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Roscian (ROSH-ee-uhn) adjective
Roscian (ROSH-ee-uhn) adjective
Of or related to acting.
[After Quintus Roscius Gallus (c.126-62 BCE), a Roman actor famous for his talent in acting.]
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Bunyanesque (bun-yuh-NESK) adjective
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Bunyanesque (bun-yuh-NESK) adjective
1. Gigantic; of or relating to the legends of the fictional hero Paul Bunyan.
2. Of or relating to the allegorical style of the author John Bunyan.
Adamite (AD-uh-myt) noun
1. A nudist.
[After the name of some Christian sects who professed to imitate the first human, Adam, in not wearing any clothes.]
2. A human being.
[After Adam, the prototypical human.]
3. A mineral (zinc arsenate hydroxide) usually yellow and green in color.
Hermeneutic (hur-muh-NOO-tik, -NYOO-) adjective
Interpretive or explanatory.
[From Greek hermeneutikos (of interpreting), from hermeneuein (to interpret), from hermeneus (interpreter). After Hermes in Greek mythology, who served as a messenger and herald for other gods, and who himself was the god of eloquence, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.]
Interpretive or explanatory.
[From Greek hermeneutikos (of interpreting), from hermeneuein (to interpret), from hermeneus (interpreter). After Hermes in Greek mythology, who served as a messenger and herald for other gods, and who himself was the god of eloquence, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.]
Galen (GAY-luhn) noun
A physician.
[After Galen, a famous Greek physician in the 2nd century. He pioneered the study of anatomy and wrote extensively about his findings.]
[After Galen, a famous Greek physician in the 2nd century. He pioneered the study of anatomy and wrote extensively about his findings.]
Ensorcell (en-SOR-suhl) verb tr.
To bewitch; to enchant.
[From Middle French ensorceler, from Old French ensorcerer, from en- + -sorcerer, from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin sortiarius, from Latin sort-, stem of sors (lot, fate).]
To bewitch; to enchant.
[From Middle French ensorceler, from Old French ensorcerer, from en- + -sorcerer, from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin sortiarius, from Latin sort-, stem of sors (lot, fate).]
Guttle (GUT-l) verb tr., intr.
To eat voraciously; to devour greedily.
[From gut, on the pattern of guzzle, from Middle English gut, from plural guttes (entrails), from Old English guttas.]
To eat voraciously; to devour greedily.
[From gut, on the pattern of guzzle, from Middle English gut, from plural guttes (entrails), from Old English guttas.]
Dehisce (di-HIS) verb intr.
1. To burst open, as the pod of a plant.
2. To gape.
[When a peapod is ripe after a long wait and bursts open, it's yawning, etymologically speaking. The term dehisce comes from Latin dehiscere (to split open), from hiscere (to gape, yawn), from Latin hiare (to yawn). Another term that derives from the same root is hiatus.]
1. To burst open, as the pod of a plant.
2. To gape.
[When a peapod is ripe after a long wait and bursts open, it's yawning, etymologically speaking. The term dehisce comes from Latin dehiscere (to split open), from hiscere (to gape, yawn), from Latin hiare (to yawn). Another term that derives from the same root is hiatus.]
Debouch (di-BOUCH, di-BOOSH) verb intr.
1. To march out from a narrow or confined place into an open area.
2. To emerge or issue from a narrow area into the open.
[From French deboucher, from de- (out of) + boucher, from bouche (mouth), from Latin bucca (mouth or cheek). The word buckle (as in a belt) derives from the same Latin root.]
Bibliomancy (BIB-lee-o-man-see) noun
Divination by interpreting a passage picked at random from a book, especially from a religious book such as the Bible.
[From Greek biblio- (book) + -mancy (divination).]
Arithmancy (AR-ith-man-see) noun
Divination by numbers.
[From Greek arithmos (number) + -mancy (divination).]
Divination by numbers.
[From Greek arithmos (number) + -mancy (divination).]
Necromancy (NEK-ruh-man-see) noun
1. Divination by trying to communicate with the spirits of the dead.
2. Magic; sorcery; witchcraft.
[From Greek nekros (corpse) + -mancy (divination). Ultimately from Indo-European root nek- (death) that's also the source of nuisance, obnoxious, pernicious, innocent, innocuous, nectar, and nectarine.]
Though Bunyanesque in his physique, Con Chapman would not allow his Roscian calling to be denied.
1. Divination by trying to communicate with the spirits of the dead.
2. Magic; sorcery; witchcraft.
[From Greek nekros (corpse) + -mancy (divination). Ultimately from Indo-European root nek- (death) that's also the source of nuisance, obnoxious, pernicious, innocent, innocuous, nectar, and nectarine.]
Though Bunyanesque in his physique, Con Chapman would not allow his Roscian calling to be denied.
Taking an opportunity to travel to Big Sky Country to engage in the kind of hermeneutic research employed by great actors such as Dustin Hoffman, one of his faves since he could remember, Con took the appropriate exit a short drive from Butte, the mile-high Mining City in southwest Montana famous for the copper that built the mansions of the copper kings and the nation’s first electric grids
Butte was known for many historical landmarks including the last brothel in the Lower 48 built specifically for ladies who ensorcelled there for a living until the building was officially closed to that business in 1982.
Butte was known for many historical landmarks including the last brothel in the Lower 48 built specifically for ladies who ensorcelled there for a living until the building was officially closed to that business in 1982.
There were no windows to the outside, only along interior hallways, where prostitutes could show off their attributes and entice clients. These days, the Dumas Brothel was open only for tours. No help to the local economy there.
Butte was certainly a very interesting place, but now it was time to get to work.
Not much exists at the I-90 Galen exit, a 10-minute drive from Butte, besides the Warm Springs State Hospital.
After checking in at the front office, a member of the staff permitted Con to observe the unfortunate souls debouching into the sunshine for afternoon activities. One patient spotted Con immediately and dehisced, without moving, for 15 minutes. He seemed not to blink a single time.
Returning his stare because he was sort of afraid not to, Con could almost feel the stinging of the man’s necromantic eyes.
Some patients engaged in efforts at bibliomancy using worn copies of the New Testament that appeared to have been clutched with desperate intensity over the years by chilled adamites seeking understanding, some truth that could be revealed either by the text or by scrutiny of the endless numerical references that apparently goaded some patients into a precise practice of arithmancy. At least that seemed to the case, based on the chanting of a few of the patients who held their heads as they scribbled numbers on paper while the Montana wind tried to blow away their efforts.
Other hospital residents snacked on brown-bag lunches. Some guttled the contents, while others seemed to approach each bite of food with great trepidation.
Con was here to learn and felt certain he had come to the right place.
An important film audition was coming up in L.A. and Con wanted the part of a tortured heir to a fortune in penny stocks who deceives his way into a state hospital in order to have access to treatment without actually becoming a patient and having his stay end up in the tabloids.
The script was fascinating. In the story, the character he would play is so successful in group therapy and with the suggestion box, he winds up running the hospital, improving, even saving, lives, and eventually marrying a beautiful woman to be played by an actress known as Maraj.
He meets Maraj’s character Sally Swift while waiting for her to finally get off the only phone line in the building for patient use. There is some conflict and then they quickly fall for one another.
Of course there is a tragic ending. After successfully shooing away the demons that plagued his mind nearly all his life, and finding unexpected love, Con’s character is found out and sent to prison for fraud and breaking an assortment of laws, even though the patient recovery rate at the hospital shows remarkable improvement during his unofficial tenure.
When Con’s character Steve Klinkaman is convicted, Maraj’s character becomes suicidal, leaving a note she writes in Braille by gluing Cheerios to a large piece of paper she finds in the crafts room. Even though she is a seeing character, the message is something about love being blind. The film was going to be a real tearjerker.
Con just had to get the part in this modern tragedy. Sure, he was looking forward to the unique, kitchen love scenes with the drop-dead gorgeous Maraj; but, coming to Warm Springs and having the opportunity to improve his acting by observing and hopefully finding his way into the mind of the unwell, to discover and connect with the light that burns in a damaged yet determined human heart, that was the whole journey in acting and in life -- to connect with the inspiration of the fantastic. – N
This writing is fiction and is in no way representative of Montana’s Warm Springs State Hospital, its services, methods, patients or staff.
This writing is fiction and is in no way representative of Montana’s Warm Springs State Hospital, its services, methods, patients or staff.
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Background:
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
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Comments
I cannot stop laughing, Natalie. Your imagination is amazing and so delightful. Rated +++++
:-) Thanks!
Steve: So you WERE put in the Klink! The truth comes out!!!!
Sparking: I have no idea where the Braille and Cheerios thing came from. Maybe I need some help! This was fun. Thanks.
Rated.
Thoth: If you say it is cool, it must be so. Thank you, my friend.
Butte is an interesting town and I consider it me hometown(Anaconda is close enough to Warm Springs to be part of it's INSANITY!! ;) All the arsenic in the ground!! ~L~ I kid, I kid, I lived there too for a bit!!!)
Highly rate just for the Butte reference alone!!!
I didn't know about the connection to Hermes, but I do have a fondness for the word. In college, it was a dead giveaway for a course where you wouldn't actually study anything, you'd . . . talk about the study of things. Like, "Seminar in the Teleology of Hermeneutics".
When we expand the language we increase are ability to dispense information and raise the collective IQ of are culture. I see Thoth has already found you too, the man has praeterhuman literary powers. did you know that Thoth was the original name of Hermes? The above paragraph is far more than a language exercise it is poetry, it puts me there with the reality challenged under the Montana sky.
Just kidding! I'm such a roscian gal, lol.
Con: No worries. You can have, use and be Hermeneutic any time you want. Yes, I know about god-name Thoth. Extremely cool. Very clever of our Thoth to adopt it and make it his own.
Oh, and this was a tour de force: absolutely masterful.
Amanda: Clearly, you are ready for the weekend! LOL. Thanks for joining in the fun!
Sally: Know you not that nothing is secret here? Silly rabbit...
Pilgrim: I can't speak about proper brothel management, but regarding your comment about the writing, I am humbled. What a way to start my weekend! Thank you, kind Sir.
"Tonight's play was an all new low, even worse than that time Julius had taken her to the insect circus which they'd had to watch through binocculars. It was new and avant garde, which accounted for the tiny audience which was thoroughly outnumbered by the Adamite performers. Even the play write's mother was knitting by flash light. They didn't dare leave. What exactly IS the point of having to watch a lot of Bunyanesque Roscians gorging themselves onstage while chanting "Arithmancy! Necromancy! Bibliomancy! Nancy practices all the Mancy's!" for twenty solid minutes in what I profoundly hope is Act 8 by now? Maraj wondered in deep annoyance, eyeing Julius sidelong. She'd found more satisfying entertainment in filing her fingernails while watching the weather channel.
"That was our last date, EVER Julius" Maraj informed him coldly on her front stoop at three a.m. "I don't care if that was hermeneutic theater or not--and really, MUST you always Guttle your Tofu nut cutlets? You KNOW how it distresses me!"
This may have been your masterpiece, Natalie!