Vocabulary Mnemonics

November 16, 2024

Matt’s words

Epicurean (v): someone with fancy tastes, especially with food and drink

The prince had epicurean tastes.

While Thomas Harris’ iconic Hannibal Lecter paved the way for cannibal protagonists, the good doctor has since found excellent company among more recent epicurean villains. —Jessica Carbone, Saveur, 24 Oct. 2024

Mnemonic: These people only want “epic” stuff. This is the most epic wine I’ve ever had.

Bowdlerize (n): to sanitize a book; remove parts considered vulgar

In the 1800s a version of Shakespeare’s plays were published, but the Bowdler family removed anything that could be considered offensive.

You can find bowdlerized versions of Romeo and Juliet…

They tried to bowdlerize my work…

Mnemonic: If you bowdlerize it usually doesn’t “bode” well.

Gordian Knot (n): way to describe a neat problem to an apparently unsolvable problem.

A knot tied by Gordius, King of Phrygia, held to be capable of being untied only by the future ruler of Asia, and cut by Alexander the Great with his sword.

Many have tried to cut the Middle East Gordian Knot.

Global Warming is a Gordian Knot that remains unsolved.

Mnemonic: Think of a knot you can “not” untie.

Gordian also sounds like “cord,” as in “cut the cord.”

Cur (n): a mongrel or inferior dog; a cowardly fellow

On a blustery Saturday afternoon in April, 18 of 25 groups there had dogs off a leash, including this reporter with her black mouth cur mix, Archer. – Boston Globe

The soldiers who ran away were denounced as curs.

Mnemonic: A dog growling sounds like grrrrr… which kind of sounds like currrrrr.

Ingenue (n): stock character who’s endearingly innocent; an unsophisticated young woman, especially in a play or film.

(Think of Maria in West Side Story.)

In swinging 1960s London, when films featured fresh mini-skirted ingenues… — LA Times

Mnemonic: Think of being on the set of a play. The ingenue is there, sitting innocently backstage. Her part’s coming up but she doesn’t realize it (because she’s unsophisticated). The director comes over and yells, “In, Jen! You!”

Dr. Mom’s words

Spurious (adj): false, deceitful; originally described children born out of wedlock

Researchers need to be careful never to make spurious claims just to get attention.

Mnemonic: Spurn the spurious.

Detritus (n): literally means loose material, such as rock fragments or organic particles; debris. Can just as readily be used figuratively, as in the remnants of a conversation or a relationship, etc.

After the first hard freeze of fall, gardens are littered with the detritus of summer’s plants and produce: stalks, leaves, vines, and maybe even an abandoned hand trowel. As a flood-swollen river retreats to its banks, it leaves detritus—debris gathered by the raging waters—in its wake. The detritus of civilization may include junkyards and abandoned buildings, while mental detritus may include all kinds of useless trivia. From Merriam-Webster online

Mnemonic: Although detritus is pronounced differently, it looks like “detriment” and begins like detergent. These all come from the Latin, deterere, meaning to wear away, rub off, lessen, impair. Detritus is material that has eroded or worn away.

Animus (n): spiteful or malevolent and deep-seated dislike or ill will; animosity, hostility, rancor

The annoyance I feel toward my neighbor borders on animus, and I really hate feeling that way.

A defining feature of the protesters was their animus toward the police.

…harbor animus

Mnemonic: It’s a synonym with, and sounds like, animosity. It also sounds like animal, so you can think of your animal nature, which is usually not your highest self when you harbor this feeling.

Pule or Mewl (v): to cry whiningly or weakly; whimper

It’s embarrassing to say, but I puled for a solid week over a silly little hangnail.

Mnemonic: Rhymes with cruel. When life is cruel, you want to pule like a baby, or mewl like a kitten.

Dispositive (adj): deciding a matter finally; unquestionable; indisputable; in law, something that resolves a legal issue, claim, or controversy

Does the hiker’s video provide dispositive evidence that Big Foot exists?

Mnemonic: Use a little slangy accent and say, “Dis is positive proof of ________________!” It also has a Latin root “dispose,” so you can think of disposing of any other arguments or evidence. Yours is dispositive.

BIG sentence:

When facing a Gordian knot, an Epicurean ingenue might first caution us to resist puling or succumbing to feelings of cur-like animus; instead, we should first bowdlerize all verbal detritus from our speech, then check for spurious claims, and finally search for dispositive evidence of the problem.