Saturday, December 25, 2010

The word of the day is ersatz:

German, = compensation, replacement.
  A substitute or imitation (usually, an inferior article instead of the real thing). Also attrib. or adj., and fig. (OED)
"'Black Swan' turns Freud's uncanny into shtick; the sinister elements are overloaded and overdetermined.  After a while, you realize that the film is a case of ersatz formalism disguising chaos."

 - David Denby, "Fancy Footwork: 'Black Swan' and 'Love and Other Drugs'", 6 December 2010 The New Yorker

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