Adamitism : Nakedness for religious reasons
After getting arrested for streaking the baseball game, Dolph told the police officer that wearing handcuffs conflicted with his belief in adamitism and might jeopardize his chances in the hereafter.
Anagnorisis: The moment of recognition or discovery
Carmichael focused the camera on his wife’s face, waiting to catch the look of anagnorisis when she had realized that he had taken out the garbage without having being asked.
Ludibrium: mockery, derision
Though she had prepared herself for the meeting with the Japanese investors by studying several language tapes, Cynthia’s idea to wear a kimono ultimately led to much ludibrium as she found the company to be entirely made of British ex-pats.
Suzerainty: Absolute or supreme dominion, Overlordship
The passengers rode in a terrified silence, for under the suzerainty of bus driver Millie “Iron Fist” McGuillicutty, there would be no talking, humming, or excessive sneezing.
Postprandial: Occurring after a meal, especially dinner.
I found out the hard way that a documentary on tropical parasites was not ideal postprandial television.
Catholicon: panacea, cure-all
In the early 1900’s, the automobile was seen as an ecological catholicon against the pollution caused by the prevalent form of transportation: the horse-drawn carriage.
Today’s S-UWTOD was inspired by an article I read on mental_floss about the problems caused by the massive quantities of horse effluent in cities around the late 19th/early 20th century, not to mention the thousands of horse carcasses left rotting in the streets.
The article also got me thinking about the trade-offs that technology give us. Cars helped clean up the horse pollution but may have ended up causing a worse state in the long run. As we’re frantically trying to “greenify” to make up for hundreds of years of industrial pollution et cetera, a few moments should be taken to consider what side effects these alternatives may cause later on. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs are much more efficient than incandescent bulbs in most applications, but how much mercury will end up in our landfills and groundwater because of them?
Although it’s been a feature on my radio show for over a year, I somehow haven’t managed to post anything online about a weekly bit called that I call the Semi-Useless Word of the Day. I basically find an archaic/obsolete/highly-specialized word that you generally wouldn’t encounter in day-to-day life and write some sort of comedic sentence to illustrate its use. Luckily, I don’t have to thumb through worm-eaten lexicons to do so thanks to some fine websites such as the Phrontistery, Grandiloquent Dictionary, and Worthless Word for the Day. For starters, here’s my most recent SUWOTD:
Marmoreal: resembling marble, as in smoothness, whiteness, or hardness
Many beachgoers were blinded by the marmoreal belly of Mr. St. Alphonzo, a retired dental floss tycoon who had just moved to the Keys from Montana.