“Democrats, on the other hand, saw Jessie as a Republican virago who planned to foist women’s rights on the nation” from “Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times” by David Reynolds.
As promised, you will be seeing quotes from this book for quite some time.
Since these events occurred over 150 years ago, I feel somewhat safe in using Democrats and Republicans in the same sentence, although it is risky, and I may still offend someone.
Virago is a noun meaning a loud overbearing woman. Domineering, violent or bad tempered.
Know anyone?
It is pronounced vir AH go or ver AYE go.
The above sentence refers to Jessie Fremont, wife of the famous explorer and presidential candidate, John Fremont.
Although woman suffrage did not become official nationwide until 1920, the movement actually began in earnest in 1848 when the world first women’s rights convention rewrote the Declaration of Independence to assert that “all men and women are created equal”. Frightful!
Jessie became a leader in that movement as she was unafraid to express her political opinions…a rarity in that era. A Jessie cult arose “Give ‘em Jessie”, slang for “Give ‘em hell”.
Many clearly were not happy with her or this movement.
“When women leave their quiet, happy home, neglect their domestic duties, and participate in public affairs, they become objects of pity, make the judicious grieve, and cause the virtuous to lament in their degradation.” A Pittsburgh journalist
To learn more about virago, and to hear it pronounced correctly go to the following link:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virago
High Tech Changes My Life….
Recently one of my faithful readers put me on to a high-tech coffee mug that has changed my life. I, like many of you, enjoy my morning cup of Joe. This clever mug sits on a little charger platform. When you are ready, you just lift it off the platform, and it keeps your coffee at your designated temperature for as long as you desire. I bought the 14 oz black. It works.
A previous “Word of the Week” revisited:
nadir – the lowest point – “The stock market reached its current nadir in March”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nadir
Words submitted but rejected:
My faithful readers will, at times, submit words for the fabulous Word of the Week”. Although rejected, they can be quite clever, so I will give them a bit of credit. Examples:
fetchplex (fech’ pleks) – n. State of momentary confusion in a dog whose owner has faked throwing the ball and palmed it behind his back. From the dictionary of non-words that should be words. Sniglets. https://www.bertc.com/subfour/truth/sniglets.htm
doppelgänger: Your double, a ghostly counterpart, someone that looks like you. That is a real word.
pooter: You will have to look that one up for yourself.
Quote of the Week:
“Oh, I’m doing fine, just trying to stay relevant. You?
Retirement
Safety First….
Until next Saturday,
Gramps
Fifty-five weeks of great words
1 – exacerbate – to make worse “Your input just exacerbates an already difficult situation.”
2- assuage – to make a situation or feeling less intense. “I pray our Heavenly Father may assuage you of the anguish of your grief.”3 – force majeure’ – unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract. “The tenant will not be required to pay rent due to the force majeure’ clause.
4 – sanguine – optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation. “I’m trying to be sanguine about this, but I see a major roadblock”
5 – segue – (seg way) proceed to what follows without pause. “She has the skill to easily segue from political conversations into subjects less controversial.”
6 – bifurcate – to cause to divide into two branches or parts. “We have decided to bifurcate this large project.”
7 – indolent – habitually lazy – “His failure in life may stem from his indolent ways as a youth”.
8 – ameliorate – to make better or more tolerable – “this drug should ameliorate your pain”
9 – truncate – to shorten by or as if by cutting off – “A truncated version of this report is on the web.”
10 – nascent – coming or having recently come into existence “His nascent idea for a business turned into a goldmine.”
11 – béchamel – a rich white sauce – “He made a lump-free béchamel for her, and, in return, she gave him her love.”
12 – anarchy – absence of government – “The revolution began when anarchy took root in just one city”.
13 – rhetorical question – a question not intended to require an answer. “Is this a beautiful day or what?”
14 – milieu – the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops.- “His discipline is a result of growing up as part of the military milieu”
15 – nadir – the lowest point – “The stock market reached its current nadir in March”
16 – black swan event – comes as a surprise and has a major effect. “This pandemic is considered by many to be a black swan event.”
17 – myopic – narrow in perspective and without concern for broader implications. “Your myopic view of this project is disturbing”.
18 – quixotic – foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals – “His quixotic pursuit for her affection was, quite simply, foolish.”
19 – prescience – human anticipation of the course of events – foresight. “His intuitive prescience helped to make him a success”
20 – laconic and laconic riposte – use of a minimum of words, and a short clever response to an insult or challenge. In response to a demand to immediately surrender he sent back the following: “Nuts”.
21 – protean – ability to change, versatile. “The coronavirus is protean in its ability to either make you sick or not.”
22 – ephemeral – lasting a very short time or perhaps only one day. “Custer was chasing an ephemeral Indian city.”
23 – catch-22 – a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions. From the novel “Catch-22”.
24 – arrogate – to take or claim something without justification. “In order to accomplish his dream he arrogated to himself controversial powers”.
25 – obtuse – difficult to understand, lacking intellect. “The responses to his remarks this week were even more obtuse.”
26 – purloin – to appropriate wrongfully (steal), often pertaining to a theft that is a breach of trust. “When she opened her new office she purloined one of my listings”.
27 – salience – the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. “It is not clear that raising the electoral salience of the Supreme Court will work to the president’s advantage.
28 – confabulate – to talk normally or to hold a discussion. “He likes to confabulate.”
29 – animus – a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will. “I have no animus or agenda for the Affordable Care Act.”
30 – puerile – to act or communicate in a juvenile, silly or childish manner. “His puerile ways are giving a poor impression at his job interviews”.
31 – regnant – having the greatest influence – “The regnant belief”.
32 – roil – to be agitated or chaotic – “the politics of slavery was roiling the United States.”
33 – sonder – (perhaps a non-word, but a good word.) The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
34 – inculcate – To instill or teach someone an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction. “They will try to inculcate you with a respect for their political party.”
35 – mendacity – untruthfulness, lying. “He blew the whistle on the mendacity of the politician.”
36 – pejorative – Expressing contempt or disapproval. Having negative connotations. “Permissiveness is often used as a pejorative term.”
37 – dystopian – A world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized fearful lives, often associated with a totalitarian government or an environmentally degraded world. “The dystopian future of a society bereft of reason”.
38 – Occam’s razor – The simplest answer may be the preferred answer.
39 – execrate or execrable – very bad – “The execrable hotel food.”
40 – immutable – unchangeable – Do not make the mistake of assuming that public opinion is immutable.
41 – prurient – having or encouraging an excessive or unwholesome interest in matters of sex. “She’d been the subject of much prurient curiosity”.
42 – obsequious – exhibiting fawning attentiveness. Exaggerated deference of manner. “Waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities.”
43 – iconoclast – a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions “He was a prolific writer with a reputation for iconoclastic insight and irreverent prose.”
44 – oblique – something not parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line – slanting. “We sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. Or something not done in a direct way such as “He issued an oblique attack on his opponent”.
45 – profligate – wasteful – wildly extravagant. “He has always been a profligate spender, which is why he is broke.”
46 – raconteur – a good teller of stories. “We always invite her to dinner because she is a fine raconteur”.
47 – taciturn – a person who is reserved or uncommunicative in speech…saying little. It usually connotes unsociability. “Nothing bothered the taciturn Hogan more that excessive praise.”
48 – fungible – capable of mutual substitution: interchangeable. Also non-fungible tokens (NFTs) “The court’s postulate is that male and female jurors must be regarded as fungible.”
49 – filibuster – The use of tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action especially in a legislative assembly. This currently requires a 60 vote Senate majority. “They stopped the bill from coming to a vote by the use of a filibuster”.
50 – hegemony – preponderant influence or authority over others: Domination. “They battled for hegemony in Asia.”
51 – de facto – being such in effect though not formally recognized or contrary to established law “a de facto state of war” for a war that has not been officially declared.
52 – blockchain – an open, distributed leger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
53 – bête noire – A person or thing one particularly dislikes or is strongly detested. “The abuse of women was a bête noire for Lincoln.”
54 – evince -“to constitute outward evidence of….to display clearly: reveal. “Did he evince a depraved mind?”
55 – virago – a loud overbearing woman. Domineering, violent or bad tempered. “They saw Jessie as a Republican virago.”