

Oct 7, 2013 This week's theme

Insults



This week's words

furfuraceous

pediculous

xanthodontous

pilgarlic

fustilugs



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If you call someone stupid, he might let it go. But tell him he's smelly, chances are he'll protest loudly. While the mind is important (as our minds tell us), bodies are more palpable and accordingly we take those insults more seriously.



With that in mind, this week we give you five words that can be used as insults. But like all weapons, remember it's best to use these words only in self-defense and with restraint. furfuraceous PRONUNCIATION: (fuhr-fyuh-RAY-shus)

MEANING: adjective:

1. Covered with dandruff.

2. Flaky.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin furfur (bran, flake). Earliest documented use: 1650.

USAGE: "When she looked at the photographs of raging urticaria and furfuraceous rashes, she teetered between repulsion and captivation."

Dashka Slater; The Wishing Box; Chronicle Books; 2010.



"I met quite a number of composers who were frankly flaky, or furfuraceous, to use a more elegant term."

Nicolas Slonimsky; Musings of a Musical Mind; Los Angeles Times; Mar 27, 1988.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: No, no, you're not thinking, you're just being logical. -Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962)





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