Tag Archive | word

Wednesday with momentum and “dry closing.”

Aug31

I am full of chocolate, as T. messaged me that he would like some chocolate. He was very unclear on what sort, just having, it seemed, a vague craving, so I took a walk and bought chocolate mousse, mocha mousse, two chocolate cookies, and beer.

(The beer is not chocolate).

Today’s home-buying adventure is “dry closing:” http://www.fhainfo.com/escrowclosing.htm

It is still unclear how this will delay the beginning of moving in. Or, rather, the beginning of cleaning-and-painting, which is what we plan on spending the weekend doing.

Today is the last day to fill out the donation perk poll: Dreamwidth or LJ. Tomorrow I will collate the results and begin writing! (right now “Spring Break” and “Three-Way” are tied).

[personal profile] meeks has done it again! She’s updated Diapering Dragons (LJ). Check out that wall! More work on Rin is next…

Links of the day: an odd word… and an odder goat.

Vocab:
mam·mon noun, often capitalized ˈma-mən

Definition of MAMMON
: material wealth or possessions especially as having a debasing influence “you cannot serve God and mammon — Matthew 6:24(Revised Standard Version)”

Origin of MAMMON
Middle English, from Late Latin mammona, from Greek mamōna, from Aramaic māmōnā riches

First Known Use: 15th century
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mammon

So, I go back to Addergoole, to some time in the past, and Mike VanderLinden.

Mike had known for months that things were going to go south with Judith, but the woman was so tight about her emotions, he couldn’t get her to say anything. It was when she walked into his studio and wrinkled her nose at him that he knew they could finally be done.

“Mammon,” she pronounced disdainfully.

“Yes, my love,” he grinned, lounging ostentatiously on the silk sheets, “but it’s what keeps a roof over your head.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/123864.html. You can comment here or there.

Tuesday, With a Closing Date

Aug30

Hey, two dates is closer to a habit.

Important things:
* Irene left us a day of rain, that’s it.
* The earthquake shook my work building, just enough to notice it.

Tonight’s dinner was what’s-in-the-cupboard: pasta with tomato-and-sardine sauce
http://www.amazon.com/Roland-Sardines-Tomato-Sauce-5-5-Ounce/dp/B000UZXSZE/ref=sr_1_17?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1314747354&sr=1-17

We have a closing date on The House! Thursday at 3 EST!

Funky links of the day: One murphy bed, two murphy beds, and Fitocracy, which turns out to be pretty cool.

And vocab:in·vei·gle verb in-ˈvā-gəl sometimes -ˈvē-
in·vei·gledin·vei·gling

Definition of INVEIGLE
transitive verb
1 : to win over by wiles : entice
2 : to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle
— in·vei·gle·ment noun
— in·vei·gler noun
Origin of INVEIGLE
Anglo-French enveegler, aveogler, avogler to blind, hoodwink, from avogle, enveugle blind, from Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, lacking eyes
First Known Use: 1539
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inveigle

For this, I present Winter and Spring from Stranded World:

“Your hair looks really nice that way,” Winter’s littlest sister told him in her sweetest voice. “Brings out the blue in your eyes.”

He smirked down at her. “Thank you, Spring. But it will take more than that.”

“But I think it would look nice on me, too,” she said, saccharine dripping from her voice, “and I want to be just like my big brother.”

“You can’t inveigle this one out of me, sweetie,” he told her gently. “I’m sorry. It’s not my decision.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/122525.html. You can comment here or there.

Monday, with a new habit

Aug29

I like other people’s daily posts; why not try one myself?

Yesterday, we made Oops Soup for dinner:
“Oops!” When buying peppers at an Asian market, don’t assume the banana peppers are sweet (two mouthfuls of yogurt and a gulp of milk to stop the burning)
“Oops!” Also, remember WHICH Asian market has the rice you want (the stuff we got is strange, good, but not what we wanted)
“Oops!” (from last week): plan a lunch BEFORE the 2-hour hike – we had chicken carcass for broth.

It turned into something like Thai chili soup with leek, carrots, onions, and a chicken broth. Tasty, and HOT.

Still not king. Err, still no date on the house-closing.

Funky links of the day: hide-away house and Zoom Room, a new take on hideabed.

And back to vocab:
ad·um·brate [a-duhm-breyt, ad-uhm-breyt] Show IPA
verb (used with object), -brat·ed, -brat·ing.
1. to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. to foreshadow; prefigure.
3. to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.
Origin:
1575–85; < Latin adumbrātus shaded (past participle of adumbrāre ), equivalent to ad- ad- + umbr ( a ) shade, shadow + -ātus -ate1
Related forms
ad·um·bra·tion, noun
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adumbrate

For this, I present Shahin from Addergoole at about twelve:

“It’s not precognition,” a young Shahin insisted quietly. “All it does is give me vague ideas and bad dreams, adumbrate the future. That’s it.”

“Adumbrate?” Her aunt lifted an eyebrow, and the petite girl flushed.

“It’s the proper word, Shadowy, faint, concealing. Right?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/121489.html. You can comment here or there.

Vocabulary – New Word of the Day (for the 7th) – Pastiche

Aug10

I took this vocabulary test, and was, being me, a bit miffed at the words I didn’t know. But I wrote them down, so I have a new word-a-day for the next month! (I’m not sure how I didn’t know this one, honestly)

Today’s word is Pastiche

1: a literary, artistic, musical, or architectural work that imitates the style of previous work; also : such stylistic imitation
2 a : a musical, literary, or artistic composition made up of selections from different works : potpourri
b : hodgepodge
— pas·ti·cheur noun

Origin of PASTICHE
French, from Italian pasticcio

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pastiche?show=0&t=1312997828

This one was actually hard to find a setting to use it in.

Dinner was, because we were feeling artistic, a pastiche: Indian spice mixes, Polish sausage, Japanese rice. American-grown wine of German grapes topped it off.

Not quite… Hrmm..

“Your work seems to be a pastiche, an imitation of several famous styles…” The customer, probably a college kid and his eyes trailing over Autumn’s tattoos rather than the art on the table, kept going, but Autumn had stopped paying attention. When he stopped talking, she asked, as gently as she had patience for (not much; it had been a long day and her feet hurt),

“So, you like it?”

He coughed, and blushed crimson. “…yeah.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/104427.html. You can comment here or there.

Vocabulary! New word of the Day – Uxoricide

Aug9

I took this vocabulary test, and was, being me, a bit miffed at the words I didn’t know. But I wrote them down, so I have a new word-a-day for the next month!

Today’s word is Uxoricide:

1: [Medieval Latin uxoricidium, from Latin uxor wife + -i- + -cidium -cide] : murder of a wife by her husband
2: [Latin uxor + English -i- + -cide] : a man who murders his wife

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uxoricide

I asked myself, “in which setting would a character kill his wife? Tir Na Cali!

“What got you here?” Only two types of slaves ended up working for the Agency: really exceptional ones, and convicts deemed not yet releasable into the general public. Camden was betting the new guy was the latter. Something in his grey eyes shouted trouble.

“Uxoricide,” he answered, in a voice as dead as his eyes… and no wonder.

“Ux… fuck, man.” Camden took a step back, in case crazy was catching. “You’re lucky you’re still alive.” Grey eyes like that, no way his wife had been anything but a royal.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/103011.html. You can comment here or there.

Vocabulary! New word of the Day – Vibrissa

Aug6

I took this vocabulary test, and was, being me, a bit miffed at the words I didn’t know. But I wrote them down, so I have a new word-a-day for the next month!

Today’s word is vibrissae:

Plural of vibrissa

1: any of the stiff hairs that are located especially about the nostrils or on other parts of the face in many mammals and that often serve as tactile organs
2: any of the stiff hairs growing within the nostrils that serve to impede the inhalation of foreign substance
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/vibrissa

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vibrissae offers in addition:
[From Late Latin vibrissae, nostril hairs, from vibrre, to vibrate; see vibrate.

I haven’t visited the Cali Catpeople in a while…, so…

Bay liked the claws; always a small woman, she had learned early to fight dirty, and liked the added advantage of a hidden weapon. She liked the teeth, although they took some getting used to, to talk around, to eat with. But the vibrissae, as their handlers insisted on calling them… those took more than a little adjustment. They felt as if the whole world was pulling on her face with every move.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/100234.html. You can comment here or there.

Vocabulary Fic: Sedulous

Aug5

I took this vocabulary test, and was, being me, a bit miffed at the words I didn’t know. But I wrote them down, so I have a new word-a-day for the next month!

Today’s word is sedulous:
1: involving or accomplished with careful perseverance
2: diligent in application or pursuit

Origin of SEDULOUS
Latin sedulus, from sedulo sincerely, diligently, from sed-, se without + dolus guile — more at suicide
First Known Use: 1540
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedulous

 

So, taking off from our earlier story…

One of Cash’s teachers at the Tower had called him “sedulous,” which had annoyed him until he’d found the dictionary section of the library. He wasn’t a quick learner, but he was dogged, stubbornly sticking to a subject until he’d mastered it.

Warfare had not been a subject that had particularly interested him…

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/99913.html. You can comment here or there.

Breaking In

Aug5

haikujaguar has begun a writing challenge for her Words of the Day: take the four from Mon-Thurs, and work them into a paragraph/story/poem/etc.

This is mine, for the words lenity, cerement, yataghan and adamant. I meant to make it funny, in contrast to the stories that kept wanting to come out of swords and grave-wrappers. I think the words weighted it on me.

“Hey, Cash, what’s this say?” Anemone jabbed a finger at the metal placard on the broken case.

“Yataghan,” Cassius read, “a Turkish saber found in…”

“Cash! What’s this?”

Of the eight, Cassius was the only one whose parents had paid for his schooling at the Tower, and thus the only one who could read with any skill. This old building they’d found, half-buried under the rubble of another one, the gate buckled open just enough for a skinny teen, had him running all over the place, translating for his friends.

He jogged to the other side of the room, staring at the rotted linen Roma was yanking on. “Holies, Rom, don’t do that. That’s…” He peered at the plaque for the correct word. “That’s a gravecloth,” he temporized, “a cerement.” He braced for Roma’s helpful…

“It ain’t cement.”

“Cerement,” he repeated. “They wrapped it around the body. The dead body.”

“Oh!” Finally getting the point, the bigger boy dropped the length of cloth.

“Ca-a-sh!” That was Ona and Ursa in concert, the way they often were. They had no lenity in them, no forgiveness if they were ignored. He jogged down the buckled and cracked floor towards the twins, Roma following him, wiping his hands on his pants and asking questions.

“What is this place, Cash? Some sort of place like the Tower, a Library? What’s with all the broken glass?”

Cassius skidded to a halt by the girls, Roma stopping abruptly behind him. “No,” he said, ignoring the quaver in his voice and the doom his friends would bring down on him for arguing. “No.” He made his voice hard, adamant, even as he backed away from the artifact. “No, it’s…”

“Cash,” Ona snapped. “Read it for us!”

He didn’t need to. He recognized it from the books, from the ones in the room labeled “Never Again.” He didn’t think, here, in the open like this, it could hurt them. Then again, vandals had broken every other case, stolen anything of use, except this, still sealed in its glass.

“It says ‘death,’” he snapped.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/99541.html. You can comment here or there.