Staff Blog
Infinite Summer: Vocab Lesson
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| Where’s my Singles soundtrack? |
I’m going to read something this summer.
I’m only 70-something pages into my season-long Infinite Jest mission. Thoughts so far? Oh boy, it’s gonna be a long summer. One sentence was longer than a page. Another contained five footnotes. One footnote spanned eight and a half pages, and read like a tiny type imdb. That said, I’m enjoying the way David Foster Wallace mixed casual humor with an impressive vocabulary and way too many details. Early on, I decided to write down words whose meaning I was not clear on, and words I had never seen before. Every so often I’ll compile them here, with definitions provided by m-w.com — except for the last one; I had to go to medterms.com for that. Next time I’ll write down the parts of speech when I come across the word, for context.
wen (noun) an abnormal growth or a cyst protruding from a surface especially of the skin
lapidary (adj) having the elegance and precision associated with inscriptions on monumental stone
espadrille (noun) a sandal usually having a fabric upper and a flexible sole
martinet (noun) a strict disciplinarian
intercostal (adjective) situated or extending between the ribs
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| sdakotabirds.com |
| I’m a grackle! |
grackle (noun) any of a genus (Quiscalus of the family Icteridae) of large American blackbirds having iridescent black plumage
apocopes (noun) the loss of one or more sounds or letters at the end of a word
festschrift (noun) a volume of writings by different authors presented as a tribute or memorial especially to a scholar
hypertrophy (noun) excessive development of an organ or part
titration (noun) a method or process of determining the concentration of a dissolved substance in terms of the smallest amount of reagent of known concentration required to bring about a given effect in reaction with a known volume of the test solution
deliquesce (verb) to dissolve or melt away
ideation (noun) the capacity for or the act of forming or entertaining ideas
hypocapnia (noun) Less than the normal level of carbon dioxide in the blood.
[...] especially considering my excuse for not participating in the David Foster Wallace torturefest Infinite Summer. (”I want to read a bunch of books this summer,” I said. “Infinite Jest will get in the way of all [...]
[...] Critical Mass :: Blog Archive :: Infinite Summer: Vocab Lesson :: Philadelphia City Paper :: Philade… criticalmass.blogs.citypaper.net/blogs/mu/2009/06/29/infinite-summer-vocab-lesson – view page – cached o • Things We See: Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia’s Crafts for a Cause o • What if Hurricane Bill doesn’t change course? o • NIGHT MOVES: Beta Hi-Fi Fest finals o • Service held for unknown homeless man, killed by police o • Another Band Gets Fleeced in Philly o • Should Cole Hamels be in a Phillies playoff rotation? o • Shocking: SEPTA delays again! o • Night of the Animals: Part Three o • Best Thing Ever: Barney Frank lays on the smackdown o • Damn you, Rittenhouse Row! o • Two new shirts for two new stars o • Tonight: Urban Cyclists Unite! at Arbol Cafe o • Robert Novak, 1931-2009 o • You’re gonna have to bribe someone to get in on Avatar Day o • Night of the Animals: Part Two o • Ed Rendell “only kidding” about pressing Bloomberg to buy — From the page [...]