conviviality con-viv-i-al-i-ty / kən-vĭv-ē-ăl-ĭ-tē noun 1. a jolly or sociable temperament; the state of having good humor If time, so fleeting, must like humans die, let it be filled with good food and good talk, and then embalmed in the perfumes of conviviality. From “The Art of Eating” by M. F. K. Fisher, 1908 – 1992 2. a festive or lively celebration After you have exhausted what... Read More

sticker stick-er / stĭk-ər noun 1. something or someone that adheres or attaches to another The sticker has no meaning, but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning. Shepard Fairey, 1970 – 2. something or someone that sticks, pierces or stabs Most toad stickers are actually barbed spears with two or prongs. From “Rough Rider’s Long Bladed Toad Stickers”, www.blindkat.hegewisch.net/RRR/rr_toadstickers.html, accessed October... Read More

banal ba-nal / bə-năl, bā-nəl, bə-näl adjective 1. ordinary, commonplace, trite; unoriginal It is almost banal to say so yet it needs to be stressed continually: all is creation, all is change, all is flux, all is metamorphosis. Henry Miller, 1891 – 1980

meticulous me-tic-u-lous / mĭ-tĭk-yə-ləs adjective 1. extremely careful or detail oriented; very thorough We do not fear being called meticulous, inclining as we do to the view that only the exhaustive can be truly interesting. Thomas Mann, 1875 – 1955

leak leak / lēk noun 1. a crack or unintended hole through which something such as liquid, gas, or light, can escape or enter Watch the little things; a small leak will sink a great ship. Ben Franklin, 1706-1790 2. the act of liquid, gas, light, etc. entering or escaping through a crack or unintended hole, or an instance thereof It’s amazing how people can get so excited... Read More

bombast bom-bast / bŏm–băst noun 1. pompous, pretentious or grandiloquent language What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet’s bombast! Jean de la Bruyere, 1645 – 1696

voluble vol-u-ble / vŏl-yə-bəl adjective 1. talkative, fluent, glib It is a common error to imagine that to be stirring and voluble in a worthy cause is to be good and to do good. John Lancaster Spalding, 1840 – 1916 2. (archaic) able to turn or rotate easily Neither the weight of the matter of which a cylinder is made, nor its round voluble form, which,... Read More

staid staid / stād adjective 1. sober; sedate; serious; conforming to proper, conventional standards Madame Reuter looked more like a joyous, free-living old Flemish fermiere, or even a maitresse d’auberge, than a staid, grave, rigid directrice de pensionnat. From “The Professor” by Charlotte Brontë, 1816 – 1855 2. permanent; stationary There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe. From “The Waves” by Virginia Woolf, 1882 –... Read More

nostalgic nos-tal-gic / nŏ-stăl-jĭk, nə-stăl-jĭk adjective 1. homesick; having a deep longing for things or people from one’s past; sentimental There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful. Paul Simon, 1941 –

xenophobia xe-no-pho-bi-a / zē-nə-fō-bēə, zĕn-ə-fō-bēə noun 1. fear or hatred of anything foreign or strange The library card is a passport to wonders and miracles, glimpses into other lives, religions, experiences, the hopes and dreams and strivings of ALL human beings, and it is this passport that opens our eyes and hearts to the world beyond our front doors, that is one of our best hopes... Read More