Courteney's+Vocab

GAMBIT Definition: a device, action, or opening remark, typically one entailing a degree of risk, that is calculated to gain an advantage.

"Y'are very snug in here" is the opening sentence of the //The Fly//. Starting the story with a quote is intended to capture the attention of the reader. By choosing this gambit, the author sacrifices taking another approach to start her story that may be more successful in hooking the reader. The dialogue also utilizes dialect--the speaker clearly has a distinct accent. The opening line is a simulacrum of sort because it copies the way that old folks used to talk at the time period when Mansfield was writing this short story.

INVERTERATE Definition: having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change. She had an inverterate habit of slurping her coffee loudly.

PINGUID Definition: of the nature of or resembling fat; oily or greasy. The pinguid appearance of the blubber disgusted those who saw it.

TELEOLOGICAL Definition: having the nature of explaining phenomena by the purpose they serve than by postulated causes. Definition 2: Moving forward in a purposeful manner; for example, like in history. Definite sense of a meaningful end.

__Wrong Number__ is teleological because it sets up the story so that one sees how a chance event can change the course of one's life. Half of the second version is just a repetition of the first half of the version where the protagonist faces a sudden end to his life.

SOPHISM Definition: a fallacious argument, esp. one used deliberately to deceive.

In the story by Borges, the "visible world" was deemed a form of sophism in Tlon (Borges 1). The same was said of mirrors and human production because it "multiplies" the number of men in the world (Borges 1). Therefore, in Tlon, men must be something considered to be evil.

09/10/09 The Boston Common, a public area in downtown Boston, is the main setting for the short story, "The Patriot," which is about a man who argues to such an extent that it became a cantankerous goat.

ENDEMIC Definition: 1. regularly found among particular people or in a certain area. 2. native or restricted to a certain country or area.


 * It seems that the deceptive art of sophism is endemic to lawyers.
 * The struggle for control and power is endemic to some of the major themes of "The Metamorphosis."

CASTRATION Definition: remove the testicle of; deprive of power, vitality, and vigor.

INCULCATE Definition: instill by persistent instruction; teach an attitude, idea, or habit by such instruction

Paragraph about the article The article "In Your House: Wrestling as Televised Spectacle" was about underlying gender roles. The author argued that while a man looks and therefore asserts authority, a woman posed and let's herself be looked at. Griffiths states that women have been castrated of the power to "look" and have authority by men through persistent inculcation. We see this in movies and books all the time and deem it innocent: a man looking at a woman, admiring her appearance.

EPICUREAN Definition: a person devoted to sensual enjoyment. (Doesn't necessarily have a bad connotation.)

INIQUITY Definition: immoral or grossly unfair behavior. (Bad connotation.)

DIAPHANOUS Definition: light, delicate, and translucent

RAPACIOUS Definition:aggressively greedy or grasping

EMISSARY Definition: a person sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative.

CIPHER Definition: put (a message) into secret writing; encode.

The emissary was sent by the government to investigate violations of human rights that seemed to be endemic to this area. However, he first had to cipher a series of clues to obtain evidence to substantiate his claim.