Academic Drivel

Spelling Issues

2009-11-06T17:23:00.000-08:00

Just one really -- The word definitely? Yeah, it doesn't have an a in it... anywhere... seriously. So, for the love of all that is decent, please, stop trying to give it one.

I'm not talking to anyone in particular here. Just venting.

That's NOT Funny...

2009-05-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

Today's Word:

risible: (adjective) Exciting or provoking laughter; worthy of laughter; laughable; amusing [riz-uh-bull]

I couldn't resist doing another one today. This one is a new word to me, but I like it because it makes me think of my day today. It was a teacher work day. I've never worked on curriculum stuff with elementary teachers before, so I didn't realize how humorless they are when it comes to work. They are all business, and they don't seem to like it if anyone else is funny. So every time I made what I believed to be a risible comment, I got the evil eye.

Secondary teachers, on the other hand, develop quite the sense of humor. It's a survival skill, really. So risible comments are rarely wasted on them -- especially middle school teachers. If you don't laugh, you don't stay sane.

Corner! NOW!

2009-05-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today's Word:

relegate: (verb) to send or assign to an inferior position, place, or condition [rel-uh-gate]

Whenever I get into trouble in teacher meetings for making sarcastic comments at inappropriate times (like that ever happens) I am relegated to the corner. Though I'm sure none of you can picture me doing such a thing...

Give It Up

2009-01-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today's Word:

acquiesce: (verb) submit or comply silently or without protest; agree; consent [ak-wee-ess]

I'm having trouble thinking of examples to add... hmm... Oh! When my children want a toy or a treat, they will whine or throw fits (sometimes). They know instinctively with whom this method is most effective. Grandma will almost certainly acquiesce if she encounters the least bit of resistance.

Can't Stand Ya!

2008-12-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Today's Word:

bete noire: (noun) something or someone particularly hated or avoided [bet nwar] -- the direct translation from French is "black beast".

I suppose if I mention names here I'll get myself into trouble...

I avoid my bete noire at all costs. She is as unpleasant a person as anyone I've ever met. Again, I won't mention any names, but I will tell you my bete noire was the reason I had to make my blog "by invitation only".

Just Make Up Your Mind, Already!

2008-11-13T18:41:00.000-08:00

Today's Word:

vacillate: (verb) to waver; to show indecision [va-sill-late]

When I ask my daughter what she wants to eat for dinner, she vacillates between a peanut butter sandwich and macaroni and cheese every night. Tough decision, apparently.

There are certain people who vacillate so much, you can't can't stand to go to the movies with them, or out to eat, because they just won't make a decision! You all know someone like that -- hopefully it's not me you're thinking of....

That's Preposterous!

2008-11-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today's Word:

preposterous: (adjective) ridiculous [pruh-pa-stir-us]

This is one of the words on the vocabulary list for my students this week. I used it an awful lot last Friday as I was letting my boss know how inane I thought it was to have midterms come out after only three weeks. Luckily, she has a good sense of humor, and found my use of large words endearing... or at least, she pretended to. The good news is we were able to push back the midterm deadline to next week!

See what using polysyllabic words can do for you!?

Okay, so that word was definitely preposterous!

When I Was a Child, I Spake as a Child -- When I Became an Adult... I Didn't Do Much Better

2008-10-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

puerile: (adjective) childish; immature [pure-aisle]

This word comes in handy when describing my clientele and my husband (from time to time). Not that he'd appreciate me telling you that, but I'm thinking it probably goes without saying. If you know him, you've already noticed he's puerile.

Most of the boys in my classes are puerile. Frankly, I don't know how their female counterparts can stand them... but then again, they're a bit puerile as well. So it all evens out somehow. The longer I hang out with the middle school crowd, the more puerile I begin to act. Just read my sonnet, "Ode to a Boogar". It doesn't take long for me to regress.

Now It Just Sounds Like We're Making Stuff Up

2008-10-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

frangible: (adjective) easily broken [fran-juh-bull]

Have you ever heard people say "edjamacated" when they are satirizing how well they were educated? Well, this word sounds like someone was doing that. I mean, really... if it means fragile and you are going to use a word that sounds like fragile, why not just say fragile!? Probably one day someone writing a thesaurus thought there weren't enough synonyms for the word fragile, so he or she just made one up. It's ridiculous.

Or maybe --

The original word WAS frangible, and some post office somewhere made a typo when ordering their HANDLE WITH CARE stamp, and it just caught on. Evolution of language is a crazy thing. You never know when a word will be so frangible, it can become obsolete because of poetic quality, spelling errors, or just sheer laziness.

I Detest Asinine People

2008-10-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

dullard: (noun) a dull or stupid person [dull-urd]

This is one I just put on the kids' list for this next vocabulary test. Funny thing -- we play Balderdash on the Friday before we start the new list. Dullard was the only word they still remembered from this last Friday! I guess we all can relate to the word, since we all know at least one dullard.

Examples:

If I never have to deal with another dullard in my life again, it will be too soon. Considering the grades on the unit test, I must have a whole class full of dullards. Laugh and show your ignorance; speak and prove you're a dullard.

Just so you know, I don't really go around thinking everyone is a dullard. In my opinion, only someone who doesn't bother trying is a dullard. Man, I really ought to find some more uplifting words!

You Pompous Windbag!

2008-10-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

bloviate: (verb) to talk very pompously and at great length [blow-vee-ate]

Essentially, this is talking like a pompous windbag. I can see by the look on your face that you're thinking I bloviate. Well, when you say it like that, it doesn't sound like a very nice word, but anyway... I'm not long-winded (unless I'm writing). Pompous, maybe, but I don't think I've ever been accused of talking too much -- except in 2nd grade, but that's a story for another blog.

It seems kind of ironic to use the term bloviate, because we usually associate people who use an expatiated vocabulary with pompous windbags. So technically, using the word bloviate could earn you a reputation for bloviating. :)

(You may want to read that paragraph again, because it seems a bit ambiguous. Does it only make sense inside my head?)

I picture a know-it-all kind of guy (in my head, it has to be a man -- bloviating just doesn't seem like a feminine characteristic). The kind of guy who loves to hear himself talk and ALWAYS has to be right . . . regardless. Sounds like a couple of my brothers-in-law, actually. Proverbs would define a fool as one who bloviates -- they don't listen to anyone, and they LOVE to expatiate on their "knowledge" for all to hear.

A loquacious person I can handle. Heck, I married loquacious incarnate! But bloviating just grates on my very last nerve. There's just something about conceit I downright despise. Anybody besides me feel that way?

Just Toss It Out the Window, Why Don't You?

2008-10-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

defenestrate: (verb) to throw out the window [dee-fin-us-trait]

I just like this word. It's fun to say.

Every year when I'm doing my poetry unit, and we get to the invented language poem, someone (usually me, I'm not gonna lie) adds this word to the list of words we like the sound of. Plus -- you know -- sometimes I felt like defenestrating some of the students, so it all fits together somehow.

When I was little, one of my siblings defenestrated a push-up container (remember those?) while we were driving through town. A policeman pulled my mom over and cited her for littering. That was quite the experience.

Sometimes life is hard. The important thing is to hang in there and resist the temptation to defenestrate yourself. Remember, "This too shall pass."

Chew On This

2008-10-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today's Word:

ruminate: (verb) to chew --OR-- to ponder and reflect [roo-muh-nate]

Examples:
If you spend time ruminating on new concepts or vocabulary, those new things will move into your long-term memory.

Cows live a pretty mundane life. All they do is ruminate the cud all day long.

Who Has the Energy?

2008-10-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today's word:

indefatigable: (adjective) untiring [in-deaf-a-teeg-a-bull]

Examples:
If I were indefatigable, I'd be able to get a lot more done around the house when I get home from work.

The children are indefatigable when they are making messes around the house, but suddenly become quite somnolent, when it comes time to clean up.

A Lesson from "The Lottery" Re-posted

2008-09-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

Each time I read a story again, I pick up new tidbits I didn’t catch the first or second time (oftentimes even more than that). In this particular case, I was reading “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson for at least the 20th time, but it was the first time I noticed the author used a character named Steve Adams at a critical point in the story, when he hadn’t been mentioned more than in passing before. Since this story is chock full of symbolism, I knew this couldn’t have been coincidental, so I looked more closely at his name and his role in the story.

Steve Adams. Initially the name seems common and not worth the second look, but when you start to analyze it you realize the name bears a strong similarity to the first man and woman in the Bible. Just take off the “St”. So, he represents man — humankind, perhaps. But why put the spotlight on him all of a sudden at the end of the story? Could it be the author wanted to show us a snapshot of human nature? When cruelty and inhumanity is condoned by the majority, there is our human nature jumping right in to the thick of things… right in the front row — like Steve Adams. Steve Adams and Mr. Graves stood right in the front of the crowd which was attacking Tessie Hutchinson with stones. Humanity and death leading the pack.

Human nature is not to stand up for and protect the weak, the scapegoat, the chosen “different” ones. Human nature is to go in for the kill. This is mirrored throughout history. In any society where discrimination, dehumanization and genocide has been condoned, encouraged, or — as in the case of “The Lottery” — mandated, most people will jump right in. We are self-centered by nature. We will follow the crowd just so we don’t become the next victim. We will lead the crowd when we are most afraid of it turning on us. We attack the weak, the wounded, and the people we think are beneath us, if that’s the way the social wind is blowing. Right and wrong exists for us only when we ourselves have become the victims. No, human nature is not “basically good” as Anne Frank believed. Human nature is sick.

To leave it there, however, is depressing and hopeless. Who defends the weak? There are people who do that, you know. It has been known to happen. People who don’t join in when the gossip and rumors and abuse and mistreatment are flowing like the Mississippi River. There are those who stand against the current and protect those who cannot defend themselves, even at their own peril. They don’t give into human nature. Heroes like Corrie ten Boom, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many, many others. What inspires these to act on behalf of the victims, when there is nothing in it for them?

A woman named Eva Fogelman interviewed more than three hundred people who hid and rescued Jews during WWII, and she checked their stories with the Jews they had saved and with official records. She was looking for the common motivating factor in people who risk their lives to help others. Her conclusion? In many cases the critical motive was religious faith. They believed God wanted them to step up (paraphrased from Catholic Heroes of the Holocaust). That’s not human nature. That is the very nature of God.

Resources: Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery”. The Lottery and Other Stories. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2nd ed.; New York, 2005. The Augustine Club. “Catholic Heroes of the Holocaust”. 10 February 1998. Date retrieved: 16 September 2008. from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/heroes.htm.

Waxing Eloquent

2008-09-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just feel like being academic. No real reason. It's just fun to think sometimes. I am finding, however, that to pontificate on a blog which has been pretty "family-news-oriented" historically, simply does not go over well with the readership. With that in mind, I am creating this second blog to air my academic musings. Thinking, of course, is a rare luxury I allow myself only on special occasions, so I may not be prolific on this blog -- but if nothing else, may you find my vocabulary/diction ambiguously expatiated. ;)