By this he meant any thinker from abroad (Paris, nine times out of ten) whose alembicated ideas were being taken up with more excitement than he thought they – or, I daresay, any ideas – were worth.

alembicated (adj) : (of a literary style) excessively refined; precious – source: Le pauvre Sokal

There’s nothing quite like the Onion in the UK – at least, nothing that I’ve seen. The satire in Private Eye is more focused, and too often flirts with pettiness; Viz is more puerile, and not as funny; the Framley Examiner is more parochial.

parochial (adj) 1: relating to or supported by or located in a parish 2: narrowly restricted in outlook or scope [syn: insular] – source: Thomas Jones: Short Cuts

Even in its strongest and most overt form, it tends to be Olympian and condescending rather than vituperative.

vituperative (adj) : marked by harshly abusive criticism [syn: scathing] – source: The Anti-Anti Americans

Whatever bad feeling there might be took the form of mordant jokes (butcher to American customer: ”Say hello to George for me”) and a certain defensive pride.

mordant (adj) : harshly ironic or sinister [syn: black, grim] – source: The Anti-Anti Americans

This is a deliberate campain to to ruin Brick. For the most disgusting, sordid reasons on earth: Avarice! Avarice and greed!

avarice (n) 1: reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins) [syn: greed, covetousness, rapacity, avaritia] 2: extreme greed for material wealth [syn: avariciousness, covetousness, cupidity] – source: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (R2), 1:19:58

But this is no frustrated rock star, desperate to be taken seriously as a musician. ”I was briefly in a band, but I always had this compunction to be silly,” he says.

compunction (n) : a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed) [syn: remorse, self-reproach] – source: Bill Bailey shares his philosophy