Updates

• Synecdoche

  In Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma, writing about Earnest Hemingway:

  He became his own fame, a fame that was interwoven with his masculinity. He became a human synecdoche for the condition of literary virility.

  I think this author is saying that Hemingway became an cliche or archetype of the manly, adventure writer. “Hemingway-esque” became a shorthand way of referring to the larger concept.

• Mien

  In Monsters, when describing movie critics:

  In the screening room, the front-row center seats belonged to the two daily papers, papers given human form in the persons of two white men of unblinking mien.

• Bossa Nova

  An obituary:

  Astrud Gilberto, bossa nova singer of The Girl from Ipanema, dies aged 83, […] whose dreamy interpretation of The Girl from Ipanema became the most popular version of the song, has died aged 83.

  See Passion Fruit for the Ipanema connection.

• Bohemian

  In season 3 of Jack Ryan, much of the plot takes place in the Czech Republic. Several scenes are labeled as happening in “Bohemia” or “Rural Bohemia.”

• Abrogate

  In Team of Rivals, when discussing the Liberty Party:

  The abrogation of slavery was their primary goal.

• Antediluvian

  I found it twice in Conspiracies and Secret Societies. In a discussion of a supossedly ancient airship:

  A common theme is that certain men of genius in ancient Egypt and Persia were given access to the records of the advanced technologies of the antediluvian world.

  The book also mentioned a book published in 1882 by Ignatious L. Donnelly called Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.

• Facile

  I was in Montreal airport when I saw a sign which said, in French:

  3 Etapes Faciles

  The translation was:

  3 Easy Steps

• Postmodernism

  From a video called Why Do Movies Feel So Different Now? (this starts at about 15:06):

  Many people began to question whether or not modernist values were actually objectively good and really making things better for everybody. So here postmodernism steps in and importantly, instead of returning to traditional narratives, starts to question the value of narrative itself.

  Postmodernism is saying, maybe this idea that we can come to an understanding of the objective truth using science and reason is itself a narrative like the narratives of old in tradition that modernism rejected.

  Postmodernism is also looking at things like the rise of fascism in the 20th century and understanding how the narrative surrounding that are part of what made it a powerful force for evil in the 20th century.

  Postmodernism in broad strokes is really critiquing modernism by critiquing narrative itself, saying maybe we should be skeptical of any broad overarching narrative that thinks that can explain the world.

  When you start to question the value of narrative itself in what is essentially a narrative form, things understandably start to get a little weird. As we move towards the end of the 20th century in film history, we start to see more and more movies that don’t just question and deconstruct modernist values, but which also start to deconstruct the way stories are told in film.

• Reductive

  In Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, I found this:

  Reductionists claim that everything, including our minds, and be “reduced” to its material base.

  So, a “reductionist” is someone who simplifies an argument as a philosophy.

• Jesuit

  Conspiracies and Secret Societies says:

  Since the time of the Counter-Reformation,…the Jesuits have been the villains in countless conspiracy theories.

  Some notable (supposed) plots:

  • They authored The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (see Zionism)
  • They sank the Titanic to kill some wealthy Jews
  • They worked with the Nazis to round up Jews during World War II, and even tutored Hitler on the writing of Mein Kampf
  • They both engineered 9/11 and assassinated JFK

  The book says a lot of this comes from St. Ignatius’s reverence for the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:10. Paul said:

  Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

  In a private letter, Ignatius wrote:

  Listen to the bishop, if you want God to listen to you… let your baptism be your shield, your faith a helmet, your charity a spear, your patience, like full armor.

  Some feel that this emboldened the Jesuits to view violence as a tool of their faith.

• Halycon Days

  Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln uses a different form:

  The letter opened with halycon recollections of the early days of their acquaintance…

• Utopiansim

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, Saint Thomas More and his 1516 work Utopia is discussed.

  Utopia beings with a searing indictment of England as a land where nobleman, living idly off the labor of others, bleed their tenants white by constantly raising their rents, where land enclosures for sheep-raising throw untold thousands of poor people into and existence or starvation of crime, and where the cities are ringed by gibbets on which thieves are hanged by the score without the slightest indication that the draconian punishment deters anyone from committing the same crimes.

  This depiction of a ghastly reality […] is set against an imaginary island, Utopia, who inhabitants are convinced that “either the whole or the most part of human happiness” lies in the pursuit of pleasure.

  Utopia is a visionary, detailed blueprint for this application, from public housing to universal health care, from child care centers to religious toleration to the six-hour work day.

  For [Thomas More, the author], those conditions would have to begin with the abolition of private property.

  More tried to imagine what it would take not for certain individuals to be enlightened but for a whole commonwealth to do away from cruelty and disorder, share the goods of life equitably, organize itself around the pursuit of please, and tear down the gibbets.

  (If not clear from context, “gibbets” is an archaic term for “gallows.”)

  Clearly, Utopia would be considered communism or socialism in today’s political climate – either pejoratively or literally, given the desire to abolish private property. Thus, usage of the word “utopianism” might be a reference to a specific political system, not just a state of living.

• Insalubrious

  The opposite was used in a speech by Abraham Lincoln:

  We find ourselves in sole peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate.

• Tendentious

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern:

  Much of what Petrarch and his followers claimed for the novelty of their approached was tendentious, self-congratulatory exaggeration.

• Lyceum

  Team of Rivals mentions a speech that Abraham Lincoln gave to the “Young Men’s Lyceum” of Springfield, Illinois.

• Amanuensus

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, there is this inventory of a wealthy Roman citizen:

  …fifty-nine slaves, five notaries, two amanuenses, one scribe, and a book repairer, along with a cook and barber

  It was presented in the context of how important written records were to Romans, that wealthy people would have staff dedicated to reproducing them.

  Later in the same book:

  …a restless quarrelsome man who had in his youth been Petrarch’s secretary and amanuensis…

• Crinolines

  In Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln:

  Julia Bates was also plain in her dress, “unaffected by the crinolines and other extravagances of the day…”

• Pilloried

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, the author writes:

  Lapo is no doubt being ironic, but he is also, in the very manner of his irony, showing that he gets the cynical joke and thereby demonstrating his suitability to participate in the conversations he pillories.

  In this sense, you could simply replace “pillories” with “ridicules.”

• Vainglorious

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, a figure during the Italian Renaissance says:

  May I be kept from taking pride in dreams of self-exaltation of vainglory.

• Bonfire Of The Vanities

  In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, the original event is described:

  As the fifteenth century neared its end, the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola ruled Florence for several years as a strict “Christian republic.” Savonarola’s passionate, charismatic preaching had provoked large numbers of Florentines, the elite as well as the masses, into a short-lived but feverishly intense mood of repentance. Sodomy was prosecuted as a capital crime; bankers and merchant princes were attacked for their extravagant luxuries and their indifference to the poor; gambling was suppressed, along with dancing and singing and other forms of worldly pleasure. The most memorable event of Savonarola’s turbulent years was the famous “Bonfire of the Vanities,” when the friar’s ardent followers went through the streets collecting sinful objects – mirrors, cosmetics, seductive clothing, song-books, musical instruments, playing cards and other gambling paraphernalia, sculptures and paintings of pagan subjects, the works of ancient poets – and threw them onto an enormous blazing pyre in the Piazza della Signoria.

• The Lost Cause Argument

  I asked the English Stack Exchange what we should call arguments like this one and Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Some answers:

  • Specious (I looked this up)
  • Truthiness
  • The Illusory Truth Effect
  • Bullshit
  • Gaslighting
  • Distraction
  • Misdirection
• Kudzu

  In an article entitled “The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South,” a scientist tries to clear up some misconceptions:

  Like most Southern children, I accepted, almost as a matter of faith, that kudzu grew a mile a minute and that its spread was unstoppable. I had no reason to doubt declarations that kudzu covered millions of acres, or that its rampant growth could consume a large American city each year. I believed, as many still do, that kudzu had eaten much of the South and would soon sink its teeth into the rest of the nation.

  […] Now that scientists at last are attaching real numbers to the threat of kudzu, it’s becoming clear that most of what people think about kudzu is wrong.

  So, while perhaps not scientifically accurate, the idiomatic use of “kudzu” holds.

• Gauls

  In the final episode of The Diplomat, referring to a trip to Paris, someone says:

  Good luck with the Gauls.

• Contretemps

  In an article about the Fax News defamation trial:

  “That’s a no-win argument for me,” said Wolff – and for a long time this afternoon, it looked like this entertaining contretemps would be the most dramatic thing to happen inside Judge Davis’ courtroom today.

• Alacrity

  From the spy novel Eurostorm:

  Then he nodded toward the distant illumination and said with alacrity, “Those are the coastal lights of Tel Aviv.”

• Redoubt

  In the spy novel Eurostorm:

  He had no idea what was unfolding up in that mountain redoubt, but he was damned well going to find out.

• Subaltern

  Found this in the spy novel Eurostorm:

  “NOW!” roared Salisbury. “Get your bloody ass down there yourself, or I’ll have you broken down to a sub-altern before I throw you in jail for the rest of your life…”

  Note the hyphenation, which I hadn’t seen before.

• Plenipotentiary

  It was used a couple of times in the spy novel Eurostorm:

  With great drama, Frau Magrid said, “May I present Herr General Wather Schellenberg, […] special-plenipotentiary of the Third Reich!”

  In this case, some people were trying to recreate the Nazi Party, so they were separated more by time than distance.

• Cassandra

  In the spy novel Eurostorm, someone is described thusly:

  Ian Paisley, the all-time Protestant Cassandra against anything or anybody remotely Irish or Catholic.

• Take The Piss

  In Eminem’s book The Way I Am, he writes:

  I think one of the things I like to do in my songs – like in “My Name Is,” for example – is take the piss out of myself before anyone goes at me.

• Sotto Voice

  From Valerie Plame-Wilson’s book Fair Game:

  On the professional front, my colleagues at the CIA tried to respect my privacy and offer their support sotto voce, when they could.

  Note the usage of “voce” here, which is Italian for “voice.”

• Viand

  From an H.P. Lovecraft short story:

  They ate uncooked marine life under the sea, but cooked their viands on land.

• Memetics

  A YouTube video described memetic desire like this:

  Mimetic desire means that a person’s choice of an object is not determined by the object itself, but by a third person or third party which is a mediator or model of desire.

• Mendacity

  From an H.P. Lovecraft short story:

  […] genuine photographs – actual optical links with what they portrayed, and the product of an impersonal transmitting process with prejudice, fallibility, or mendacity.

  Basically, photographs (in that era) don’t lie.

• Hagiography

  I want to use this word in a conference presentation, so I’m trying to figure out how to pronounce it.

  The most common form is “HAG-e-og-graphy” (hard “g” on “hag”)

  But I’ve also found one claim to “HAGE-e-og-graphy” (soft “g” on “hage”)

• ISIS vs. ISIL

  On an episode of Good News there was a throwaway line where someone was coaching a clueless news anchor:

  So, you can call it “ISIS” or “ISIL,” but not “icicle.”

• Inverterate

  From Kingmakers:

  An inveterate traveler and horsewoman herself, Lady Anne wrote admiringly of her younger colleague.

• Plebiscite

  From Kingmakers:

  Nevertheless, Cox and Bell were left to hold a plebiscite and stage-manage Faisal’s triumphal entry into Iraq.

• Bowdlerization

  I found a synonym: expurgated. From Kingmakers:

  [Mein Kampf] had been read by Churchill, Roosevelt, Ben-Gurion and Stalin who had unexpurgated translations made by their intelligence services.

  I was looking up the definition of that and I kept thinking I had covered it already. When I searched for it, bowdlerize came up and I realized I had confused the two.

• Putsch

  In Bookshops, I found a reference to Adolf Hitler as “a failed putschist.”

• Oriental

  From Kingmakers:

  From the Viceroy downward, New Delhi’s rulers shared a common perception of the Middle East, a perception rooted in long experience in governing what everybody Western called “the Orient.”

• Semiotic

  In Kingmakers

  Lugard became adept at the martial semiotics of imperialism. He insisted on pitching his white tents on the highest ground – the more bits of flying bunting, dress uniforms, plumed hats, ceremonial swords, seventeen-gun salutes, and trumpet fanfares, the better.

  The person apparently wanted to look like an imperialists, so he went out of his way to give of all the signs of imperialism.

• Filibuster

  The word comes up a lot in Kingmakers. There’s a footnote that says this:

  Long before the U.S. Senate allowed unlimited debate, the term “filibuster” referred to leading an insurrection in a foreign country.

  It’s still not clear how the meaning changed over time.

• Salient

  So, it turns out this is a general word as well:

  A pronounced feature or part; a highlight.

  Anything can be “salient.” For instance, the “salient points” of a document are, effectively, the highlights.

  On a NY Times article about an intelligence leak:

  And it’s the immediate salience of the intelligence that most worries White House and Pentagon officials.

  I’m not sure about the “immediate” qualifier here, honestly. If intelligence was “salient,” it would be prominent. Not sure how much immediacy matters.

• Cataract

  In Kingmakers, I found this is a description of a British rescue mission into Sudan:

  Delayed by the Nile’s treacherous sixth cataract…

  Here is the sixth cataract on Google Maps. You can see how the river narrows considerably.

• Doyenne

  From Kingmakers:

  Egypt’s policies were really inspired by the Envoy of a foreign state, who in theory is only one – and not even the doyen – of a large number of such Envoys…

• Souk

  In Bookshops:

  One can walk around Athens as if it were a strange souk of bookshops.

• Démarche

  In Leonardo da Vinci:

  To stave off Florentine demands or a forfeiture of his florins, he had his French patrons launch a protracted and amusing barrage of diplomatic demarches.

• Quickening

  In the biography Leonardo da Vinci, there’s a passage about Da Vinci’s plan for a comprehensive study of anatomy:

  This work should begin with the conception of man, and describe the nature of the womb and how the fetus lives in it, up to what stage it resides there, and in what way it quickens into life…

• Carbon Offsets

  An article in The Guardian entitled Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows future discusses the controversy:

  The research into Verra, the world’s leading carbon standard for the rapidly growing $2bn voluntary offsets market, has found that, based on analysis of a significant percentage of the projects, more than 90% of their rainforest offset credits – among the most commonly used by companies -– are likely to be “phantom credits” and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.