{"id":365,"date":"2021-08-13T20:38:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T01:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/?p=365"},"modified":"2021-08-14T11:39:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T16:39:58","slug":"word-of-the-week-63-delectation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/?p=365","title":{"rendered":"W<\/strong>ORD OF THE <\/strong>W<\/strong>EEK <\/strong>#63 –<\/a> delectation<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe sense of someone who, at all times seemed bent on stage-managing his life for the <\/em>delectation<\/em><\/strong> of an admiring audience, is sometimes a bit too strong for comfort.\u201d<\/em> WSJ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This quote is from a recent review of \u201cBurning Man\u201d, a biography of D.H. Lawrence.  The author used lots of big words, but this one in particular caught my attention as being a candidate for the fabulous Word of the Week.  Although the book sounds a bit too intellectual for my tastes, it did remind me of a Lawrence book that I plan on re-reading….\u201cLady Chatterley\u2019s Lover\u201d.  As I recall it had some pretty intellectual passages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delectation is a noun and pronounced like you think it should…a combination of select with a d and vacation. Try pronouncing it, and you will be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means delight or enjoyment. \u201cHere are some chocolates for your delectation.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTourists are enjoying the delectations<\/strong> of this tropical paradise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another recent example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One large specimen, displayed regally on a tray, is taken out for public delectation <\/strong><\/em>like a Renoir painting…. National Review, Mar. 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have brought this word to you this week for your delectation<\/strong>.<\/em> (I made that one up.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another great word for Word of the Week. Its definition is very simple, and proper use will make you appear intelligent, (even if you are not) but not pretentious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hear the correct pronunciation, go to the following link:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/delectation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting Phrase:  Just deserts\u2026or is it just desserts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He got his \u201cjust deserts (or is it desserts)\u201d meaning of course the punishment he deserves.\u00a0 But is it spelled desert as in the Sahara or dessert as in something sweet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found this curious because the correct spelling is desert as in the Sahara, but it is pronounced like the sweet treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the issue of using desert defined as abandoning someone, which is pronounced like that sweet treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illogical?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A previous \u201cWord of the Week\u201d revisited:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the novel the protagonist tries to get out of flying on dangerous bombing missions.  He discovers that, if he is declared crazy, he can get out of them.  He went to the doc and told him he is crazy….that anyone that goes on one of those very dangerous missions must be crazy, and, since he has been going on them, he must be crazy.  The doc totally agrees, but tells him the Air Force has declared that having the knowledge that only a crazy person would fly on such a mission proves that he is sane.  Catch-22.

Quote of the Week:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t tell me you don\u2019t have enough time.  You have the exact same amount of time as Elon Musk. You know \u2026.the founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quote paraphrased from my sister Debby’s suggestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The billionaire says he works a \u201csustainable\u201d 80 to 90 hours a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A roomful of right-handed desks. Its an example of the type of ruthless discrimination we left-handers have been forced to endure our entire lives. Yesterday was National Left-Handers Day. Due to its importance I have declared it National Left-Handers Week. Be good to your left-handed friends. According to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and survival of the fittest, the entire human race may one day be left-handed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo courtesy of my left-handed grandson….Luke<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next Saturday,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gramps<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixty-three weeks of great words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.”.
<\/a>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 – <\/a>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 –  <\/strong>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 – <\/a>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 – b\u00e9chamel – a rich white sauce – “He made a lump-free b\u00e9chamel 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 –  <\/strong>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 the general sent back the following: Nuts”
<\/a>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\u2019s 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. \u201cI have no animus or agenda for the Affordable Care Act.\u201d
30 \u2013 puerile – to act or communicate in a juvenile, silly or childish manner. \u201cHis puerile ways are giving a poor impression at his job interviews\u201d.
31 \u2013 regnant – having the greatest influence – \u201cThe regnant belief\u201d.
32 \u2013 roil \u2013 to be agitated or chaotic \u2013 \u201cthe politics of slavery was roiling the United States\u201d.
33 \u2013 sonder – The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
34 \u2013 inculcate – To instill or teach someone an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction. \u201cThey will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture.\u201d
35 \u2013 mendacity \u2013 untruthfulness, lying. \u201cHe blew the whistle on the mendacity of the politician.\u201d
36 \u2013 pejorative \u2013 Expressing contempt or disapproval.  Having negative connotations.   \u201cPermissiveness is often used a pejorative term\u201d.
37 \u2013 dystopian \u2013 A world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized fearful lives, often associated with a totalitarian government or an environmentally degraded world. \u201cThe dystopian future of a society bereft of reason\u201d.
38 \u2013 Occam\u2019s razor \u2013 The simplest answer may be the preferred answer.
39 \u2013 execrate or execrable \u2013 very bad \u2013 \u201cThe execrable hotel food.\u201d
40 \u2013 immutable \u2013 unchangeable \u2013 Do not make the mistake of assuming that public opinion is immutable.   
41 \u2013 prurient – having or encouraging an excessive or unwholesome interest in matters of sex. 
 \u201cShe\u2019d been the subject of much prurient <\/em><\/strong>curiosity\u201d.
42 \u2013 obsequious – exhibiting fawning attentiveness. Exaggerated deference of manner.  \u201cWaiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities.\u201d
43 \u2013 iconoclast –  a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions \u201cHe was a prolific writer with a reputation for iconoclastic insight and irreverent prose.\u201d
44 \u2013 oblique – something not parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line \u2013 slanting.
\u201cWe sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. Or something not done in a direct way such as \u201cHe issued an oblique attack on the president\u201d.
45 \u2013 profligate \u2013 wasteful \u2013 wildly extravagant.  \u201cHe has always been a profligate spender, which is why he is broke.\u201d
46 – raconteur \u2013 a good teller of stories.  \u201cWe always invite her to dinner because she is a fine raconteur\u201d.
47 \u2013 taciturn – a person who is reserved or uncommunicative in speech\u2026saying little.  It usually connotes unsociability. \u201cNothing bothered the taciturn <\/strong>Hogan more that excessive praise.\u201d<\/em>
48 \u2013 fungible – capable of mutual substitution: interchangeable\/  \u201cThe court’s postulate is that male and female jurors must be regarded as fungible<\/strong>.\u201d
<\/em>49 \u2013 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. \u201cThey stopped the bill from coming to a vote by the use of a filibuster\u201d.
<\/em>50 \u2013 hegemony – preponderant influence or authority over others: Domination. \u201cThey battled for hegemonyin Asia.\u201d<\/em>
51 \u2013 de facto – being such in effect though not formally recognized or contrary to established law \u201ca de facto state of war\u201d <\/em>for a war that has not been officially declared.
52 \u2013 blockchain \u2013 an open, distributed leger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
53 \u2013 b\u00eate noire \u2013 A person or thing one particularly dislikes or is strongly detested. \u201cThe abuse of women was a b\u00eate noire for Lincoln.\u201d
54 \u2013 evince -\u201cto constitute outward evidence of\u2026.to display clearly: reveal. \u201cHe evinced a depraved mind.\u201d
55 \u2013 virago – a loud overbearing woman.  Domineering, violent, or bad tempered. \u201cDemocrats, on the other hand, saw Jessie as a Republican virago.\u201d
56 \u2013 metonym –  a name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. \u201cWashington is a metonym for the federal government of the US.\u201d<\/em>
57 – felicitous is an adjective and is defined as   well chosen or suited to the circumstances such as \u201ca felicitous phrase\u201d.
58 – ennui
59 – Imprimatur is a noun meaning sanction or approval. \u201cHe gave the book his imprimatur.\u201d
60 \u2013 fiat – A command or act of will that creates something without further effort.  An authoritative determination. \u201cHe runs the company by fiat.\u201d<\/em>
61 <\/em>\u2013 salient – <\/em>meaning most notable or important.  Of notable significance. \u201cIt succinctly covered all the salient point of the case.\u201d<\/em>
62 –<\/em> meme – an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.  \u201cThe band encouraged fans to make memes to advertise the U.S. release of their EP.\u201d<\/em>
63 –  <\/em>delectation – <\/em>delight or enjoyment. \u201cHere are some chocolates for your delectation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe sense of someone who, at all times seemed bent on stage-managing his life for the delectation of an admiring audience, is sometimes a bit too strong for comfort.\u201d WSJ This quote is from a recent review of \u201cBurning Man\u201d, a biography of D.H. Lawrence.  The author used lots of big words, but this one … Continue reading W<\/strong>ORD OF THE <\/strong>W<\/strong>EEK <\/strong>#63 –<\/a> delectation<\/strong><\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordofweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}