limn

limn [lɪm] v. t.

1.) To draw or paint; especially, to represent in an artistic way with pencil or brush.
2.) Hence: To picture in words; to describe in graphic terms.
3.) To illumine, as books or parchments, with ornamental figures, letters, or borders (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).

Etymology: Middle English limnen, to illuminate (a manuscript), probably alteration (influenced by limnour, illustrator), of luminen from Old French luminer, from Latin luminare, to illuminate, adorn, from lumen, lumin-, light.

"Let a painter carelessly limn out a million of faces, and you shall find them all different; yes, let him have his copy before him, yet, after all his art, there will remain a sensible distinction: for the pattern or example of everything is the perfectest in that kind, whereof we still come short, though we transcend or go beyond it; because herein it is wide, and agrees not in all points unto its copy" (Religio Medici, Thomas Browne, 1643).
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Well, even after the debacle of last week, I'll be watching El Dramatico tonight and hoping Real can pull off a miracle. If nothing else, Iniesta should play, so Barca might do more than just obsessively keep the ball.

slough

slough [slaʊ for 1 and 2, slu for 3] n.



1.) A piece of soft, miry, or muddy ground; esp. a place or hole in a road or way filled with wet mud or mire and impassable by heavy vehicles, horses, etc.
2.) A state or condition (esp. of moral degradation) in which a person, etc., sinks or has sunk.
3.) (Also slew) a side channel of a river, or a natural channel that is only sporadically filled with water (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition).

Etymology: Old English slóh (sló), of doubtful origin; perhaps ultimately related to slonk.

"It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little" (Walden, Henry David Thoreau, 1854).
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I've provided audio for the pronunciation of yesterday's word, a fortiori, for those who were interested (it's not me this time, because I'm unable to record at the moment). A simpler example of an a fortiori argument is something like: Bin Laden is dead, thus a fortiori he can't walk. Since he's dead, he can't do anything, so this "stronger" premise establishes a fortiori any number of "weaker" ones: he can't breathe, he can't sing, he can't dance, etc. Let me know if that clarifies things. Thanks for your interest and for keeping me honest!

a fortiori

a fortiori [ɑ ˌfoʊrtɪˈoʊri] adv.



1.) For a still stronger reason; all the more (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: Latin : a, ab, from + fortiori, ablative of fortior, stronger.

"Of course one way of putting the deterministic case is to say that we are never really able to choose at all (and a fortiori never able to choose freely), and that this is so simply because we are determined. But it is much better to put the determinist case by saying that although we are certainly able to make choices, we never really choose freely, i.e. in a such a way that we are truly responsible for our choices and for what we subsequently do" (Freedom and Belief, Galen Strawson, 1986).
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This one is a bit technical, I guess, but I'd like to eventually cover all the philosophical jargon terms as well as all the different kinds of rhetoric. Just like all the other words here, make sure you are using it correctly (and sparingly), or it will end up doing you more harm than good.