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OPPUGN

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-PYOON)

MEANING: verb tr.: To call in question; to contradict; to dispute.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin oppugnare (to fight or oppose), from ob- (against) + pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick) which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, impugn, pugilist, and pugnacious. Earliest documented use: 1435.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid? -Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)
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OMPUGN - a meditating Buddhist with a short fuse

OPPUGNU - the hybrid offspring of a small southeastern US marsupial and a wildebeest



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ENERVATE

PRONUNCIATION: (verb: EN-uhr-vayt, adj.: i-NUHR-vit)

MEANING: verb tr.: To deprive of strength or vitality.
adjective: Deprived of strength; Weakened.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin enervare (to weaken), from ex- (out) + nervus (sinew). Earliest documented use: 1603.

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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (24 Jun 1842-1914)
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ENERVOTE - the Big Oil lobby

ENERGATE - the Enron affair was a Federal conspiracy

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SPLENETIC

PRONUNCIATION: (spli-NET-ik)

MEANING: adjective: Bad-tempered; spiteful.

ETYMOLOGY: From spleen, from French esplen, from Latin splen, from Greek splen. Earliest documented use: 1398.

NOTES: In earlier times it was believed that four humors controlled human behavior and an imbalance resulted in disease. According to this thinking an excess of black bile secreted by the spleen resulted in melancholy or ill humor. Also, the spleen was considered to be the seat of emotions. To vent one's spleen was to vent one's anger.

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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. -George Orwell, writer (25 Jun 1903-1950)
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SPLENETHIC - unyielding grouchiness; the moral underpinning of current US politics

SELENETIC - moon-like

SPHENETIC - wedge-shaped

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EVISCERATE

PRONUNCIATION: (i-VIS-uh-rayt)

MEANING: verb intr.:
1. To remove the entrails; to disembowel.
2. To deprive of essential parts; to weaken or to destroy.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin eviscerare (to disembowel), from ex- (out) + viscera (internal organs), plural of Latin viscus (flesh, internal organ). Earliest documented use: 1607.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I believe the greatest gift I can conceive of having from anyone is to be seen, heard, understood, and touched by them. The greatest gift I can give is to see, hear, understand, and touch another person. -Virginia Satir, psychotherapist and author (26 Jun 1916-1988)
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EVISCERANTE - That's my last chip; if I don't win this pot I'm flat broke

EVI'S CRATE - the used car Evi just bought

ELVISCERATE - Madame Tussaud's Waxworks has a new statue of The King, in his Graceland studio

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CONNATE

PRONUNCIATION: (KON-ayt, ko-NAYT)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Congenial.
2. Congenital.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin connasci (to be born with), from com- (with) nasci (to be born). Earliest documented use: 1641.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (29 Jun 1900-1944)
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CONMATE - any utterance for the specific purpose of getting laid (see FOREPLOY)
(with acknowledgement to the Washington Post Style Invitational contest)

CONNANTE - sitting down to a poker table in Hartford CT

CONNAVE -
1. partner in crime
2. an adjacent set of pews, in which church dissidents sit apart from the affirmers

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SORB

PRONUNCIATION: (sorb)

MEANING: verb intr.:
1. To take up and hold by absorption.
2. To take up and hold by adsorption.

NOTES: So what’s the difference between absorption and adsorption, besides a turned-around letter b? Absorption is when a substance is completely assimilated by another while in adsorption the substance deposits on the surface of another.

ETYMOLOGY: Back-formation from absorb, from Latin absorbere, from ab- (away) + sorbere (to suck). Earliest documented use: 1909.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Life is a jest, and all things show it, / I thought so once, and now I know it. -John Gay, poet and dramatist (30 Jun 1685-1732)
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SORR - a brief apology

SORY - a half-hearted apology

SORI - Cyclops with conjunctivitis

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RAMBLE

PRONUNCIATION: (RAM-buhl)

MEANING:
verb intr.: 1. To talk in an aimless manner.
verb intr.: 2. To walk in an aimless manner.
noun: A leisurely, sometimes lengthy walk.

ETYMOLOGY: Probably from Middle Dutch rammelen (to wander about in heat, used of animals). Earliest documented use: 1443.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: It is almost impossible to carry the torch of truth through a crowd without singeing somebody's beard. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)
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RAMABLE - like a bumper-car

RAMBLUE - the color of my new Dodge truck

RAMBYE - the St Louis football team has the week off

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FARDEL

PRONUNCIATION: (FAHR-dl)

MEANING: noun:
1. A bundle.
2. A burden.

ETYMOLOGY: -- From Old French fardel, diminutive of farde (package, burden), from Arabic farda (piece, pack). Earliest documented use: 1300.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its country. It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present; and forty years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading; and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. -Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President (1743-1826)
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FARDEN -- a very distant herbarium with beautiful floral displays

FAIRDEL -- a little German horse

FARIEL -- a magical archangel

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MAUNDER

PRONUNCIATION: (MON-duhr)

MEANING: verb intr.:
1. To talk aimlessly.
2. To walk aimlessly.

ETYMOLOGY: Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1622.
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924)
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MASUNDER - split Massachusetts into two independent regions

MAUIDER - a beverage made from fermented Hawaiian fruit

MAPUNDER - diagram of the London subway system

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MEANDER a speed between 'mosey' and 'saunter'.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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