Definition (Adjective) Having imperfect perception or discernment; lacking in or incapable of understanding or foresight; dim-witted; stupid. In Context "The purblind day was feebly struggling with the fog, when I opened my eyes to encounter those of a dirty-faced little spectre fixed upon me." Charles Dickens, Bleak House, 1853.
Definition (Noun) An empty, idle boaster; a swaggerer. The talk of such a person, empty vaunting. In Context "A Berlin reviewer wrote of the film that 'there is an outpouring of more unbearable braggadocio here, more bloated bamboozlement and deceit than in a score of Hitler rallies.'" Steven Bach, Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, 2007.
Critical Assessment "Claudia Rankine’s book may or may not be poetry – the question becomes insignificant as one reads on. Her achievement is to have created a bold work that occupies its own space powerfully, an unsettled hybrid – her writing on the hard shoulder of prose. She eavesdrops on America and a racism that has never gone away. Citizen won the National Book Critics Circle poetry award in the US in recognition, partly, of the shocking truth it tells. Through brief encounters and troubling retellings of recent news, Rankine puts one, as a white reader, on constant alert for any unconscious racism in oneself. [...]
Defining, Understanding, and Embracing the Serial Comma The serial comma, also known as the Oxford comma or the Harvard comma (because the Oxford and Harvard University Press style guides require it), is the final comma before the coordinating conjunction "and" in a list of three or more items. While many presses in addition to Oxford and Harvard favor the serial comma, newspapers have historically omitted it to save space on the printed page. Reflecting this journalistic preference, our own Office of Communications recommends its omission in the case of "print and electronic materials written for and about Princeton University" unless "it [...]
Definition (Noun) Melodramatic or hysterical behaviour, typically intended to attract attention. Usually depreciative. In Context "Such histrionics, the account complained, were an affront to good taste and privacy." Harry S. Stout, The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism, 1991.
Critical Assessment "This picture of Prince Edward Island life and character by a Prince Edward Islander of genius, Miss L. M. Montgomery, cannot fail to delight every Canadian who reads it. It is only necessary to read a few pages of the book to be assured that "Anne of Green Gables" is in conception and style, the fruit (the first fruit, we believe) of a richly endowed mind of rare imaginative capacity. Her scenes and the personages with which she peoples them become real as one reads." "Recent New Books," The Gazette, August 14, 1908. First Excerpt "'I can't feel exactly [...]
Best Practices: Avoiding Jargon Sometimes, particularly in the business world, we hear a different brand of English. It sounds something like this: “It's time that we became uber-efficient with our integrated reciprocal consulting. I can make a window to discuss your interactive management options. Our upgraded model now offers homogenized incremental programming and knowledge-based modular innovation.” Huh? It’s hard to decipher what the sentences above are actually trying to communicate. They came, by the way, from the “gobbledygook generator.” They are made of jargon, which is proliferating at an alarming rate in the business world, the sports world, the university, and most [...]
Definition (Noun) A name given to a cat; hence, a cat, especially an old she-cat; contemptuously applied to a jealous or imperious old woman. In Context "Every day he sat on the window ledge, purring in the sun, as happy and contented a grimalkin as ever lived." H. Maria George, "The Old Widow and Her Cat," St. Nicholas, August 1905.
Definition (Adjective) Ill-sounding, having a harsh or unpleasant sound. In Context "Initially, you hear a cacophonous mixture of loud rock music, news broadcasts, and noisy static as though you were listening to dozens of radio stations simultaneously." Neil deGrasse Tyson, Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, 2007.
Definition (Adjective) To be deplored or lamented; lamentable, very sad, grievous, miserable, wretched. Now chiefly used of events, conditions, circumstances. In Context "There is a deplorable tendency to refer to others with whom we do not agree as 'reds,' 'communists,' 'fascists,' 'atheists,' 'radicals,' and other choice epithets." "No Time for Racial Hatreds Among American Citizens," The Capital Times, October 19, 1939.
