By late summer, close air support of infantry became one of the salient causes of Germany’s defeat.”― from “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany”
Salient is an adjective meaning most notable or important. Prominent. Of notable significance.
It is pronounced SAIL yunt. The i is silent.
Example: “It succinctly covered all the salient points of the case.”
A recent example: “The threat of the virus is particularly salient to the gymnastics team, as one of their alternates, Kara Eaker, tested positive at a training camp in Japan, despite being fully vaccinated.” Town & Country, 23 July 2021
Salient is another great word for Word of the Week. It is recognized by many but rarely used. It is short and simple, and proper use of it will make you appear intelligent, but not pretentious.
To hear the correct pronunciation, go to the following link:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salient
As a side note, the book referred to in the opening sentence is excellent and gives a full description of the air war in Europe in WWII. One of our main objectives (of which I was unaware) was to destroy the German air force prior to D-Day.
Interesting Phrase: Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
In the days of old when war ships had cannons, the cannon balls had to be stored near the cannons. They were stacked in a pyramid. In order to keep the balls in place, at the base was a square wall. That little wall was called a monkey.
At first the wall was made of iron, however, over time, the wall would rust, so it was replaced with brass. The problem with brass was that, when cold, it contracted more than iron. When it got very cold it contracted too much and the cannon balls would be squeezed out, hence the term “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”.
And what were you thinking?
A previous “Word of the Week” revisited:
protean – ability to change, versatile. “The coronavirus is protean in its ability to either make you sick or not.”
Quote of the Week:
“It’s tough making predictions, especially about the future.” Yogi Berra
We may forget what a great ball player he was….and now laugh at his many witticisms. He was however one of the greatest catchers of all times….and even better, he was very nice person.
He was a Hall of Famer and an All-Star for 15 consecutive seasons. FIFTEEN! Among catchers, Berra is fourth all-time in home runs (358) and runs scored (1,175), and is first in RBI 1,430. FIRST! He’s eighth in slugging percentage, and is notable for having struck out ONLY 414 times in 8,364 career plate appearances.
He played in 14 World Series with the Yankees. FOURTEEN! and won 10 rings, including five straight from 1949 to 1953. FIVE STRAIGHT. Of course he had a few pretty good players on his team such as Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle. Whitey Ford, and Roger Maris.
His highest salary was $65,000.
Until next Saturday,
Gramps
Sixty-one 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 – 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 culture.”
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 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 the president”.
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/ “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. “He evinced a depraved mind.”
55 – virago – a loud overbearing woman. Domineering, violent, or bad tempered. “Democrats, on the other hand, saw Jessie as a Republican virago.”
56 – metonym – a name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. “Washington is a metonym for the federal government of the US.”
57 – ennui – a noun meaning a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement. Boredom. ” The drama is about ennui, malaise and the conflicts they create”. AHN wee
58 – felicitous is an adjective and is defined as well chosen or suited to the circumstances such as “a felicitous phrase”.
59 – Imprimatur – a noun meaning sanction or approval. “He gave the book his imprimatur.”
60 – fiat – An authoritative determination or decree. “He runs the company by fiat.”
61 – salient – meaning most notable or important. Of notable significance. “It succinctly covered all the salient points of the case.”
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