churlish (adjective)

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  Rhetorical

  July 19, 2022 · 1 min read

  – from the Ancient Greek for “concerning public speaking” – refers to the use of language as a means to persuade. As I used it today: “I expected to have my high assessment of these tragedies confirmed. And it…

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  voluble (adjective)

  August 19, 2019 · 1 min read

  Voluble (VOL-yuh-buhl) refers to a ready and continuous flow of words; spoken language that is fluent and glib. As used by Derek Walcott: “You would hear people talking in Barbados in the exact melody as a…

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• A Word to the Wise

  Today’s Word: tergiversation (noun)

  February 14, 2019 · 1 min read

  Today’s Word: tergiversation (noun) –Tergiversation(tur-jih-ver-SAY-shun) is equivocation; the act of being deliberately ambiguous. As used by Tobias Smollett in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker: “I must tell…

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  obsolete (adjective)

  September 2, 2020 · 1 min read

  Something that’s obsolete (ahb-suh-LEET) is no longer in general use; discarded or outmoded. As I used it today: “Two or 3 million bus drivers could lose their jobs. And that’s not to mention the millions of…

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  verbing (noun)

  April 17, 2020 · 1 min read

  I’d like to interrupt all this Corona Crisis coverage to raise an objection to something bothersome that has been accelerating during this time of stress. I’m talking about the soon-to-become ubiquitous…

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