The old thread was becoming unwieldy.

From The Size of the World by Joan Silber:

meretricious
1. alluring by a show of flashy or vulgar attractions; tawdry.
2. based on pretense, deception, or insincerity.
3. pertaining to or characteristic of a prostitute.

"... they were examples of a stream of clear water outside the meretricious swamp I mucked around in." p. 55

I've actually finished this book, but I was excited to find this word in Reading the OED:

Petrichor (n.) The pleasant loamy smell of rain on the ground, especially after a long dry spell.

I've spent my whole life loving rain (contrary to most of my friends), and a big part of my fondness for it is that smell. It was great to find that there is a word for it.

I can't figure out this touchstone, sorry

Message edited by its author, Nov 12, 2008, 2:24am.

Sutpen, I have always loved the smell of rain, particularly near or in the woods. I find it comforting.

Sutpen, if the book that appears after you've enclosed it in square brackets is not the one you're after, then click on "others" (listed under the Touchstones heading to the right) and LT will load the other book options for you. Hope this helps :)

Reading the OED; is that the one?

Robert

From The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa:

hagiographic - writing which is excessively flattering

From Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber:

penumbra -

1 a: a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light b: a shaded region surrounding the dark central portion of a sunspot
2: a surrounding or adjoining region in which something exists in a lesser degree : fringe
3: a body of rights held to be guaranteed by implication in a civil constitution
4: something that covers, surrounds, or obscures : shroud

From The Final Solution: A Story of Detection:

prolix -
1 : unduly prolonged or drawn out : too long
2 : marked by or using an excess of words

From Ivanhoe:

ambuscade: a forest ambush

exchequer: an office originating in England, responsible for collecting and maintaining royal funds

From Ivanhoe:

ambuscade: a forest ambush

exchequer: an office originating in England, responsible for collecting and maintaining royal funds

From The Flame Trees of Thika:

francolin: a genus of partridges, primarily from South Asia and Africa

From The Leopard:

hieratic: a highly stylized or formalized pose or shape

It was used to describe the poses of hunting dogs who have scented prey.

scrutator:

I cannot find a definition for "scrutator".....In context, it seems as if it might mean something along the lines of a a person who scrutinizes ballots, like an election judge.

My google search for define:scrutator came up essentially empty, but when I deleted define: I got a page of mostly useful information. A scrutator is one who scrutinizes, so it looks like you got it right.

Robert

from Confederates in the Attic:

Hagiography: any idealizing or worshiping biography (2nd def., which applies in this book; 1st def. is: biography of a saint).

Love this thread--thanks hemlokgang!

From The God Delusion:

tergiversation - derivative of tergiversate

tergiversate:
1. equivocate
2. change one's loyalties

From Outcast United: A Regugee Team, an American Town:

liminality: the state of being caught between two worlds

# 17 hemlokgang: What a wonderful word. It's new to me too, but one I am looking forward to using.

From The Forsyte Saga:

suzerain: a superior feudal lord to who fealty is due

From The Insulted and Humiliated by Fyodor Dostoevsky:

pennate: a way too complicated definition, which I think means a bilateral elongated lifeform

From Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch:

sororal: of or relating to a characteristic of a sister

from The Tempest by Shakespeare:

Foison: abundance

From The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster:

metonym:
: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated (as “crown” in “lands belonging to the crown”)

I am not sure I understand that even now

From Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee:

sodality:
: an organized society or fellowship; specifically : a devotional or charitable association of Roman Catholic laity

23 hemlokgang, I have said without knowing whether it is true that I'll be able to die happy if I can understand the difference between metonymy and synecdoche. I have read multiple definitions and looked at countless examples. When I go out into the world and try to apply them to speech acts or worldly writing, I quite quickly get confused.

If you conquer metonym please let me know.

Robert

Read the books on metaphor by George Lakoff, Mark Turner, and Mark Johnson. Some are co-authored with Lakoff, but Mark Turner (& possibly Mark Johnson) has also gone solo. In Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, Lakoff discusses metonymy, and in all of these books, the basic metaphorical structure of all languages are laid out. Metonymy is part of metaphor, as is synecdoche, but a strong case can be made for categorizing metonymy and synechdoce together. Metonymy uses a part of something which is associated with a whole entity, as in "she counted heads" for 'she counted people. 'Synecdoche is using the whole for a part or a part for a whole. The latter is what metonymy does and, although I have a respectable Ph.D. in linguistics, I fail to see the difference between using the part for the whole and using something associated with a whole entity. Lakoff gives as examples of metonymy a waiter referring to a customer as "the ham and eggs at that table..." As for using a whole for a part, consider, "Wall St. isn't what it used to be." (which I'm pretty sure Lakoff considers metonymy although nitpickers will call it synecdoche) when you mean the brokers working in Wall St. not the street itself. Similarly "give me a hand" is usually considered metonymy, but fits the dictionary definition of synecdoche. I personally use the term 'metonymy' for both and I don't think I'm alone. I'm feeling too lazy to go check on my books on figurative language to see if others ignore the term synecdoche. I know that as a scholar, I have never been called out for using the term 'metonymy' for either the part for the whole, the whole for the part, or something associated with another entity being used for that entity. Rest easy. You can die happy if this is all it takes. The bottom line is there is no real difference and the very fact that you can't figure out what to use in a given instance is proof of that. There are all sorts of grammatical and semantic terms fabricated so that the uninitiated will feel stupid because they can't use the terms with accuracy. Just remember that there are fuzzy boundaries between all categories of language, and this is one of them.

Thanks, echaika......and Mr. Durick, just be happy!

Wow! echaika, what a great explanation! We can all sleep sounder tonight knowing that metonymy and synecdoche can be used interchangeably. :-)

Actually, I really did appreciate the explanation because I, too, had trouble remembering these terms--I thought they were opposites and I could never remember which was which!

from The House of Seven Gables

apothegm: a terse, witty instructive saying; a maxim.

"...for she had been trying to fathom the profundity and appositeness of this concluding apothegm."

(This was the "apothegm" in question: "...Infinity is big enough for us all--and Eternity long enough!")

from The Taker and Other Stories by Rubem Fonseca:

panegyric: a eulogistic oration or writing; also : formal or elaborate praise

I've noticed the word "panegyric" cropping up a few times lately--and one I don't remember encountering before I was on LT. Maybe it means I'm reading better books now! :-)

I've found 2 new words in Lord of Misrule, the autobiography of Christopher Lee:

Mulct - a penalty such as a fine (according to The Free Dictionary)

Guddle - to catch fish by groping with the hands under the banks or stones of a stream.

I love "guddle". Perfect description of the action.......

From Catriona:

rubicon: : a bounding or limiting line; especially : one that when crossed commits a person irrevocably