes, "The original Latin phrase was 'non plus ultra,' meaning 'no more beyond,' allegedly inscribed on the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which no ship could safely sail." –William Safire, ‘On Language; Gifts of Ga,’ NYTimes, Dec. 3, 1995

The selections of unfamiliar past art in “After Nature” nonplus the viewer, by evident design. –Peter Schjeldahl, ‘Feeling Blue,’ The New Yorker, August 4, 2008

non-plus Noun:

a state of extreme perplexity and confusion

… and so I left him, being driven to a non-plus at the critical aspect of my terrible countenance. –Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta

[D. Allan]

repine verb

1. to feel or express dejection or discontent; to be low in spirits

2. to continue in sadly yearning for something or someone

repiner noun

origins: mid-15c., probably from re-, intensive prefix, + pine (v.) "yearn."

"I cannot let this day of rejoicing pass, dear Mary," he began, "without some communication with you. I am thankful for the many among the past that I have passed with you, and the remembrance of them fills me with pleasure. For those on which we have been separated we must not repine. If it will make us more resigned and better prepared for what is in store for us, we should rejoice.” –Robert E. Lee in a letter to his wife, Mary; from a biography of R.E.Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman, 1934, Ch.36, p.620

CERTAINLY that man were greedy of life, who should desire to live when all the world were at an end; and he must needs be very impatient, who would repine at death in the society of all things that suffer under it. –Sir Thomas Browne, “Religio Medici”

O why the deuce should I repine,

And be an ill foreboder?

I’m twenty-three, and five feet nine,

I’ll go and be a sodger! -Robert Burns (1759-1796), Poems and Songs.

...a breach of manners to show any kind of emotional perturbation at all, and that one should neither rejoice at triumph nor repine at misery but treat both impostors with the same glassy, gentlemanly indifference. –Jane Shilling, “Get mad, drunk or lustful, just don’t start blubbing,” The Times (London), 15 Oct. 2004

And if thy reading secures thee not serenity, what profits it?—“Nay, but it doth secure it,” quoth he, “and that is why I repine at being deprived of it.”— The Golden Sayings of Epictetus (c. A.D.50-c. A.D. 138)

[D. Allan]

suasion noun

an act of persuading or influencing as opposed to force or compulsion

origin : 14th century, late Middle English from Old French suasion, or Latin suasio(n-), from suadere “to urge.”

Related words:

- suasive adjective

- suasively adverb

- suasiveness noun

In vain will He with words

Or suasion’s honeyed charms

Soothe me, nor will I tell

Through fear of His stern threats… -Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), “Prometheus Bound,” at line 197

… and by advice, suasion, and a surveillance which grew more obvious at each remove, till at last he realized the inevitable, the tribunes and centurions haled him to Rome. –Tacitus, ‘The Annals’ Bk. II

…President Clinton was schooled in the dynamics and the territorial details of negotiation; and yet he failed to muster sufficient suasion to prevent the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories … David Remnick, “One Way Out,” The New Yorker, 15 April 2002

Moral suasion and sustained bargaining, the proven mechanisms of nuclear restraint in addition to deterrence, interest this Administration much less. –Steve Coll, “Nuke Rebuke,” The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2006

…each side could count on obdurately instinctive supporters in the other camp who could not be moved by any form of suasion, and reason least of all. - Edward Luttwak, ‘Tales of the Cold War,’ The Times of London, 22 March 2006

Still, as a nervous 17-year-old in the mid-1960s, Amis can easily remember how “going to bed was suasion over a long period. … -Camilla Long, ‘Martin Amis: “I’m in s funk”,’ The Sunday Times of London, 26 Jan 2010

[D. Allan]

rodomontade noun

much empty talk or pretentious vain boasting

origin: 1610s, "vain boasting like that of Rodomonte," character in Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso." The name means lit. "one who rolls (away) the mountain" in dialectal Italian.-Online Etymology Dictionary

... and as the occasion for the challenge is the desire for self-glory and advertisement, they are seasoned with some amount of rodomontade. ... “The Carousel,” New York Times, 03 May 1896

. Dr. Brann's rodomontade could not possibly influence thoughtful men, who take a broad, practical view of public affairs. – “Father Brann’s Address,” The New York Times, 23 Feb. 1903

…the case with Penn, who is unable to stop talking. Like a sideshow barker, he gabs his way through a rodomontade spiel in which he needles his fellow magicians, fools the audience and foils his partner. –Mel Gussow, Review/Theater, New York Times, 04 April 1991

Dostoyevsky’s detractors have faulted him for erratic, even sloppy, prose and what Nabokov, the most famous of the un-fans, calls his “gothic rodomontade.” -David Remnick, “The Translation Wars,” The New Yorker, 07 Nov. 2005

...simply trying to fill the void, the chasm of childlessness, with inane chatter, shiny baubles and rodomontade. –The Times (London), 02 May 2009

[D. Allan]

unconscionable adj.

1. not controlled by conscience, unscrupulous, unprincipled

2. excessive, more than a reasonable or acceptable level or amount

origins: 1560s, "showing no regard for conscience," from un- + now rare conscionable "conscientious.” Online Etymology Dictionary

unconscionably (adv.)

unconscionableness (n.)

What is unconscionable about this lamentable evening is that, in pondering the nature of Time, the authors waste ours. -John Lahr, The Theatre, ‘Baby Hunger,’ The New Yorker, 10 June 2002

Christmas is a time to revel and indulge in foolish behaviour, merrymaking and loud laughter, spending an unconscionable amount on food and feasting. –Robin Young, ‘I just can’t get no satisdiction…’ The Times of London, 02 Dec. 2003

Iran must repeal this grotesque law on stoning. Anything less is unconscionable. – ‘An Act of Barbarism,’ The Times of London, 07 July 2010

It is oft found likewise that divers unconscionable dealers have one measure to sell by and another to buy... ‘A Description of Elizabethan England,’ Harvard Classics, Chapter IV “Of Fairs and Markets,”

[D. Allan]

epigone noun

a less distinguished or mediocre imitator or disciple of someone else, especially of an artist or philosopher

origin: “undistinguished scions of mighty ancestors,” (sometimes in L. plural form epigoni), from Gk. epigonoi, in classical use with reference to the sons of the Seven who warred against Thebes, pl. of epigonos “born afterward” from epi- + -gonos, from root of gignesthai “to be born” related to genos "race, birth, descent." -Online Etymology Dictionary

related words:

epigonic adjective

epigonism noun

epigonous adjective

Careful to a fault at times, Goodman regrets having passed up a chance at the Belgian painter Luc Tuymans in the early nineties, deciding that he was a pale epigone of Richter. Peter Schjeldahl, “Dealership,” The New Yorker, 02 Feb. 2004

“Further, I am suspicious of criticism as the literary genre which, more than any other, recruits epigones, pedants without insight, intellectuals without love. “ -W. H. Auden, as quoted by Louis Menand in “Bad Comma,” The New Yorker, 29 June 2004

More recently, it has had a James Joyce epigone in the Australian novelist John Baxter, whose richly enjoyable Pound of Paper is a portrait of the artist as a young book... Kevin Jackson, “Letters: Toklien’s Gown by Rick Gekoski,” The Sunday Times (of London), 07 Nov. 2004

And while Judt has few good words for Margaret Thatcher, he might try to see that she compares favorably with her epigone Blair at every point, not least in her far less servile attitude toward Washington. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, “Through the Past, Darkly,” The New York Times, 20 April 2008

Against the gauchiste line of Sartre and his epigones, James defends the humane liberalism of Raymond Aron and his intellectual progeny,… Adam Bresnick, “Is Clive James the new Montaigne?,” The Times (of London), 12 Sept. 2007

[D. Allan]

…to the human species becoming increasingly childlike during the past million years or so. The value of this trend, called neoteny, has been that it has resulted in human beings retaining their childlike sense of playfulness and curiosity well into adulthood... Desmond Morris, “What makes men unfaithful,” The Times (of London), 11 Dec. 2007

neotony noun

the retention in a species of juvenile traits into adulthood; juvenilization

origin: 1901, from Ger. neotenie (1884), from Gk. neos "young" + teinein "to extend." –Online Etymology Dictionary

neotonous adjective

The next time you see a mother of three head-banging to death metal or a 50-year-old man sporting a faux-hawk, don’t laugh. According to Bruce Charlton, a doctor and psychology professor at Newcastle University in Britain, what looks like immaturity — or in Charlton’s kinder terms, the “retention of youthful attitudes and behaviors into later adulthood” — is actually a valuable developmental characteristic, which he calls psychological neoteny. Clay Risen, “Psychology Neoteny,” The New York Times, 10 Dec . 2006

Now, in ''Growing Young,'' Mr. Montagu presents anthropological, psychological and biological support for ''neoteny,'' or the process of growing young instead of old. According to him, there is considerable evidence that the human organism is designed by nature to retain the experimentalism and flexibility of the child all through life. –Anatole Broyard, “Books of The Times; The Cast for Neoteny,” The New York Times,12 Dec. 1981