3 Paws Saloon Attic

oblique \oh-BLEEK\, adjective, noun:

1. something oblique, such as a line or figure
2. in military use, by turning 45 degrees
3. not straight up and down or across; slanting
4. a muscle attached at an oblique angle to the structure that it controls
5. having unequal sides; situated obliquely instead of transverse or longitudinal
6. not straightforward; indirect

Both novels were direct and oblique, not mentioning 9/11 but addressing the question of how you retain your humanity after the unthinkable has entered your life.
-- Charles Taylor, New York Times, 11/21/2008

Theodor Geisel's response to Hitler was more oblique than Stauffenberg's, but as effective. Yertle, king of the pond, commands all the turtles to stack themselves up so he can be top of the heap. Someone's riding for a fall.
-- Telegraph.co.uk, 1/19/2008

by 1425, from Middle French oblique, from Latin obliquus "slanting, sidelong, indirect," from ob "against" + root of licinus "bent upward," from Proto Indo-European base *lei- "to bend, be movable."

narcissism \NAHR-suh-siz-em\, noun:

excessive love or admiration for oneself; in psychoanalysis, gratification manifested in admiration and love of oneself

Dr. Marion Solomon, a Los Angeles psychologist and author of "Narcissism and Intimacy," said that true narcissists are startled when their spouses say they are miserable in the relationship.
-- Jan Hoffman, New York Times, 7/20/2008

They found that the number of "Friends" on a person's Facebook and the number of "wallposts" they have there correlated with their narcissism. That figures, Buffardi suggests, as narcissists tend to have lots of shallow relationships rather than a few solid ones.
-- Jennifer Huget, The Washington Post, 9/26/2008

by 1822, from Greek Narkissos, beautiful youth in mythology (Ovid, "Metamorphosis," iii.370) who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus.

jaded \JEY-did\, adjective:

worn out; tired, weary

The bad guys were potential Islamic extremists. But anywhere, at this jaded stage in the global war on terror, was literally and metaphorically off the map: a remote African laboratory for the long anti-terror struggles of the future.
-- Paul Salopek, Chicago Tribune, 11/18/2008

The dynamism of this U.S. election will have important ripple effects elsewhere. Voters in much of the developing world have become jaded about elections, especially those heavily promoted by the United States.
-- Trudy Rubin, Miami Herald, 11/9/2008

c 1593, of unknown origin, possibly from Old Norse or Icelandic jalda "mare"

lampoon \lam-POON\, noun, verb:

1. a composition that imitates or misrepresents someone's style, usually in a humorous way
2. a light, good-humored satire
3. ridicule with satire

Attendees typically lampoon US presidents with grotesque puppets and caricatures.
-- LA Times

by 1645, from French lampon, of unknown origin, said by French etymologists to be from lampons "let us drink," popular refrain for scurrilous 17th century songs, from lamper "to drink, guzzle," a nasalized form of laper "to lap." The verb is first attested by 1657.

martial \MAHR-shuhl\, adjective:

suitable or used for war; warlike

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him.
-- Charles Wolfe, The Burial of Sir John Moore

by 1420, from Latin martialis "of Mars or war," from Mars, Roman god of war

bilk \bilk\, verb, noun:

1. to defraud; cheat
2. to frustrate
3. to escape from; elude
4. a trick; fraud; deceit.
5. a cheat, swindler

Stuart Levine is a guy who is accused of trying to bilk numerous state agencies - and people seeking help from government agencies - out of millions of dollars.
-- Steve Brown

by 1651, from the noun (1633), first used as a cribbage term. Origin obscure, it was believed in 17th century to be "a word signifying nothing," perhaps of Arab origin; but it is rather perhaps a thinned form of balk. Meaning "to defraud" is first recorded 1672.

pedestrian \puh-DES-tree-uhn\, noun, adjective:

1. a person who gets about on foot; walker
2. going on foot; walking
3. without imagination; dull

You know, the fact that every morning you get a script in your mailbox, that's going to stop. All these little pedestrian, mundane things. And the cash.
-- Paul Reiser

by 1716, from Latin pedester/pedestris "plain, prosaic," from pedes "one who goes on foot," from pes/pedis "foot." Meaning "going on foot" is first attested 1742; the noun meaning "walker" is c 1770.

tetchy \TECH-ee\, adjective:

Peevish; testy; irritable.

Waugh's tetchy and combative personality made him a difficult companion at arms.
-- Penelope Lively, "A Maverick Historian", The Atlantic, February 2001

Wright was in Tokyo, busy with the Imperial Hotel, firing off telegrams blaming his son, Lloyd, and Schindler for nagging cost overruns that Barnsdall, always tetchy about parting with money, was balking at.
-- Greg Goldin, "Light Houses", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

His every word was pure gold then, and even the chairman, who is not known to hide his light under a bushel, got a little tetchy being asked to opine on every economic subject known to man.
-- Jamie Dettmer, "Greenspan Doesn't Always Get It Right", Insight on the News, February 26, 2001

As prams trundle and toddlers bawl, bargain-hunters try to shove, grab and kick their way to consumerist nirvana, while their spouses, weighed down by bulging bags, get seriously tetchy.
-- Kim Gilmour, "Hello, good buy", Internet Magazine, November 2001

Tetchy probably comes from Middle English tecche, "a bad habit," from Old French tache, teche, "a spot, stain, blemish, habit, vice."

inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\, noun:

1. The condition or quality of being empty.
2. Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment.
3. Lack of vitality or spirit.

The problem that faces British universities is not that they have become fat and lazy, but that they have been starved beyond lean efficiency into inanition.
-- John Sutherland, "A contest that no one can really win", The Guardian, August 14, 2000

Even without, or before, revolution or foreign invasion, states can decline of their own inanition.
-- Harold Perkin, "The rise and fall of empires: the role of surplus extraction", History Today, April 2002

Sadly, though not surprisingly, convention speeches designed to rouse voters from their indifference only exacerbate the country's inanition.
-- Thomas J. Mccarthy, "This year's national party meetings displayed poll-itics as usual", America, September 9, 2000

Inanition derives from Latin inanitio, "emptiness," from inanire, "to make empty," from inanis, "empty." It is related to inane, "lacking sense or intelligence; pointless."

I believe I like that word.......now if I could only say it right.........lol

veracity \vuh-RAS-i-tee\, noun:

1. truthfulness
2. truth

Veracity is the heart of morality.
-- Thomas Henry Huxley

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

by 1623, from French véracité,from Middle Latin veracitatem/veracitas "truthfulness," from Latin verax/ veracis "truthful," from verus "true"

pithy \PITH-ee\, adjective:

concise and to the point; full of meaning and force

c. 1400, from Old English pith, of unknown origin but cognate German words referring to "inner part, essence"

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:

The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:

We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.

A well-boiled icicle ["well-oiled bicycle"].

It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.

Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?

When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!

Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

thaumaturgy \THAW-muh-tuhr-jee\, noun:

The performance of miracles or magic.

Of course, none of these improbable meetings ever took place in reality. But within the realm of showbiz thaumaturgy, they're perfectly acceptable examples of latter-day digital compositing, wherein it's possible to have anything share a frame of film or video with practically anything else.
-- John Voland, "Prez presses tech buttons", Variety, July 21, 1997

There was ever a cautious hesitancy on the part of the clergy to recognize evidence of thaumaturgy, and the superstitious use of relics.
-- John Mcgurk, "Devoted People: Belief and Religion in Early Modern Ireland", Contemporary Review, September 1998

Thaumaturgy comes from the Greek words for "wonder" (thauma) and "work" (ergon). A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a thaumaturgist or thaumaturge.