This Week in Word of the Day – 03/31/13
Still from a documentary I helped produce called Domestic Bliss. Click on image to check out their Kickstarter.
marmoreal \mahr-MAWR-ee-uhl, -MOHR-\, adjective:
of or like marble: skin of marmoreal smoothness.
With a delicate, almost inhumane marmoreal face and soulful blue eyes, the medical examiners solemnly agreed the young Russian immigrant was the loveliest thing any of them had ever seen. They took great care in zipping up the body bag and handled her as gently as possible. The nameless woman had been through so much.
No paperwork ever emerged, no trace of her life to indicate who she was before her tragic path led her to the dungeon. Yet, she would forever be remembered as the woman who did what a legion of law enforcement agents could not. She killed the Badlands Butcher. In so doing, she saved the lives of a dozen other women who were trapped inside his web-work of subterranean cells and helped the Department of Justice cripple the largest human trafficking organization in the nation.
wrest \rest\, verb:
1. to take away by force: to wrest a knife from a child.
2. to twist or turn; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist.
3. to get by effort: to wrest a living from the soil.
4. to twist or turn from the proper course, application, use, meaning, or the like; wrench.
Hugh lunged and swiped at the rifle, but he was unable to wrest it from the Jap. As the wooden stock slipped out of his fingers and the barrel swung towards his forehead, Hugh was reminded of the weightless feeling of jumping from the lifeguard observation deck down into the muddy waters of the lake near his home in Arkansas. There was no life flashing before him, no flood of memories, no waves of love, hope and regret – just weightless suspension as he watched the sight steady and the Jap scream before pulling the trigger.
His last sliver of thought: “What do I do if the rifle jams?”
tranche \trahnch, trahnsh\, noun:
1. any part, division, or installment: We’ve hired the first tranche of researchers.
2. Finance. a. one part or division of a larger unit, as of an asset pool or investment: The loan will be repaid in three tranches. b. a group of securities that share a certain characteristic and form part of a larger offering: The second tranche of the bond issue has a five-year maturity.
verb:
1. Finance. to divide into parts: tranched debt; A credit portfolio can be tranched into a variety of components that are then further subdivided.
Larry lost a wife to another man, then lost a second wife to cancer. Between the two, windowing was a much simpler emotional wound to suffer. He would have, of course, preferred Wilma to have left him for another slick attorney in a convertible than to have her suffer so miserably as her own body betrayed her. But in his selfish core that he would never admit aloud, he was glad for the simplicity. He didn’t know if he could survive another divorce.
Their house still appeared to be lived in by two and he was happy to draw our the chore of packing and donating her clothes, knick knacks, books, and hand-knitted sweaters in smaller and smaller tranches. The simple act of sifting through her belongings unsettled her memory like a cloud of dust, swirling it about the house. It stuck to his skin, he could smell her again, feel her spirit, almost hear her awkward, boyish laugh as her lingering presence glittered in the afternoon sunlight. It was pleasant, revitalizing, but also agonizing. He hoped to draw out the task until the end of his days, then leave it to his children to finish the task in the course of a day or two.
pharaonic \fair-ey-ON-ik, far-\, adjective:
1. (usually lowercase) impressively or overwhelmingly large, luxurious, etc.: a construction project of pharaonic proportions.
2. (sometimes lowercase) of or like a Pharaoh: living in Pharaonic splendor.
3. (lowercase) cruelly oppressive; tyrannical: pharaonic tax laws.
“You must love this mongrel language of ours. It is ugly, awkward and unwieldy because of its fidelity. It eagerly adopts each and every trivial, linguistic fad without question, because it so desperately wants to please us. Some of you may already possess an appropriate amount of zeal and wonder, but most of you do not. That is fine, neither did I at your age.
You must love someone beyond reason, and know that it is someone else that loves you with equal abandon. You must make a habit of building up ballads like decadent, pharaonic temples. Never hesitate to embellish. As writers, we are all professional liars.
And, most of all, live life with all your might. Absorb and endure, then expose the festering wounds to the world. Art cannot be created from the safety of your writing desk. If you lack the stomach to attack this world, that is fine as well. The publishing industry is always in need of another hobbyist.”
swivet \SWIV-it\, noun:
a state of nervous excitement, haste, or anxiety; flutter: I was in such a swivet that I could hardly speak.
She was a sweet and brilliant soul with potential only bound by time and finance. She gazed up at the skyscrapers blazing with light, stretching into the heavens, silencing the girl in an awed swivet.
“This town will make me famous,” she finally whispered with a timid smile.
gaumless \GAWM-lis\, adjective:
lacking in vitality or intelligence; stupid, dull, or clumsy.
Cleverness beams from her eyes like blistering rays of sunshine. I feel like a gaumless oaf, an unworthy knave thrilled to just be polishing her armor before she charges at the world.
Yet, as dull as I may be, she still curls against me, clinging tightly as if I was the strong one. I say nothing, for illusion is all I have anymore.
impawn \im-PAWN\, verb:
1. to put in pawn; pledge.
The brittle old farmer rubbed at the sparse and bristled stubble growing out of his dark, gaunt, and sun-scorched face. He stood before a tribunal of tribal elders representing the local militia, demanding the population impawn their land and loyalty.
The ancient farmer knew little about poppies, but he knew their value as well as the repercussions others have endured after defying the clerics.
On the other hand, he lost two sons and three daughters to war. His only peace in their loss was the belief that they died to protect their family’s place in this world. The rest of the family fled across the border to wait out the troubles, so the only life that would be saved by fidelity would be the farmer’s.
The old man didn’t bother with a reply, he knew they couldn’t be swayed by arguments or entreaties. Instead, he simply shook his head and shuffled back toward the long road leading to his farm.
With a lethargic sweep of the pen, the chief judge signed the old farmer’s death warrant. After signing so many in the past year, the act of condemning a man had lost all its thrill.
