From the category archives:

ECLECTIC

PALATE [PAL-it] : the roof of the mouth, a sense of taste, intellectual or aesthetic taste

May 9, 2013

I have intentionally included all three of the most common definitions of the word palate as they are related. But it is in the realm of cuisine that the word palate may have the most interesting application.    Everyone has a palate related to food.  It may be eclectic, in the sense that a person will [...]

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TARANTISM: the uncontrollable need to dance

May 6, 2013

I’m back again to my friend Tara Lafferty, whose birthday was yesterday.  She is a dancer and dance instructor.   But she outdid herself when she introduced me to the word tarantism, which is my word for this day’s posting.   I’ll bet I’m not the only person whose never heard it before.  Enjoy. (You, too, can [...]

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AGILITY: physical or mental quickness

April 17, 2013

I suspect that most of us think of physical activity when we hear the word agility.  In my case it has to do with that quality which has never been attributed to me.  Agility in physical activity implies that the person has lithe, flexible moves, making (him) capable of twisting, turning, and bending to do [...]

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PACKAGE STORE: a shop that sells liquor

April 1, 2013

Places that sell liquor are known by different names all over the world.   In some cases, it seems as if the terms used are meant to “dress up” the product, making it seem less ordinary.    But in many places in the United States, liquor stores are referred to as package stores.    It, too, seems like [...]

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TILL: to cultivate

March 23, 2013

There are any number of definitions of the word till to which I could direct you.   We all know that it is a shortened form of the word until, as in ‘‘I could play bridge till the cows come home.”  It is a very familiar, colloquial word which signifies a period of time … even [...]

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ENGLISH MUFFIN: round, raised muffin cooked on a griddle; usually split and toasted before being eaten

March 2, 2013

I must have been about eight or nine years old when I met my first English muffin.  My father and I were going fishing early one Saturday morning and we stopped at a local diner for a quick breakfast on the way to the trout stream near the Vermont border.  We sat at the counter [...]

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MARCH: the third month of the year; the end of winter; the beginning of early spring

March 1, 2013

This morning I pulled the pin from the wall, flipped the calendar page from February to March, and settled back into my chair to celebrate the beginning of “early spring” in Providence.   Last Sunday we stopped outside the entrance to our parish church where there had been two feet of snow just two weeks ago.  [...]

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MEMORIAL: an object to reflect the memory of someone, such as a plaque or tombstone

February 26, 2013

Every day I go through an intersection at the corner of Smith Street and Oakland Street in Providence.  It is just an ordinary intersection joining two streets in the Smith Hill section of the city, just up the hill from the State House.  It is a mixed use neighborhood with multi-family homes, offices, and a [...]

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NEW ENGLAND WINTER: part of the life cycle one expects if living in New England

February 17, 2013

This morning I read a comment on Facebook which responded to a posting someone created  that we were experiencing another snow storm in New England this morning.   Not a big one.  Just 4-7″ of dry snow, but enough to make a difference.   The comment was from someone in Southern California and stated that they were [...]

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MOLLIFY : pacify; appease

January 26, 2013

To mollify is to bring peace, but it isn’t always seen as a positive thing. It is a word that comes from Old French, meaning “to soften,” often referring to such products as leather or dough. In some cases, to mollify means to coddle, or give in to.  If someone mollifies a dispute by abandoning [...]

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