As part of our job JD and I have regular recourse to the dictionary, and while checking spellings and meanings we sometime discover obscure words for simple things. Here are a few examples that we found amusing; why not try them out on family and friends?
Absquatulate: "leave abruptly". Eg (possibly during a heated argument): "If I were you'd I'd absquatulate before I lose my temper."
Adumbrate: "give a general idea". Eg (possibly in reply to a tough question): "I have no idea, but I could adumbrate for you."
Adventitious: "happening according to chance". Eg (possibly when accused of breaking an expensive vase): "I do assure you it was entirely adventitious."
Aleatoric: "random". Eg (possibly when accused of dealing cards from the bottom of the pack): "My choice of four aces was completely aleotoric."
Are these words genuine? That, I assure you, is apodictic*; watch this space for more show-off words.
*Apodictic: "beyond dispute".
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1 comment:
Am I alone in viewing the terms "evade" and "avoid", when applied for the purpose of taxation, as akin to the fable of "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Spoken of in sanctimonious, near-reverential terms by accountants, politicians, tax officials and the like when describing avoidance as being "perfectly legal," when in all dictionaries and thesauruses, past and present, describe each as being synonymous with the other. The identical, hushed tones used by the other individuals of like ilk to describe the so-called "Politics of Envy", whilst ignoring that a more apt description would be "The Politics of Avarice, Corruption and Mass Acquisition"! And, saying, "We have to attract the 'Best People' to run our Financial Institutions"! They expect the same set of corrupt, (proven with sentences of imprisonment) criminal politicians; bankers; judges; senior, and junior, police officers; media employees (and, if recent episodes of Dispatches are to be believed - the HMRC and DWP, too) to wreck the UK's economy once and for all (playing the markets more recklessly and criminally than even Nick Leeson employed in the collapse of Barings Bank) employing dubious "science" for their own nefarious purposes.
The tangled, seemingly myriad web of companies in the Dispatches report was reminiscent of the plot played out by the character played by Peter Ustinov in the film "Hot Millions" with Maggie Smith. Real life imitating art?
The individuals in the media and Parliament, in a bid to divert attention away from their own sordid, tacky dealings, rushing first to "expose" the inadequacies of the UK border controls and Olympic Security recruitment failures by G4S. Then, second, Parliament, again rushing into holding a "Parliamentary Inquiry" without due consideration that it was endangering not only subjects of the UK, but from all nationalities from some deranged religious fanatic, Irish terrorists or any individual who took umbrage. Whatever became of the saying, "Careless talk Costs Lives!" They might as well have issued a detailed blueprint of the Security arrangements, etc.
The millennium bug scam when, allegedly, we would be hurled back to the Stone Age at the stroke of midnight was probably a forerunner of the current climate change/global warming fake science that has allowed us to be duped into parting with our ever-depreciating, hard-earned cash. The foreign-owned utility companies advocating more energy-saving products, which when produced, will automatically be followed by increases in their prices to allow for the subsequent drops in their profit. The proliferation of wind-powered generators stationary in icy, windless conditions (when most needed) that are foisted on us by the "GREENEST-EVER" UK Government, conveniently ignoring that one definition of green is gullible.
I say, campaign for tax equality; banish the fraudulent Tax Laws with the accountants whose main purpose is to invent more ways to prevent obscenely rich individuals from paying their fair share of taxes! Who’s with me?
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