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Notorious: (no-TOR-ee-uhs) adjective                 

            Known widely and usually unfavorably; infamous. 

[From Medieval Latin notorius, well-known, from Latin notus, known, past participle of noscere, to get to know.]   

Obsequious: (ob-SEE-kwee-uhs, uhb-) adjective         

            Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.   

[Middle English, from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium, compliance, from obsequi, to comply : ob-, to + sequi, to follow.]  

Harbinger: (HAHR-bin-juhr) noun                 

            One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner. 

verb tr.                 

            To signal the approach of; presage.   

[Middle English herbengar, person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, to provide lodging for, from herberge, lodging, of Germanic origin.]  

Garble: (gar-buhl) verb tr.                 

            1. To mix up or distort to such an extent as to make misleading or incomprehensible.                 

            2. To scramble (a signal or message), as by erroneous encoding or faulty transmission.    

            3. Archaic. To sort out; cull.  noun    

            The act or an instance of garbling.   

[Middle English garbelen, to inspect and remove refuse from spices, from Anglo-Norman garbeler, to sift, and from Medieval Latin garbellare, both from Arabic garbala, to select, from girbal, sieve, from Late Latin cribellum, diminutive of Latin cribrum.] 

The appearance of the notoriously irritating and obsequious Fusan Ale of Bel Air was to Maraj a harbinger of a less than successful evening.

Although much of what she had heard about the woman was garbled by the sound of hair dyers in the salon, Maraj was sure Fusan would waste no time in trying to be the belle of the ball -- a job which, of course, already belonged to Maraj, who could not and would not just stand by and allow that to happen. -- N

 
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Sycophant: (SIK-uh-fuhnt, SIE-kuh-) noun                 

            A servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people.   

[Latin sycophanta, informer, slanderer, from Greek sukophantes, informer : sukon, fig + -phantes, one who shows (from phainein, to show).]  

Egregious: (i-gree-juhs, -jee-uhs) adjective

            Conspicuously bad or offensive.   

[From Latin egregius, outstanding : e-, ex- + grex, greg-, herd.]  

Factoid: (FAK-toid) noun                 

            Unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of constant repetition.   

 Officious: (o-fish-uhs) adjective                 

            1. Marked by excessive eagerness in offering unwanted services or advice to others.                 

            2. Informal; unofficial.                 

            3. Archaic. Eager to render services or help others. 

[Latin officiosus, obliging, dutiful, from officium, duty.] 

Fusan Ale from Bel Air was amazing.

Maraj, wearing a fabulous, original design by Paul Fontana, observed her nearly as well-dressed, sycophant rival attempt to use egregious comments to attract the attention of men who might be interested in boring factoids. 

If these men were interested in Fusan's style of officious small talk about world-history type things, Maraj could see they were not the men for her.   

Let Fusan have the attention tonight. Maraj had better things to do, like getting herself invited to the opening of the new museum.  There she would meet people, especially men, who knew how to have good conversation.  At least that is what she heard during the absurdly long wait (she had to wait) to get into the spa. -- N

Hello Dear Readers,
I will be without my computer for about two weeks, so I attempted to use a plethora of AWAD offerings to last...

 :-) - Natalie

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Along with countless other people the world over, I enjoy my subscription to A. Word. A. Day. that results in a daily email message with interesting, sometimes completely unknown-to-me words, along with pronounciation guide, etymology typical usage and more.

The New York Times hailed AWADmail as: "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace."

One day way back when, I decided that for learning, it would be helpful and fun to use the words AWAD sent to me in a sentence or two. Of course I found myself going beyond that and using them in not-so-obvious ways that entertained my friends as well as myself. Sometimes I use words incorrectly on purpose. But if you know the meaning, you get the joke. It is kind of a backward way of doing things, but that's creativity, right?

The first character inspired by AWAD was Maraj (not her real name.) She has quite a few fans. At the encouragement of several persistent friends, I decided it was time to share her and the others with my new friends here at OS, and begin on the first day of 2010. 

I'm offering vocabulary words I received from AWAD and what I wrote to practice using them. Tell me this isn't a much more fun way to work on improving one's vocabulary. Enjoy. Maraj and more will be back – and check out www.wordsmith.org to sign up for the free subscription. They don't know me, but for fun tell them I sent you. Like OS, it can be addictive. -- Natalie