Word of the week E block

Pedagogic (adj). relating to teaching. “In pedagogic riddling, the adult takes on the role of teacher, the child the role of student.”- SAT reading Passage I found this word in a practice reading passage for the SAT. I thought this word was very unique and expected it to mean something fancy rather than just relating to teaching. 

  pas de deux (n) -  a dance for two people, typically a man and a woman. Sentence:  “It’s the awkward pas de deux performed every four or eight years when one family moves in and another moves out, an undertaking carried out by the 90-person White House residence staff in about five hours.” I chose this word because of the way it is being used in the sentence. I am thinking that when I'm older I might go into politics so I'm always reading articles on the latest news. I found it funny how the writer used the word to compare politics to an awkward dance between two people.

 Seditious: (adj)  disposed to arouse or take part in or guilty of sedition ( conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch) “ The president - any president – can by speech or action (by advocating an improper piece or improper submission international wrong) give aid and comfort to the public enemy as no one else in the land can do and yet his conduct however damaging to the country is not seditious and although if public sentiment is sufficiently aroused he can be impeached such course is practically impossible” President Roosevelt 1917, History HW This word seems to align with the current events that recently occurred. With the insurrection at the Capital, the act of inciting rebellion was taken by the former President. This invoked a response of violence in the capital building.

 Caveats:  (N) A warning  or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations “Does social media increase levels of narcissism? The answer from research conducted in many labratories is, almost certainly, yes - but with lots of caveats !”  Psychology Today “Narcissism and Social Media: Should we be afraid?” With a very clear and rigid sort of meaning, this word would have to be one that I had never heard. I was writing my essay for AP Psych class, and using this article from Psychology today as a source - trying to prove that social media breeds narcissism, and I think the meaning very much correlates with the upholds that a narcissistic person would have, like how they have specific views of their self and cannot see anything outside of those views.

 Vellichor (n) - The strange wistfulness of bookstores “When u walked into the bookstore the vellichor of the new or old books filled my nose causing me to smile widely.” I also found this word on Instagram when I was scrolling through my recommended posts. I personally am a big into reading and I totally know this feeling. I don’t think I have felt vellichor anytime recently because of Covid. When the world is it in a pandemic anymore I definitely look forward to feeling this way again!!

 Eleutheromania - “a mania or frantic zeal for freedom”, some usages of this term make it sound like it could be used in medical context with a hint of irrational disorder “ The girl had a lot of allow eleutheromania, she never wanted to be in the same place or with the same person she wanted to travel the world and never be bound and tied down to one spot” This word is very pretty to me. I think a lot of people go through life feeling this way and sadly not everybody can achieve their freedom. I hope that everybody I meet and know will be able to. Since I’ve been seeking out a ton vocabulary words on Instagram recently they have been showing up in my recommended page, this one included!

 (n.) excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain "Public and private avarice  make the air we breathe fat" (Emerson 6). I found this word in the excerpt of "the American Scholar". I chose this word for the word of the week because it makes the message of this sentence, and the section of the reading, so much more meaningful. Emerson is saying that people's want for money is what makes America so corrupt, and if I had ignored the word "avarice" I wouldn't have known the meaning of the sentence.

    Treble : (n.) a high-pitched or shrill voice, tone, or sound “Low treble of the clasping of our hands.” (“Black Matters”) This word was from my poem that I used for my poetry essay. I thought it was interesting in the way that it was used in the sentence. In this context, in refers to clasping hands as sounding high-pitched. 

  Polyglot: (Adj.)  Knowing several languages. “To secure their freedom, the polyglot American colonists had to come together, and stick together, in the face of enormous adversity.” Hamilton I chose this word because I thought that the etymology of the word was really interesting (poly = many, glot = from the greek word glotta meaning tongue.) I have a particular fondness for words that are made up of other words.

 Portmanteau: (n.) a large suitcase “...the pearl-coloured robe, the vapoury veil pendent from the usurped portmanteau” (Bronte 419). This is from the novel Jane Eyre . This is an extremely frenchy looking word (which isn't surprising since they speak a lot of french in this novel) so I decided to trace its origin. Sure enough, this word originates from a middle french " portemanteau", which can be broken up into two separate words porte and  manteau. Porte means "to carry", later evolving into the word for porter, a person who carries luggage. M anteau translates to "cloak", becoming the word mantle in the english language. These two words together form  portemanteau or p ortmanteau that means carrying cloak, or suitcase. 

 (adj.) peculiar or individual "The writers of this period would define the American voice-personal, idiosyncratic , bold-and its primary theme" (233) I found this word in the reading we had to do on Tuesday from our English textbook, American Literature 1800-1870 . I chose this word because it's a very fun and unique word, which parallels its definition meaning individual. I found it interesting that the word's impression mimicked its meaning.

  Latent: (adj.) p resent and capable of emerging or developing but not now visible, obvious, and active. “The FBI continued to search the room for latent fingerprints.” (Netflix: Criminal Minds) I was watching a daunting and intense episode of Criminal Minds this weekend. This episode was very frustrating because the FBI was working with minimal clues and had a hard time solving their case. During the process of their investigation, they had to search the victim's room for finger prints, which they described as being latent. I thought it was a very interring word. 

  Curlew: (noun)  large wading bird associated with the evening “The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;” “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” In the poem "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes about the ocean and the tides, and how they bring about a new day and give new chances to people. In the beginning Longfellow is giving the poem a mood and he uses the call of a bird called the curlew to help set the scene. When I first read that line I was super confused as to what a curlew could be, but once I searched it up I found out that it is one type of bird that we often see on the beach. Once I knew that, I was able to better understand what Longfellow was trying to describe about the night.

Albumen: Noun:  Egg white, or the protein contained in it “A viscous stream of albumen and yolk slithered from the other side, dropping into the bowl.” The Modern Faerie Tales I chose this word because it was an interesting word. I was unaware that there was another name for egg white.  

 (N) A model of excellence or perfection. “And where might you find such a paragon of dishonor?” Bridgerton s1 e3, Netflix This word really stuck out to me. The way the meaning of the word contradicts and acts as an oxymoron to the mention of dishonor is well scripted in the show I found it from. It honestly might be a favorite word of mine .

(Adj) Having or showing an extreme greed for wealth or material gain. “What an ugly, avaricious piece of self-advancement that is” - The Crown, s4e10 Watching Netflix lets me see numerous new words that I had not known before, and especially in historically themed shows, they stand out.

Insurrection: (n.) a n act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government “To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, and to threaten the safety of duly elected officials is not protest. It is insurrection .” (Joe Biden) On January 6, 2021, rioters in attempts to overturn President Trump's defeat in the presidential election stormed the United States Capitol. This was a huge shock for many people across the nation and was truly devastating. Later that night, Joe Biden delivered his condolences and a speech about the events that night and described it as an  insurrection. This word really stood out to me, and after learning what it meant, I couldn't agree more.

 Suttee: (n.) t he act or custom of a Hindu widow burning herself to death or being burned to death on the funeral pyre of her husband “I had as good a right to die when my time came as he had: but I should bide that time, and not be hurried away in a suttee” (Bronte 416). This is from the novel, Jane Eyre . If one needs more proof of why Mr. Rochester should never be allowed to talk to women, than this chapter does a great job. In his attempts to woo Jane, Mr. Rochester sings her a song where a women promises to to die when her lover dies. This backhanded compliment and failed romantic advance exemplifies the prejudice of the men from this era who believe women are there to serve them. Thankfully, Jane calls out his idiocy, saying how she will not commit her life line to his nor die via a suttee for him. I personally give him a -2/10 for this attempt at romance.

 (adj.) (of an environment or habitat) containing little moisture; very dry  I found this word from doing a PearDeck in history class so I do not have an exact quote. PearDeck codes are always a combination of random letters and the website makes a sentence out of random words starting with the letters that don't usually make sense. For instance "ctu plm" may say something like "cuddly tomatoes understand pretty llama's mistakes". In my history class we did a PearDeck and one of the letters in the code was "x" and the word in the sentence was xeric. I chose this word as my word of the week because of where I found it. I would never have thought that I'd find a word in a PearDeck code and this was a very interesting place to find it. Also the word sounds very cool.

 (N) A homesickness for a home you can’t return to. Or that never was. “Her hiradeth to go to a fantasy world depicted through her favorite book was strong because she felt as though this place was her only escape from the real world.” This has been all over my Instagram lately and I thought it was a good word for word of the word of the week. I think it’s pretty cool that a word so specific like this one exists. For people that love a fictional world I think it’s extremely relatable. I am sure everyone has wished they could visit a made up place once in their lives.

Obfuscating: Verb:  Render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible “Now I’m obfuscating , and you have to pay for my dinner.” The Modern Faerie Tales I chose this word for two reasons. One I had never come across it before and it was interesting to read. Two I though the sentence in which I found it was funny but also jarringly honest.