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Post by Hunny on Jul 16, 2012 20:19:46 GMT
I had to look up "numen" and I still don't understand it! Wow, I see what you mean (just looked up "numen") Well, never mind that then, 'numinous' is an adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity.So in the example, "My sense of the numinous is generally keenest upstate, in the fields and forest that surround my old schoolhouse." , he means he senses God there...or a connection to the universe, the conscious of it. A numinous experience is a spiritual experience. A numinous object (such as the Holy Grail) is an object said to have the power of God in it, or a connection to such power.
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Post by Big Lin on Jul 16, 2012 21:54:12 GMT
Wonder if Tolkien was playing on that meaning of the word when he created Numenor? (I think it was Tolkien; may have been C S Lewis or Charles Williams; I can't remember but I'm practically certain it was one of those three Inklings).
There's a lot about the numinous in Rudolf Otto's 'The Idea of the Holy' which is one of the most interesting religious books I've ever read!
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Post by Hunny on Jul 17, 2012 11:16:35 GMT
ennui
a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom
Examples of ENNUI
1. the kind of ennui that comes from having too much time on one's hands and too little will to find something productive to do 2. When the antiproton was discovered … it sent a wave of ennui through the physics community. Not that its discovery was unimportant, but on the basis of Dirac's theory, everybody expected it. —Roger G. Newton, The Truth of Science, 1997
Synonyms: blahs, doldrums, boredom, listlessness, restlessness, tedium, weariness
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Post by Big Lin on Jul 17, 2012 15:36:45 GMT
'I am enuii the eighth I am!' The Germans call it 'weltschmerz' and it's a universal human feeling at least some of the time!
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Post by alanseago on Jul 17, 2012 16:57:10 GMT
'I am enuii the eighth I am!' The Germans call it 'weltschmerz' and it's a universal human feeling at least some of the time! German for 'Miserable Welsh Git'.
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Post by Hunny on Jul 18, 2012 14:08:30 GMT
plotz
YIDDISH verb.
1a) To become emotional, with excitement, grief or anger. 1b) To collapse or faint from it.
An example of to plotz is to become totally enraged at the sight of abuse.
"When i heard she had slept with my roommate, i was about to plotz!" "Wait until you get a load of the banquet room. You're gonna plotz!"
2) Plotzing means to burst or explode. In some instances it can refer to a sudden bowel movement. "I can't laugh anymore or I'll "plotz."
3a) To collapse or faint from exhaustion 3b) To "fall down dead right now"
"Oy, after all that shopping I'm about to plotz" "Ham and cheese sandwiches? If your grandfather weren't already dead, he'd plotz."
4)It can mean to be unintelligibly intoxicated ("He was plottzed!")
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Post by sadie1263 on Jul 18, 2012 18:37:57 GMT
'I am enuii the eighth I am!' The Germans call it 'weltschmerz' and it's a universal human feeling at least some of the time! Ok....that seriously cracked me up......thank Lin.....I needed the laugh!
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Post by Hunny on Jul 20, 2012 13:37:32 GMT
cogent
Convincing or believable by virtue of forcible, clear, or incisive presentation.
One woman was so intelligent that the professors always lit up when she spoke; her eloquent, cogent analyses forced them not to be lazy, not to repeat themselves. -- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender Dorothy
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Post by Big Lin on Jul 20, 2012 20:48:42 GMT
Of course against prejudice and fanaticism even cogent arguments don't work!
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Post by sadie1263 on Jul 20, 2012 21:41:04 GMT
No....for that you need a 2 x 4 or possibly a baseball bat
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Post by Hunny on Jul 21, 2012 16:54:34 GMT
agog
Very eager or curious to hear or see something: "I'm all agog to see London".
Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.
Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week. -- New York Times, February 5, 1998
By the second day he had found his sea-legs, and with hair flying and double-waistcoats flapping, he patrolled the deck agog with excitement, questioning and noting. -- Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834
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Post by Hunny on Jul 22, 2012 18:24:25 GMT
diffident
1. Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; timid; bashful.
2. Characterized by modest reserve; unassertive.
Minny was too delicate and diffident to ask her cousin outright to take her to Europe.
Both would have liked champagne, but each was too diffident to suggest it.
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Post by Hunny on Jul 24, 2012 13:41:29 GMT
stolid
1 - Not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; showing little or no emotion or interest
2 - Calm, dependable, and showing little emotion or animation.
~ She remained stolid during the trial.
~ The butler responded to the duchess's constant demands with stolid indifference. Synonyms: deadpan, expressionless, impassive, Al Gore (just checking if you're paying attention)
Antonyms: demonstrative, expressive
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Post by Hunny on Jul 30, 2012 14:31:13 GMT
erudite
Characterized by extensive reading or knowledge; learned.
"In front of imposing edifices like the Topkapi Palace are guides displaying Government-issued licenses. Many of these guides are erudite historians who have quit low-paying jobs as university professors and now offer private tours." -- "What's Doing in Istanbul", New York Times, February 23, 1997
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Post by chips on Jul 31, 2012 7:09:07 GMT
Love these Hunny
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Post by Hunny on Jul 31, 2012 12:34:37 GMT
aplomb
Assurance of manner or of action; self confidence; coolness.
He arose from the commode with domestic aplomb, possessing now the certainty of what he must do.
His initial broadcasting success was due at least as much to his considerable professional aplomb as it was to his father's broadcasting connections.
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Post by Hunny on Aug 1, 2012 11:26:02 GMT
incondite
incondite \ in-KON-dit \ , adjective
1. Ill-constructed; unpolished: incondite prose. 2. Crude; rough; unmannerly.
He is no such honest chronicler as R.N., and would have done better perhaps to have consulted that gentleman, before he sent these incondite reminiscences to press.
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Post by Hunny on Aug 2, 2012 14:46:30 GMT
evanescent
Liable to vanish or pass away like vapor; fleeting.
The Pen which gives. . . permanence to the evanescent thought of a moment.
The accidentally famous. . . may write books, appear on talk shows, and, in so doing, attract even greater public attention. This type of celebrity status, of course, is brittle and evanescent.
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Post by Hunny on Aug 3, 2012 14:38:17 GMT
intrapreneur
An employee of a large corporation who is given freedom and financial support to create new products, services, systems, etc., and does not have to follow the corporation's usual routines or protocols.
Intrapreneur was coined in the 1970s as a variation of the more common word entrepreneur. The prefix intra- means "within."
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Post by Hunny on Aug 4, 2012 12:26:00 GMT
billet-doux
\ BIL-ey-DOO \ A love letter.
The bouquet struck her full in the chest, and a little billet-doux fell out of it into her lap.
“Billet-doux means love letter, in French.” “Then why didn't you just say love letter?” “Because French is the language of love, my boy. Something you should keep in mind, but will soon forget.”
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