Rod's Word of the Day

Word of the day: cypher Context: He counts votes and secures them, and he uses the rulebook to achieve narrow victories, but when it come to policy-the substances of legislation-he's a cyphe r whose only real guidestar seem to be the maintenance of political power. Source: Reason , February 2019, p10, The McConnell Era Has Been Terrible For American Politics , by Peter Suderman. Cypher:   ci·pher [ˈsīfər] NOUN cypher (noun) a secret or disguised way of writing; a code. "He was writing cryptic notes in a cipher" · [more] synonyms: code · secret writing · coded message · cryptograph · cryptogram dated a zero; a figure 0. synonyms: zero · nought · nil · 0 · naught a monogram. synonyms: numeral · number · integer · figure · digit · character · symbol · sign. A person or thing of no value or importance; nonentity. VERB cypher (verb) put (a message) into secret writing; encode. archaic do arithmetic. Comment

Word of the day: Chelonian Context : McConnell, the chelonian senior senator from Kentucky is almost certainly the most influential Republican in either chamber. Source: Reason , Febuary 2019, p10, The McConnell Era Has Been Terrible For American Politics , by Peter Suderman. Chelonian: che·lo·ni·an,  /kəˈlōnēən/, Zoology,  noun: chelonian; plural noun: chelonians; adjective: chelonian 1. a reptile of the order Testudines (formerly Chelonia ); a turtle, terrapin, or tortoise. adjective: chelonian 1. relating to or denoting chelonians.

Word of the day: Perfidy Context: The president clearly meant that Comey had been falsely depicting him as complicit in Russia's perfidy , but Democrats pounced, spinning Trup's statemetn as admission that Comey .... Source: National Review; April, 22, 2019; p 19. Perfidy: per·fi·dy [ˈpərfədē] NOUN literary deceitfulness; untrustworthiness. Comment: This is pretty easy to figure out, or at least approximate, from the context but when asking myself if I could define the word if not in context, I could not. 

Word of the day: Sagacity. Context: Andrew Marshall was famed for his expertise and sagacity, and eventually his longevity. Source : National Review ; April 22, 2019; p 14 Sagacity: sa·gac·i·ty, [səˈɡasədē], NOUN, the quality of being sagacious. Sagacity definition, acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgment.

Word of the day: Priapic Context: Meanwhile, Tristana drives her servant's (Jesus Fernandez) - whose deafness shields him from pious admonitions - to priapic distraction while, already damned in her own eyes, she seeks revenge on Don Pope and cloaks her schemes in the garb of decency. Source: The New Yorker; March, 11, 2019; p8. Priapic: pri·ap·ic, [prīˈapik], ADJECTIVE,   relating to or resembling a phallus. "priapic carvings." Relating to male sexuality and sexual activity."priapic cartoons." medicine: (of a male) having a persistently erect penis.

Word:  Hermeneutic Context: Madison adopted what Meyers diplomatically calls "statesman's hermeneutic" to scuttle what he believed was a terrible deal. Source: National Review ; Feb. 5, 2018, p 39; The Mind of a Founder , by Jay Cost. Hermeneutic : her·me·neu·tic, hərməˈn(y)o͞odik. adjective: 1 . concerning interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary texts. noun: 1 . a method or theory of interpretation. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Modern hermeneutics includes both verbal and non-verbal communication as well as semiotics, presuppositions, and pre-understandings.

Word of the day: Hagiography Context: He is an obvious admirer of his subject, bhe his work never lapses in hgiography Source: National Review; Feb., 5, 2018; p 38; The Mind of a Founder, by Jay Cost. Hagiography: hag·i·og·ra·phy, haɡēˈäɡrəfē , noun ,  the writing of the lives of saints. Derogatory, adulatory writing about another person. Biography that idealizes its subject.

Word: Scabrous Context : For the two decades that he edited the scabrous and insightful U. K. -based web magazine Spiked, Brendan O' Neil, an occasional Reason contributor has described himself- perhaps with a wee bit of provocation - as a "libertarian Marxist." Source : Reason , May 2019, p 12. The Populist Temptation , by Matt Welch. Scabrous: scab·rous, / ˈskabrəs /, adjective , 1 . rough and covered with, or as if with, scabs. 2 . indecent; salacious. Comment : There are some words that I feel I should know and that I am embarrassed to admit that I don't and this is one of them. I know I have seen this word used before. I am not unfamiliar with it but  could not define it.

Irenicism, Demimonde, Anodyne,  Zugzwang, Grokking, Ebullience,  Sotto Voce, Davos,  Duat,  Exocet, Malevolence,  Epistemic, Tijuana bibles, Prescient, Giamattian, Scioned.

Word: Irenicism Context: In hindsight, one can condemn the brutality that marked the Spanish conquest of the Americas as well as the colonial subjugation of other peoples, but the task o f assigning degrees of guilt to specific persons, states, and institution that were involved requires careful sifting of historical evidence, none of which points to the modern parliamentary democracy that is Spain in 2019 or to the present-day Catholic Church, which on question of international conflict is committed to principles of irenicism . Source: National Review ; April 22, 2019; p 11. Irenicism: ireni·​cism. Irenicism in Christian theology refers to attempts to unify Christian apologetical systems by using reason as an essential attribute. The word is derived from the Greek word ειρήνη meaning peace. It is a concept related to natural theology and opposed to polemicism being rooted in the ideals of pacifism. The promotion and support of peace and conciliation.

Word: Demimonde Context: Along for the ride is a friend she makes on particular boozy afternoon-Jock Hock (Richard E.Grant), a flamboyant literary-Brit who has also fallen on hard times while retaining a seedy charm that smooths his progress through New York's gay demimonde . Source: National Review ; Dec. 3, 2018; p 47; Critics Choice by Ross Douthat, Demimonde: [ˈdemēˌmänd] NOUN,(in 19th-century France) the class of women considered to be of doubtful morality and social standing.  A group of people considered to be on the fringes of respectable society.

Word: Anodyne Context: While this may seem anodyne to Americans, whose national identities are tempered by founding documents and a strong republican tradition, nationalism carries far darker connotation in the political mainstream of Europe. Source: National Review, Feb. 11, 2019, P 32, Close Enough, by Peter Rough. Anodyne: an·o·dyne , ˈanəˌdīn ,  adjective adjective: anodyne, not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.

Word: zugzwang Context: But then the Democrats got caught in the same zugzwang that their European neighbors had struggled with before. Source: National Review , April 8, 2019, p 30, The Anti-Semitism Virus by Douglas Murray. Zugzwang: zug·zwang, [ˈzəɡˌzwaNG, ˈtso͞oɡˌtsvaNG], NOUN, a situation found in chess and other games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because they must make a move when they would prefer to pass and not move.

Word: grokking Context: Republicans never fully grokking this about the magazine, were surprised and disappointed over and over. Source: Reason , March 2019, p 4, The Weekly Standard was wrong about almost Everything , by Katherine Mangu-Ward. Grokking: to understand profoundly and intuitively. [coined by Robert A. Heinlein in the science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)]

Word of the day: Ebullience Context: this uproariously macabre tale unfold with an imaginative ebullience incorporating elaborate dream sequences and films-within-a-film .... Source: The New Yorker ;  February 4, 2019; p 10; Pig . Ebullience: e·bul·lience / iˈbo͝olyəns , iˈbəlyəns / noun, ebullience - the quality of being cheerful and full of energy; exuberance. Comment: This is a word that I did not know but from the context would have guessed its meaning and would have guessed it was synonymous with exuberance.

Word : Sotto Voce Context: Returnng to the border, then, imagine it President Trump had sotto voce encouraged Republican governors and his allies in congress to draw attention to the humanitarian and security situation along America's southern border and to the inland effects of illicit cross-border trade. Source: National Review ; Feb. 11, 2019; p 18; Crisis Politics by Luke Thompson. Sotto voce : sot·to vo·ce, / ˌsädō ˈvōCHē /, adverb & adjective, adverb: sotto voce ; adjective: sotto voce (of singing or a spoken remark) in a quiet voice, as if not to be overheard.

Word of the Day: Davos Context: Think of President Trump as an example of the first approach: direct, blunt, and denounced as “bullying” among the Davos set. Source: National Review online, Foreign Policy and the 2020 Presidential Election ,  By Jim Geraghty April 8, 2019  Davos: A municipality in the district of Prättigau/ Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,131. ... Davos is host to the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of global political and business elites and the home of one of Switzerland's biggest ski resorts.

Word of the Day: Duat Context: Third, presidents hope to stack up accomplishment like pharaohs preparing for political Duat , and this makes them disposed to hoard credit. Source: National Review , February 11, 2019, p 16, Crisis Politics , by Luke Thompson. Duat: In ancient Egyptian mythology, the Duat is the underworld or the realm of the dead.

Word: Exocet Word: Malevolence Context: In it Waugh took the opportunity to launch and Exocet assault of the most studied malevolence . Source: National Review , December 3, 2018, The Process of Living by Douglas Murry,  p 43. Exocet: /ˈɛksə(ʊ)sɛt/, noun, trademark, A French-made guided anti-ship missile. Malevolence: ma·lev·o·lence,  [m uh - lev - uh -l uh ns], noun, the quality, state, or feeling of being malevolent; ill will; malice; hatred.

Word of the day: Epistemic Context: If one aspect of democracy is acknowledgment of equality among citizens, then assigning equal epistemic credit to the opinion of all may be the ultimate progression of the democratic ethos. Source: Reason , March 2018, p 48, Democracy in Decline? , by Loren Lomasky. Epistemic: ep·i·ste·mic ˌepəˈstemik,ˌepəˈstēmik, adjective. epistemic: relating to knowledge or to the degree of its validation.

Word: Today's "word" is instead a cultural reference: Tijuana bibles. Context: You know the drill: Like super hero comics, true crime, and Tijuana bibles, it's a "guilty pleasure" with some redeeming artistic and cultural significance. Source: National Review ; December 3, 2018; p 46, Bad Banditti, Bad book ; by Stefan Beck, Tijuana bible: Tijuana Bibles, also known as eight-pagers or dirty little books, were small eight-page publications of cartoon erotica and pornography that became popular during the 1930s and 1940s.

Word of the Day: prescient Context: That remark proved all too prescient. Source: National Review , February, 2019,  p9 Prescient : pre·scient, [ˈpreSH(ē)ənt], adjective. Prescient: having or showing knowledge of events before they take place. Comment: This is one of those words which was not new to me. No doubt I had seen it many times, but I could not define it. 

Word: Giamattian Context: I get a similar feeling reading some of the rave reviews for Can You Ever Forgive Me? , in which Melissa McCarthy trades in her broad crowd-pleasing comedy for a grumpy, Giamattian performance as the misanthropic celebrity biographer Lee Israel. Source: National Review ; December 3, 2018; p 47; Critics Choice , by Ross Douthat. Giamattian : I can not find the word in this form but it appears to be an adjective to describe something reflective of or in the style of Paul Giamatti. Paul Giamatti is an American actor best known for leading roles in the films American Splendor (2003), Sideways (2004), and Barney's Version (2010), and lots more. For a bio, follow this link .

Word: scioned Context: Powell's relations with girls were fairly disastrous until he met of the grandly scioned Pakenham clan and persuaded her to marry him despite his lack of money and prospects. Source: National Review , December 3, 2018, The Process of Living by Douglas Murray, p 42. Scioned: past tense of scion. Scion: [ sahy - uh n], Noun, a descendant, heir, or young member of a family.

I have been mostly retired for about the last three years.  Unfortunately, I am not doing what I want with my retirement due to the confines of caring for my invalid wife.  Still, I am making the best of it.  I do not have near as much time in retirement as I thought I would and sometimes wonder where the time goes.  A lot of my time goes to blogging.  I have blogged for about twelve years, now. My blog, called A Disgruntled Republican , takes a lot of my time.  Much of that time is simply devoted to being informed. One thing I have found in retirement is time to read at a more leisurely pace. I have read National Review most of my adult life, but always was behind on the reading and never took the time to read the "other" parts of the magazine.  I would read the news analysis and feature articles, but seldom read the humor column or the book reviews or movie reviews.  I don't think I had ever read until recently the "Arts and Manners" section.  Now, I have s