Monday, August 1, 2011

minatory



minatory [ˈmɪnəˌtɔri] a.

1.) Expressing, uttering, or conveying a threat; also, of the nature of a threat or menace; threatening, menacing (O.E.D. 2nd Ed.).

Etymology: French minatoire, from Late Latin minatorius, from Latin minatus, past participle of minari, to threaten.

"Number 3, Lauriston Gardens wore an ill-omened and minatory look. It was one of four which stood back some little way from the street, two being occupied and two empty. The latter looked out with three tiers of vacant melancholy windows, which were blank and dreary, save that here and there a 'To Let' card had developed like a cataract upon the bleared panes" (A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887).

(La Barque de Dante, Eugène Delacroix, 1822)
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I'm so excited to finally get to use a Conan Doyle quote. All right, time to announce this week's winner of the paragraph challenge. It's...jos xx! She wrote:
"As she walked hurriedly through the dark narrow streets, she repined for her two kids she could no longer see. Silently she cried, knowing that her rather quixotic self had led her there - a place unknown, discovered only by beasts. Once an assiduous teacher, striving for perfection...now she only waits for men. There's no a priori reason for her to think she's safe. She can't turn back, she's almost there. Everyone's quiescent at that time of day. She slowly pushes the gate enters the cheap motel. And waits."
Very nice. The only criticism I guess would be that you used the rare definition of "repine"="pine", but that's technically correct. Honorable mentions go to JayJay and D4, who gave jos xx a run for her money. Glad to see the competition heating up. The words for this week are (five of) echt, Arcades ambo, prolix, virago, surfeit, eo ipso, and uxorious (again, I exclude the rhetoric terms because I don't actually recommend using them outside of a technical context; they're just knowledge for knowledge's sake). Thanks for reading!

25 comments:

GMSoccerPicks said...

Mind if i ask which criteria do you use for picking the word of the day?

Daily Car Reviews said...

i knew it!

Anonymous said...

ahh, i did so enjoy listening to you speak latin ;)

A Beer for the Shower said...

At first glance, I mistook this for minotaury. Which is ridiculous. Because you can never have too much minotaur.

Diego Sousa said...

i already knew this one too :)

Shaw said...

I wonder if I'll remember this one

Zombie said...

Why is everyone in these old pictures always naked? lol.

Writer said...

Is this where we got the Minotaur?

D4 said...

Mine was rushed, I'd be proud if I'd written hers.

And don't you think you could use the rhetoric words put in use, not actually mentioning them? I mean, if by some chance it's a particularly difficult one to incorporate it might be fun. Definitely not an always thing. Just a thought!

Kristina P. said...

I definitely need to use that word tomorrow.

Oh, and to answer your Cafe Rio question, they have the restaurants all over the states, but they originated in Utah and they are basically like our crack cocaine.

Meri said...

Like above poster- at first I was thinking of minotaurs :)

Unknown said...

Wow, I can see why jos xx won. What a beautiful sentence.

Another great word. (Random side note: I mentioned your blog to my HoD of English at high school and she got really excited so you might have a new fan.)

T Papar said...

this word has the same roots as ominous?

replying to your other comment, ofc i know epizeuxis is a word. i speak greek :P
i just mused about chrome's dictionary incompetence.

Unknown said...

I always love the artwork you post along with your words... thanks for these.

Drake Sigar said...

I already knew minorities were a threat.

Unknown said...

Awesome blog! Very informative.

Unknown said...

Hi, thanks for telling me about the title mistake.

Sick by Trend said...

Congrats to Jos!!!!!! :D How is going your week? I wanna go to London soon again!

xx

www.sickbytrend.com

Nicole Linette said...

Not racist at all! I just don't like the sound of their language. It's my own bias.

Once Upon A Time... said...

yay!!!! i won lol! i'm so happy that you liked what i wrote :) with regards to the meaning of "repine", i just loved its rare meaning, that's why i used it ;) You actually gave me a compliment ("very nice") which is so rare of you lol!

re your comment: i know japan has great food, but when i hear that they cook frogs, cats and snakes...i don't think eating is fun anymore...

jos xx

Mai Yang said...

I wanna remember this word..

shari said...

Great word... can be quite useful in writing a story. I'll file it away with a few others... :-)

nowaysj said...

Every day of summer vacation, the angles in my father's face exhibited a progressively minatory character.

Unknown said...

I deliver minatory remarks to my siblings all the time!

bb said...

I'm all about the paragraph challenge. also, I was a huge fan of greek mythology when I was a kid so obviously I am thrilled to learn the derivation of minotaur.

x. jill
www.thoseghosts.blogspot.com

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