Vocabulary #1

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do."
-N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society 
(http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1207563-dead-poets-society)

 

 

Vocab List #1
adumbrate: to foreshadow vaguely
apotheosis: elevation to divine status (perfect example/epitome)
ascetic: practicing strict self denial as a measure of personal or spiritual discipline
bauble: trinket, trifling object
beguile: to lead by deception or trickery
burgeon: to grow or expand rapidly
complement: something that fills up, completes, or makes perfect
contumacious: stubbornly disobedient, rebellious
curmudgeon: miser, (typically used to describe an old man) ill-tempered
didactic: intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment. Designed or intended to teach.
disingenuous: lacking in brilliance (or candor) or lack of integrity
exculpate: to clear from fault or guilt
faux pas: blunder (social blunder)
fulminate: to utter, explode, or send out with denouncement
fustian: written or spoken with pretentiousness or pomposity
hauteur: arrogance
inhibit: to prohibit from doing something
jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or complaint
opportunist: unprincipled resourceful person: somebody who takes advantage of something, especially somebody who does so in a devious, unscrupulous, or unprincipled way
unconscionable: not guided or controlled by conscience

Special shout out to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary for the definitions!
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

Practice Paragraph:
By no means do I intend to sound pretentious and hauteur or to beguile my fellow peers, but I feel ready to take senior year by the horns and like any good opportunist, make the most of it so that when we look back on our time at Righetti we can say our senior year was the apotheosis of our high school career. Let us not be like those curmudgeon and depressed freshmen. Rather we should run and avoid all things that could inhibit making our senior year anything less than brilliant. But to make the most of our opportunity we need to be both vigilant and diligent like ascetic monks and limit our contumacious streaks as to avoid outright punishment by our superiors. Please don't misunderstand my plea to the class of 2014 as disingenuous or even some strange jeremiad from that weird girl in your class. I am not trying to fulminate my opinion on our year, rather I am trying to bring out a didactic approach to what is usually a failed bucket list item for students entering their senior year. So before our classes begin to burgeon us down with homework and bauble, let us work on avoiding unconscionable  decisions that won't complement and add to the overall experience of our senior year. Class of 2014, lets do this!

1. In the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck the death and 'burial' of Rose of Sharon's stillborn baby in to the flood waters can be viewed as an adumbrate and even allusion to the Biblical story of Moses, that things will eventually improve.
2. Exculpating our enemies, is a great way to start the new year with a clean slate.
3. I find it strange that burping in public isn't always view as a faux pas, especially as it is a social norm that shouldn't be broken.
4. His speech was filled with fustian language, over the top and completely unnecessary to prove his point.