New Word #81: Recently Learned

ESL, vocabulary 2 Minutes

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

cabal: a secret political clique or faction. “a cabal of dissidents”
From Pooja’s post here.
I’ve never encountered this word before in my reading, but it looks like a very interesting word. I’ve seen words with similar meanings like clique, old boys’ club, inner circle, junta.

ruckus: a disturbance or commotion.
From Lizi’s post here.

nitty-gritty: the most important aspects or practical details of a subject or situation. “let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of finding a job”
From Henhouselady’s post here.
Nitty-gritty is a commonly used word here. And gritty is also used very often to show the toughness of the situation.

rehash: a. put (old ideas or material) into a new form without significant change or improvement. “he contented himself with occasional articles in journals, rehashing his own work.” b.(North American) consider or discuss (something) at length after it has happened. “is it really necessary to rehash that trauma all over again?”
From Geoff’s post here.
This is a commonly used word, but I’ve never used it myself for some unknown reasons. Somehow I don’t feel it as “usable” or I am afraid of using it in a wrong way.

holodeck: (chiefly in science fiction) a chamber or facility in which a user can experience a holographic or computer-simulated physical environment.
From Geoff’s post here.

tintinnabulation: a ringing or tinkling sound. “the tiny tintinnabulation, faint as fairy bells”
From Herb’s post here.
Although I’ve never seen this word before, I feel a connection with it instantly. It’s a long word, but it is not difficult to remember. Actually it might belong to those words that I can remember from the first encounter. Some words have such a mysterious effect on us.

parsnip: a long tapering cream-colored root with a sweet flavor.
spew: Expel large quantities of (something) rapidly and forcibly.
From Bonnywood’s post here.
I’ve seen parsnip in the supermarket for years, but I’ve never tried it. I have an inkling that it is a healthy and tasty thing, but I’ve never tasted it. I think it might taste like other roots like radish, turnip, carrot etc.

poultice: A soft, moist mass of material, typically of plant material or flour, applied to the body to relieve soreness and inflammation and kept in place with a cloth.
From Luisa’s post here.

Published by haoyando

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37 thoughts on “New Word #81: Recently Learned”

  4. Just a bit more trivia about the “parsnip” mentioned in my post: I think they taste like a sweet carrot (and cooking them can increase the sweetness). However, if you harvest them later than they should be, the taste becomes increasingly bitter. The “Louella Parsnip” character in my story is based on Louella Parsons, a movie gossip columnist during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She was sweet on the surface, but she was bitter underneath, and the sometimes scathing comments in her column could often make or break an actor’s career…

    Thank you for the mention, as always.

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    1. “Parsnip” sounds like a much better last name for him. She is parsnip like. I know. This is why I hate to write reviews. I used to write reviews for a while for each book I read, but then I stopped. I don’t enjoy it. I feel like judging people. I know it is a necessary evil, but still the necessity of it doesn’t add any enjoyment at all. And thank you for such an informative comment you provide here. I am thinking that Ms. Parsnip is a good character for a detective story. Her column causes the death of a famous actor, just like John Keats, who’s spirit was broken by those critics.

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        1. Hmmm. I just googled it and it’s such a poem of festivity. I was expecting some dark thoughts, a ghost, or a body, but no such thing at all. I guess I’ve already formed a stereotype about Poe. There’s no interpretation for Runic. Otherwise the poem is a delight with so many words about the sound of a bell.

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        1. OMG. I thought it looked familiar but I couldn’t remember where I had seen it. It was from your blog…. Now you see how bad a memory I have. You know I’ve always had the habit of learning new words from several blogs, which recurring in my recently learned posts. I should change that. Love your wonderful pictures and posts.

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        3. I really want to include your words and your pictures–I mean rebloging–in my post but the rebloging format on my post doesn’t look as cute as on other posts. Probably the WP theme I chose. I mean on twitter it is so easy to do a retweet, but on WP, rebloging is not so well supported. I really get a hang of add my words to somebody else’s tweet. It is such a fun thing to do, but on WP it is a different story.

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        5. Haha, yes, please do. However your picture is impressive enough, especially to a cat lover like me. I think next time when I write a cat story, I will make a link to your cat picture. They have the bright whimsical color that really fits a cat.

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        6. Or I can draw a cat specifically for your story, and we can collaborate on your blog, obviously giving me credit for the art. By the way I just recorded your story Love’s Manifestation it is set to post on March 12, 2022

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      1. I like the original series best. With William Shatner “Captain Kirk”. It’s great fun to watch it in this day and age. The bad costumes, the supposed stones jumping around when thrown, classic. “The next generation” with Picard is great too, followed by “Enterprise”, which played before the original series timewise and explained some issues about the klingons etc. Yep, I’d like to jump into past eras too to experience the 20s, the Romans, …

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        1. Is that the same William Shatner who recently becomes the oldest person to go to the outer space? I read that news. Wow, you are like my friends who are crazy about Star Trek. They just love it so much. They often laugh at my ignorance, but I don’t know Star Trek enough to feel bad about what I have missed.

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        2. Yes, exactly, that’s the guy. I also enjoyed watching him as a lawyer on “Boston Legal”. Well, Star Trek the original series was part of my childhood (which was already old then as well). Just like Bonanza, Knight Rider, Hart to Hart, MacGyver, etc … with only two TV programs in Austria in those days, the pre-evening series was a must and looked forward to every day. In general I’m a big fan of old series. Like Bewitched, I dream of Jeannie, The man from UNCLE, Department S, Jason King, …

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        3. Wow, thank you for sharing. I didn’t know it is such a big deal. I mean Star Trek. I thought it’s only for nerdy guys. Apparently that’s not the case. Sometimes one just forms a wrong opinion. It is so easy to be wrong. I heard of bewitched TV series and the movie that comes out ten years ago, or probably more than ten years with Nicole Kidman.

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        4. Yes, exactly, there was this movie. Gosh, there are sooo many great TV series out there. Past and present. Where to find the time? Especially to rewatch old series when one hasn’t yet watched the current series one is interested in? What a dilemma 😂

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        5. So true. Not knowing what to watch is another thing for this holiday season. So many good shows. I just watched “Voltaire High” on Amazon prime and it is such a good show. Love it. I think tv shows have adopted a lot of dialog and story line from the independent movies. Those struggling artists really know how to do a good show. So much better than movies. Movies are declining while TV shows are thriving.

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