Feb
Word Porn, Just in Time for Valentine’s
Remember the deal? Besides the fascinating and equally repulsive world of bow-chik-a-bow-wow porn, you’ve also got food porn, torture porn, and gadget porn. And now, dear readers, you’ve got word porn. Let’s start this vocabularly lesson of wicked, wonky words.
Parlous
Pull this one out at parties, and watch the eyes grow wide. (Disclaimer: eyes could grow wide from admiration, or from the growing certainty of your ever-growing weirdness.) Parlous =full of danger or risk. Can we have this word in a sentence please? “Stan contemplated the parlous path back to the pool table with his heavy load of five beers and ten shots, calculating just how drunk he was and how much precious liquor he was willing to spill.”
Objurgation
So many syllables, so much love. This specimen of sounds means a harsh rebuke or reproach. Judges? “Sally gave her newborn her harshest objurgation, sadly forgoing appeals to reason and demanding that the child only soil her diapers and not the floor, bed, counter or car.”
Rictus
By the way, did I mention I was spelling bee champ in 4th and 5th grade? True story. Of course, this was before spelling bees became crazy competitive and televised. I would have had an accident in my pants in today’s bees, and probably got this seemingly simple gem wrong. Rictus denotes a gaping grin or grimace. Sentence? “The creepy leering man from the CTA fixed on Susan with his penetrating gaze, and to her disgust revealed a rictus full of brown teeth and slobber.”
And with that, I wish all of you a tall Friday cocktail!
