word of the day: specious

The word of the day is specious:

 

1. apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible

2. pleasing to the eye but deceptive.

Latin speciōsus fair, good-looking, beautiful, equivalent to speci (ēs) (see species ) + -ōsus -ous (dictionary.com)


"Albee's parents paid little attention to him; he was a bourgeois prop, meant to complete their specious idea of 'family.'"

 - Hilton Als, "Just the Folks: Edward Albee's bad marriages", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker

Word of the day: bursitis

The word of the day is bursitis:

Pathol.

Inflammation of a bursa.  (OED)

which brings us to bursa:

medieval Latin bursa bag, purse, < Greek βύρσα hide, wine-skin.

  1. Physiol. (more fully bursa mucosa): ‘A synovial sac of discoidal form interposed between muscles, tendons, or skin, and bony prominences, for the purpose of lessening friction’. (OED)

"Death, at first, seems no match for her formidable will and aggression.  Flora barks at her broker over the telephone; she hassles Blackie; and she downs cognac and pills to combat her 'bursitis'."

 - Hilton Als, "Ladies of the Night: Tennessee Williams and Anton Chekhov on troubled women", February 14 & 21, 2011, The New Yorker

Word of the day: amanuensis

The word of the day is amanuensis:
Latin (in Suetonius) adj. used subst., < a manu a secretary, short for servus a manu + -ensis belonging to.

One who copies or writes from the dictation of another. (OED)


"As the curtains billow in the wind and waves crash on the rocks below, time is marked by the tides, and this carnal-minded, avaricious grande dame composes her memoirs.  Her not so inventive Boswell is her companion and amanuensis, Frances Black (Maggie Lacey), whom Flora calls Blackie."

 - Hilton Als, "Ladies of the Night: Tennessee Williams and Anton Chekhov on troubled women", February 14 & 21, 2011, The New Yorker