My whole family loves words. I think we got it from our father though there are undoubtedly many other things that influenced our vocabularies. One of the things that has highly influenced my vocabulary is Math. At this point you are probably thinking I have gotten some words mixed up, but trust me, I haven't. Whoever wrote Saxon math (the curriculum that I and all of my siblings went through), must have swallowed a dictionary.
A recent problem starts out: "Ramses cogitated."
With only that sentence I made a guess "cogitated" meant something along the lines of "pondered." The answer? To think hard or ponder.
Another problem begins: "A paroxysm of laughter escaped a few." I am actually familiar with the word "paroxysm" but upon seeing it in my math book, I decided it might actually be a pretty nifty word! It explains exactly what was going in just one simple word.
That same problem includes another unusual word: "Stolid". It's a very useful word if you think about it. Rather than saying "This many people laughed. This many people kept straight faces...ect." John Saxon (the mathematical dictionary swallower) made that second sentence into one, vivid, word.
How about this one: "Querulous was not satisfied because the sinecure did not pay enough."
My first question is naturally, "Is Querulous are real person?" For those of you who are wondering the same thing the answer is, no. It's another "big" word.
A recent problem starts out: "Ramses cogitated."
With only that sentence I made a guess "cogitated" meant something along the lines of "pondered." The answer? To think hard or ponder.
Another problem begins: "A paroxysm of laughter escaped a few." I am actually familiar with the word "paroxysm" but upon seeing it in my math book, I decided it might actually be a pretty nifty word! It explains exactly what was going in just one simple word.
That same problem includes another unusual word: "Stolid". It's a very useful word if you think about it. Rather than saying "This many people laughed. This many people kept straight faces...ect." John Saxon (the mathematical dictionary swallower) made that second sentence into one, vivid, word.
How about this one: "Querulous was not satisfied because the sinecure did not pay enough."
My first question is naturally, "Is Querulous are real person?" For those of you who are wondering the same thing the answer is, no. It's another "big" word.
quer·u·lous
1.
complaining in a petulant or whining manner.
I think in the back of my mind I knew that but the way the problem is worded makes it sound like a plausible name.
The word I wondered about next was "sinecure". However, this time, instead of grabbing my trusty dictionary I am going to rely on you.
Make your guess what this word means and leave your answer in the comments. (I forbid you to use a dictionary.) When I have several guesses, I will give you the answer.
Why o why do you have to hit all my weak spots in one week? It's absolutely cruel. Rewriting and now this - vocab. You got to be kidding me...
ReplyDeleteI wish I could tell you I've heard that word before, but alas, my mind has drawn a blank -_-
so...since I'm not good at guessing here's my terrible answer: stingy
Now you did give me an idea for something fun we could do occasionally on here. Have you ever played Balderdash?
Ooh; Balderdash is really fun!
DeleteI only played it once or twice but really enjoyed it
DeleteUm; my guess for sinecure is something like authority or employer or reward or something... Or somebody that owes something.
ReplyDeleteWell...I wasn't going to guess since I had absolutely no clue...however, I'll give it a whirl. I'm going to guess "the end of the cure." Don't ask me how I came up with that...I just did... :D
ReplyDeleteWell, that elicited some extremely quick comments! Don't worry Grace, I didn't know what this word meant either. ;) As for Balderdash...I have heard of it but that is all. Never played it, don't know what it's about. Sounds interesting though.
ReplyDeleteAlright and the answer is: (Faith is definitely the closest!)
si·ne·cure
1.an office or position requiring little or no work, especially one yielding profitable returns.
2.an ecclesiastical benefice without cure of soul
Really, I think this could be a useful word! Thanks for the responses! I had fun reading them and I hope that you enjoyed guessing--though I'm not so sure you did. :) Great guesses Grace and Josie! Faith...at least you commented...though I am not sure I can pat you on the back for your try. ;)
By the way, just in case anyone is wondering, I was being sarcastic when I said Faith was definitely the closest. But, at least she DID guess.
DeleteAt least the word "cure" is in the defintion! I got that much right... :P
DeleteYes you did! Good job for that! :D
DeleteWell, I thought about guessing a cure for someone with a bad case of the sines (after all it was in your math book, you know, sine and cosine), but I decided it was a little too cheesy....
DeleteAnd by the way, all the interaction on recent posts has been fun! We should keep it up!
ReplyDeleteyes, I love it too, except it is distracting me from my schoolwork :)
DeleteAs for Balderdash, (if I remember right) it is where you are given a word and everyone has to write a definition for it. These are put together with the real definition and read out loud. Then everyone votes as to which definition they think is the real one. The winner is basically the person who is the best bluffer. It can get pretty hilarious. I thought we could kind of do something like that on here, just revise it a bit.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I have played it. Years and years ago!
Delete