From the category archives:

POLITICS

OBSEQUIOUS [uhb-SEE-kwee-uhs] : servile, fawning before someone

May 17, 2013

There are some words that carry deeper meanings.  You can look them up in a dictionary and find their literal meanings.  But these words have an attached “edge” to them.  Obsequious is one of them. It is one thing to be polite and respectful of someone.  That’s to be expected in a civilized society.   But [...]

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SCANDAL: the flurry of interest in an offense caused by a fault or misdeed.

May 15, 2013

This has been a week for scandals.  In just a matter of days the media  was bombarded with stories of IRS shenanigans involving Tea Party and other conservative applications for tax-free status, new allegations regarding the Benghazi tragedy, and the report that the Federal Government has allegedly peeked into private communications involving reporters from the [...]

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AUSTERIAN: one who embraces austerity

May 14, 2013

The great global  economic debate has to do with the way in which countries gather and spend money.   That may sound redundant, but it is a way of saying it as simplistically as possible.  We are in the midst of a great economic shift globally so there are lots of people and agencies trying to [...]

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NEED-TO-KNOW: information restricted to those who require involvement

May 12, 2013

  This whole faux-controversy over the Bengazi tragedy is reaching the level of comedy.  The event was a tragedy, but the inquiry into the circumstances has left the tragedy behind and is fast moving toward the ridiculous. Clearly the confusion over the initial statements from the government at the time of the attack on the [...]

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ATROPHY [A-truh-fee]: wasting away as a result of disuse

May 8, 2013

In matters related to the human body, I am intrigued by the concept of atrophy.  It is the phenomenon which occurs when a specific part of the body is not used over a period of time.  The result is that the body part shrivels up and eventually can literally die.  It is a term which [...]

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COWED [koud] : to be subject to fright, intimidation, threats

April 18, 2013

Yesterday was one of the most telling days in the recent history of the United States Senate.   After weeks of platitudes about children dying, parents grieving, and a nation that was prepared to respond appropriately, the Senate cowed to political pressure from the NRA,  the gun industry and right-wing members of the conservative voting community.   [...]

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SCINTILLA [sin-TIL-uh] : a minute particle, tiny

April 12, 2013

Scintilla is a Latin word which means a spark.  In its original Latin form, you might apply the word to the act of panning for gold, for instance, in which a tiny spark or sparkle of gold flashes in the midst of dirt from the creek.  That’s the best I can do in terms of its [...]

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TELLING: revealing, exposing, as in “telling moment”

April 10, 2013

Telling is a word that can have a variety of meanings.  The simplest is, of course, the act of relating something to someone else.   We use the word that way all the time. But my purpose today is to explore the way in which we use the word telling as in the phrase, a telling [...]

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PERNICIOUS [per-NISH-uhs] : deadly, harmful,

April 6, 2013

The word pernicious came into my vocabulary associated with the disease pernicious anemia, a gastric malady having to do with the loss of vitamin B12 and its effect on the gastric system.  For some reason, I picked up this word in my childhood, probably having heard it applied to someone I knew.  I think it [...]

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MORIBUND [MAWR-uh-buhnd]: dying, near death

April 5, 2013

I came across a comment the other day that struck me as incorrect.  The person wrote that the issue of gun control legislation in Congress was moribund.   As I read on, I discovered that the writer was saying that it was “dead on arrival” on the floor of Congress.   Had he not used this term, [...]

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