Seen on the telly, more specifically on Have I Got News For You? Prince Philips chat-up line is allegedly Hi, I’m a future king. Want a pull?
Naughty royals are such a fine thing for a nation to have.
Archive for the ‘english’ Category
Word 51: Abdicated
Edward VIII was dependent on his brother’s generosity after he abdicated, and had almost no personal funds. William, in contrast, is sitting on a cool £8m inherited from his mother.
abdicate (v) : commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, ”The king resigned his crown,” sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people – source: The Independent Review 9.5.2003, p. 3
The Army screws things up
I am, however, delighted to inform you that I ordered the package using the highly intellectual name of Miss V Persilma. Can’t even remember what the V stood for. I think she was a 26-year-old Austrian doctor, or something. As Calvin once said, I love messing with statistical data.
The first sentences in the brochure are In the Army, you’ll live life at 100mph and it’ll be crammed full of action and responsability. You’ll experience the ultimate mix of travel, adventure and sport
. Suddenly the Finnish version is looking much better.
More on the brochure once I have some free time. Right now I’ve got more pressing matters at hand, like stalking the shower. Damn these shared house mornings.
Word 50: Extirpated
What was left of the nation of impious men has been extirpated.
extirpate (v) : to pluck up by the stem or root; to root out; to eradicate, literally or figuratively; to destroy wholly; as, to extirpate weeds; to extirpate a tumor; to extirpate a sect; to extirpate error or heresy – source: What If?, p. 113
Word 49: Scabrous
The saintly mood lasts until I refill the milk glass on a tiny, scabrous old lady with wild white hair who looks like she’s been folded into her wheelchair and squished.
scabrous adj 1: (biology) rough to the touch; covered with scales or scurf [syn: lepidote, leprose, scaly, scurfy] 2: dealing with salacious or indecent material – source: Nickel and Dimed, p. 66
Word 48: Sequestered
You’re made to sleep in your own private room, sequestered from the rest of the family.
sequestered (adj) 1: providing privacy or seclusion [syn: cloistered, reclusive, secluded] 2: kept separate and secluded – source: The Onion Ad Nauseam, p. 221
Waste of money
We’d visited Cardiff Market once before, but at that time we were so tired that I didn’t pay attention to anything. But oh boy, is there a nice record store or what? I recommend Kelly’s Records to everyone. Not only are the selections good, but the staff are actually helpful. Unbelievable. So I ended up with A Fish Called Wanda and Family Guy, season 2 DVDs for under £20 altogether.
Before that I had already spent a few pounds at MVC, stacking up on cheap collection albums by classic performers (Diana Ross & The Supremes, Shirley Bassey, Al Green, Dusty Springfield). Afterwards we popped into an el cheapo bookstore the name of which escapes me, but it’s by the library. I just couldn’t help myself and had to buy Robert Ross’s Monty Python Encyclopedia and The Onion Ad Nauseam.
Now some people might wonder what the hell I am doing here as an exchange student and just buying stuff. The answer is that all the money you put into pub nights, drinks, and fags, I spend on DVDs, CDs, and books. It’s that simple. On a related note, I checked out whether it would be cheaper to just send all our stuff to Finland by post. No it wouldn’t. Actually it’ll cost exactly the same, whether we mail them or take them with us on the airplane. What a shame.
Highlight of the day: A bird shitted (shat?) on Sonja’s coat. Yesterday’s highlight: An eccentric individual (read: looney) was recording street noises near the bus station. I didn’t stop to ask what he was doing but it sure sounded weird.
Word 47: Skullduggery
Or, even if the flight had gone ahead as planned, what might have been the result had Powers done what he was supposed to do in the event of trouble, thereby depriving the Soviets of any evidence of American skullduggery?
skullduggery (n) : verbal misrepresentation intended to take advantage of you in some way [syn: trickery, hocus-pocus, slickness, hanky panky, jiggery-pokery] – source: What If?, p. 370
Enraged
Word 46: Exonerate
We learnt then that it was going to be a very important, substantial tool for exonerating the innocent as well as identifying the guilty.
exonerate (v) 1: to unload; to disburden; to discharge 2: to relieve, in a moral sense, as of a charge, obligation, or load of blame resting on one; to clear of something that lies upon oppresses one, as an accusation or imputation; as, to exonerate one’s self from blame, or from the charge of avarice 3: to discharge from duty or obligation, as a bail [syn: absolve, acquit, exculpate] – source: The Observer Magazine 4.5.2003, p. 26