10/22/11

Your dog is on a leash and wearing a colander.
You wear a beret as you both walk down the street.

Why do people laugh at your dog?
(answer below)

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A colander is bowl-shaped vessel with many holes used to drain off water.
Your dog is wearing a pasta strainer on his head.
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10/21/11

Why do you never furbish a cat?
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Cats clean themselves. 
Furbish: To rub or scour to brightness; to clean; to burnish.
 
 

Furbish

v. t.  To rub or scour to brightness; to clean; to burnish; as to furbish a sword or spear.

Furbish new the name of John a Gaunt.” Shak.

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10/20/11

Ignoble

a.
1. Of low birth or family; not noble; not illustrious; plebeian; common; humble.

“I was not ignoble of descent.” Shak.

“Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants.” Shak.

2. Not honorable, elevated, or generous; base.

“’T is but a base, ignoble mind, That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.” Shak.

“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” Gray.

3. (Zoöl.) Not a true or noble falcon; — said of certain hawks, as the goshawk.

Syn. — Degenerate; degraded; mean; base; dishonorable; reproachful; disgraceful; shameful; scandalous; infamous.


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10/19/11

Raffish
 
if ever your love be raffish
you will never mind
for you would fill their every wish
just to be a little kind

and every thing you'd reconcile
and resolve so rather well
for the stars are in their smile
with every word they spell

and their stigma yours would be
and you'd both battle through
for there is no you, us or we
but only one love so true

everything you would surely vanquish
that comes before you two
for love is power bound in a wish
and there's nothing love can't do
 

raffish - low vulgar base tawdry
reconcile - settle a quarrel restore peace
stigma - mark of shame or disgrace
vanquish - conquer
 
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10/18/11

Conundrum

n. [Origin unknown.]
1. A kind of riddle based upon some fanciful or fantastic resemblance between things quite unlike; a puzzling question, of which the answer is or involves a pun.

“Or pun ambiguous, or conundrum quaint. J. Philips. 

2. A question to which only a conjectural answer can be made.
“Do you think life is long enough to let me speculate on conundrums like that?
W. Black.

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10/17/11

cursory
I move my cursor to the first word in your email...
... then I read it in a cursory fashion.
How well have I read your email?

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Not well at all.  Cursory means to skim over or to look at quickly or in a hurry.


Cursory
a. 1. Running about; not stationary.
2. Characterized by haste; hastily or superficially performed; slight; superficial; careless.
"Events far too important to be treated in a cursory manner." ~ Hallam.

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10/16/11

VESTIGE
<ves-tij>


A vestige is evidence of something that existed, but no longer exists.


Vestige

n. The mark of the foot left on the earth; a track or footstep; a trace; a sign; hence, a faint mark or visible sign left by something which is lost, or has perished, or is no longer present; remains; as the vestiges of ancient magnificence in Palmyra; vestiges of former population.

"What vestiges of liberty or property have they left?" ~  Burke.

"Ridicule has followed the vestiges of Truth, but never usurped her place." ~ Landor.

A Trace. These words agree in marking some indications of the past, but differ to some extent in their use and application.

Vestige is used chiefly in a figurative sense, for the remains something long passed away; as the vestiges of ancient times; vestiges of the creation.

A trace is literally something drawn out in a line, and may be used in this its primary sense, or figuratively, to denote a sign or evidence left by something that has passed by, or ceased to exist.

Vestige usually supposes some definite object of the past to be left behind; while a trace may be a mere indication that something has been present or is present; as traces of former population; a trace of poison in a given substance.

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