Quiet Rebel Writer

Welcome to the weekend! We move our clocks forward this weekend, normally a sure sign of spring. But here in Chicago, it’s still cold as balls. Snow that won’t melt, ice that trips us up, runny noses, cold feet, and crabby, exasperated people on the CTA. Ah, home.

So what do we need to face another weekend of wintry blasts? The warming power of word porn! And this week, a flashback to vocabulary quizzes of yore.

Word: Weal
Does it mean:
A. Real (pronounced lazily)
B. Well-being
C. Pulling away slowly
D. A plaintive cry

Word: Parsimonious
Does it mean:
A. Generous
B. Garnished (for food porn!)
C. Blatantly favor a person or thing
D. Careful or stingy with money

Word: Liminal
Does it mean:
A. Barely noticeable
B. A sexual technique where, well… never mind
C. Completely devoid of artifice
D. Intermediate

Answers after the jump!

Weal: B.
Example: It was difficult for the company management to convince workers their paycut was necessary for the common weal when the CEO was caught using his private plane to shuttle ladies of the night around the country.

Parsimonious: D
Example: When his few reamining friends began calling Ted parsimonious, his behavior became easier to stomach. It made his cheapness seem like a disease instead of sheer jackassery.

Liminal: A and D (Ah! Tricky)
Example (for the definition “barely perceptible”): And, the children asked at the end of the story, did the evil witch that terrorized the land called the United States have any good, redeeming qualities? And the response was sad: the Ann Coulter monster’s goodness was liminal, if it existed at all.

Have a happy weekend!