Word of the Day Challenge

Started by Britwitch, December 16, 2018, 10:59:34 AM

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Lovely Complex

#50
Words were being thrown back and forth between the newly engaged couple. She called him terms that she never thought of calling and he did the same right back. But in his defense, he should be the only one upset because it was fiancee or whatever she was to him now that did the unthinkable. Plus, what she did was dangerous to him and his family, even to her own family. She had a liaison with his cousin a week before they were supposed to tie the knot in about two weeks but that's obviously out of the question now. Well, he was just glad that he found out sooner rather than later.

Storyteller Regular
tallied! -Brit
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Britwitch

Today's Word of the Day is....


nomothetic
adjective nah-muh-THET-ik

Definition
1 : relating to, involving, or dealing with abstract, general, or universal statements or laws


Weekly Theme
Romance


Did You Know?
Nomothetic is often contrasted with idiographic, a word meaning "relating to or dealing with something concrete, individual, or unique." Where idiographic points to the specific and unique, nomothetic points to the general and consistent. The immediate Greek parent of nomothetic is a word meaning "of legislation"; the word has its roots in nomos, meaning "law," and -thetēs, meaning "one who establishes." Nomos has played a part in the histories of words as varied as metronome, autonomous, and Deuteronomy. The English contributions of -thetēs are meager, but -thetēs itself comes from tithenai, meaning "to put," and tithenai is the ancestor of many common words ending in -thesis—hypothesis, parenthesis, prosthesis, synthesis, and thesis itself—as well as theme, epithet, and apothecary.

Current status : Selectively seeking new stories

MrAlanNH

#52
Word of the day - Jan 16: nomothetic
Theme: romance

Ways of Love and Loving, the name of the course at the local community center caught the attention of Jim and James.

Only a year into their marriage and already the spark was beginning to wane.  Eager to recapture the energy of their courtship, they hoped the course would give them tools to reignite the flames.

Unfortunately, they should've read the course description a bit closer. 

The nomothetic discourse regarding differing  psycho-societal norms and their effect on neuro-linguistical patterning had no libido enhancing effects at all.



Storteller Cafe regular
tallied! -Brit

Britwitch

Today's Word of the Day is....


farouche
adjective fuh-ROOSH

Definition
1 : unruly or disorderly : wild

2 : marked by shyness and lack of social graces


Weekly Theme
Romance


Did You Know?
In French, farouche can mean "wild" or "shy," just as it does in English. It is an alteration of the Old French word forasche, which derives via Late Latin forasticus ("living outside") from Latin foras, meaning "outdoors." In its earliest English uses, in the middle of the 18th century, farouche was used to describe someone who was awkward in social situations, perhaps as one who has lived apart from groups of people. The word can also mean "disorderly," as in "farouche ruffians out to cause trouble."

Current status : Selectively seeking new stories

MrAlanNH

#54
Word of the day - Jan 17: farouche
Theme: romance

Ellie was a fiery extrovert with farouche hair that took time and great precision to style each day.  She greeted each day with such constant, untameable energy that, try as they may,  none of her partners could ever match; burning them out and sending them drifting away.

Sherienne was a timid, farouche introvert; interaction with others a painful, draining task.  Try as they might to get close, others failed time and again to draw her out, inevitably moving on to others easier to engage.

No one is sure where or how they met, or how it works, but together each tempers the other.  Together, Ellie and Sherienne feel just right.


Storyteller Cafe regular
tallied! -Brit

Sebile

#55


spacerAs queen-consort much was expected of her. Cesious eyes flit to devoted palms smoothing away imperceptible wrinkles from the gown—a stark disparateness to previous rags regarded as penny plain—and absentmindedly she stares, dreaming blissfully about life and newfound love. Dashed were the daydreams the second the doors to her bedchamber opens to give way to her mentor. Stout and toffee-nosed, Radcliffe waited in absolute repose and his evident annoyance wafted in tangible waves, she could detect it. In haste the fair lass crossed the threshold, meekly apologizing in hushed undertones. How was she to confront all these people? She couldn't do it. Nay! What a fool!

The banquet hall was full to social capacity with nobility; many turned and eyed her cannily. The farouche dame composed herself, snatching only a breath before undertaking the walk toward the dais. A soft, timorous smile greets those gawking, the majority she didn't have the faintest clue of their house or standing. Time stretched for what genuinely felt like eons until she finally assumed her proper place at the Queen's side.



tallied! -Brit
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Miss Lilly

#56
Trying to focus on taking notes on her subject was becoming increasingly difficult for Dr Waters.  More difficult that she had ever found it in the past.  She generally took a nomothetic approach to her research project, focusing on establishing the causes of psychometric disorders in the population as a whole, rather than on the individual patient.  However, this particular person was proving something of a challenge for the experienced doctor.

He was excedingly hansome, with his dark eyes and chiselled jaw.  The muscles on his six foot frame were well defined, and he moved with the grace of a dancer.  Dr Waters found her mind wandering continuously away from her work and to her large, empty bedroom at home.  The image of Dale in her bed, naked, with her silk sheet draped casually over his body, obscuring his man-parts, was causing a rise in her body temperature and a flush in her cheeks. 

It would be unethical for her to act on her impulse, but she couldn't  be sure she had the willpower not too.  Dale stirred feelings in her that she had forgotten she was capable of, and the romantic fantasies he was elliciting in her made the middle aged woman feel like a school girl again.  Should she really deny herself the opportunity of a little happiness?

Throwing caution to the wind, she tossed her notepad aside and moved to the couch, next to the object of her desire.

"How about we take this meeting somewhere more.....comfortable," she asked, her voice dripping with innuendo.

To her delight, a smile of pleasure graced Dale's full mouth.

"I thought you'd never ask," he replied, taking her by the hand and leading her towards the door.  "Your place or mine?"


tallied! -Brit
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Lovely Complex

#57
His friends had done it again and he was not happy about it. This time around, the person was very farouche and boy, did he have a story to tell his friends. Setting him up on any more blind dates was obviously out of the question now because they've all been not his type or a bit too much for him. The person that he was set with tonight was a mixture of both and that was something that he could not really handle. He had pulled up into his residence parking lot and shut the engine off, getting out of the vehicle and walked inside. His friends gathered around him with curious looks on their faces as he glared with a scowl towards them. "No more blind dates. I mean it this time." He mentioned as he ran up the stairs to wash the filth off of him from his latest blind date.



tallied! -Brit
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Britwitch

Today's Word of the Day is....


teetotaler
noun TEE-TOH-tuh-ler

Definition
1 : one who practices or advocates teetotalism : one who abstains completely from alcoholic drinks


Weekly Theme
Romance


Did You Know?
A person who abstains from alcohol might choose tea as his or her alternative beverage, but the word teetotaler has nothing to do with tea. More likely, the "tee" that begins the word teetotal is a reduplication of the letter "t" that begins total, emphasizing that one has pledged total abstinence. In the early 1800s, tee-total and tee-totally were used to intensify total and totally, much the way we now might say, "I'm tired with a capital T." "I am now … wholly, solely, and teetotally absorbed in Wayne's business," wrote the folklorist Parson Weems in an 1807 letter. Teetotal and teetotaler first appeared with their current meanings in 1834, eight years after the formation of the American Temperance Society.

Current status : Selectively seeking new stories

Sebile

#59


spacer"Ugh! Hell..."

Bile rose in the back of his throat, stomach-churning fumes wafted from the nestled drunkard propped against him as he drove. His eyes heavy-lidded, masked by the shadows of furrowed brows; his stern expression bolstered both contempt and concern. Of course, half of his own attire featured the same gag-inducing chunder as his fiancé's.

"This is exactly why I don't drink."

As a teetotaler, he preferred not to drink; it only brought trouble! The retching stench—an aftermath of consuming too much—served as a great reminder. Come what may, he couldn't leave Charles in this state, especially on his birthday. So much for that! Hopefully they made it to the nearest emergency room before Charles disgorged more pavement pizza.



tallied! -Brit

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Lovely Complex

#60
Of course, they just had to pick a bar to go to tonight. His friends knew that he was a teetotaler and just stopped drinking like a month ago but yet, they still wanted to go to a bar. He sat in the backseat and rolled his eyes then pressed his head against the window, letting out a sigh as his friends eyed him. "Dude, we know you don't drink. You can go to the kiddie place next door." They all laughed as he rolled his eyes again and they were nearing towards the bar. He got out and went inside but ordered water. At the end of the night, he just really wanted to have a good time tonight and he did not need alcohol to do it.




tallied! -Brit
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Britwitch

Today's Word of the Day is....


gargantuan
adjective gahr-GAN-chuh-wuhn

Definition
1 : tremendous in size, volume, or degree : gigantic, colossal


Weekly Theme
Romance


Did You Know?
Gargantua is the name of a giant king in François Rabelais's 16th-century satiric novel Gargantua, the second part of a five-volume series about the giant and his son Pantagruel. All of the details of Gargantua's life befit a giant. He rides a colossal mare whose tail switches so violently that it fells the entire forest of Orleans. He has an enormous appetite: in one memorable incident, he inadvertently swallows five pilgrims while eating a salad. The scale of everything connected with Gargantua gave rise to the adjective gargantuan, which since William Shakespeare's time has been used of anything of tremendous size or volume.

Current status : Selectively seeking new stories

Nymphadora

"Not again!" Came the frustrated growl from the second floor followed by a bang of something hitting the the wall. "Crap."

Fast footsteps followed and a young woman in a pretty little maid's uniform scampered across the upper hall past the dark wood railing. The footsteps were swallowed by the runner covering the deep and highly polished hardwood floors. The flouncing skirts flared, the crisp white apron flapped up as she scurried along.

"Marnie!" Called a crisp accented voice from below. "Must you thunder along like an elephant? What is it this time, girl?"

"Mr Thorndike, my apologies, sir," the maid slowed on the stairs as she followed the long sweeping curve down the rounded wall into the expansive foyer now with proper manner and polite speed.

The not so young Mr Thorndike ruffled his newspaper in the salon off the foyer. "Well, what is it, girl? Speak up now," he commanded.

The salon was bright with morning sunshine that flickered through the lace curtains and Mr Thorndike preferred his breakfast at the small table beside his green velvet armchair. Marnie panted softly as she curtseyed upon coming up beside his chair. "It's Nicole, Mr Thorndike, she's phoned again this morning. Quite the malingerer she is, sir. I expect Mrs Collins be letting her go soon enough is all,"

A pair of fluffy eyebrows rose about the newspaper. "And should you be gossiping so early in the morning, Marnie?" He chided with a stodgy frown. "Malingerer or not, you do not know the girl's life and situation, that is for Mrs Collins. Go on, tell her that you will be the only maid for the day on the second floor again. Let her know that Nicole is ill and leave the decision to her as it is to be about whether the girl should be kept on."

Another curtsey had Marnie scampering from the room and off to the kitchens, leaving a huff of annoyance in her wake for the so-called 'thundering' of her fast steps.
A&As UPDATED Oct 26/23

Rate:Weekly give or take
Status: Enjoying myself
Availability:
Unavailable for new plottings, sorry.
O&Os Please review
♪As flawed as you may think you are, you're perfect to me!♪

The Green One

#63
He stepped forward, deeper into the gargantuan chambers of stone. A smell of rotting flesh and humid vapors flooded his lungs. The torchlight he held barely showed him the path ahead and he threaded carefully among mud and small fish bones. He kept his free hand running against the cold wall, his fingertips following the carved patterns. Inside the castle of the lost gods, he interned himself to never return.


tallied! -Brit

Not available for new stories

Miss Lilly

#64
The bar was not as crowded as usual, which was a pleasant surprise to Lydia.  She hated when she had to elbow her way through a sea of people just to order a drink.  Tonight, however, the place was much more to her liking.  She could never figure out why her friends favoured such a popular place - it was nigh on impossible to hold down a conversation, and so they spent most of their time in a ridiculous series of charades trying to make themselves understood.

A glance around the room told her she was the first to arrive, so she settled at the bar, waiting for the rest of the gang.  A rather handsome young man approached, smiling tentatively at her.

"Hi there," he began.  "Did it hurt?"  Lydia groaned inwardly.  Seriously, did guys really think these stupid pickup lines worked?

"Nope," she replied, trying to be polite.  "Because I didn't just fall from heaven."

He visibly blushed, and tried to stutter an apology.  Lydia couldn't help but giggle at him.

"Let's try that again," she said, offering him her hand. "My name is Lydia, and you can most definitely buy me a drink."  She flashed her best smile at him.

"Really?" he asked, unable to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice.  "I mean," he continued, "My name is Dean.  Nice to meet you Lydia."  He took her hand, lifted it to his lips and planted a small kiss on the back of her fingers.  Lydia blinked in surprise.  She had expected a polite handshake, but this was much better.  "What can I order you to drink?"

"Nice to meet you too, Dean.  Soda water, please."

He looked at her, slightly surprised. 

"Just plain soda water?  No gin, or whisky, or anything?"  He didn't want her to think she had to go cheap.

"Nope," Lydia replied.  "I'm a teetotaler from way back.  Plain soda is perfect."

Dean smiled and placed the order with the barman.  "Well, there goes any chance of getting you drunk and taking advantage of you,"  he replied jokingly, winking at her as he said it.

Lydia smirked up at him as she responded.  "Perhaps I'll get you drunk and take advantage of you!"

The both laughed as the drinks arrived. 

For once, Lydia was pleased she had come to the bar.


tallied! -Brit


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Lilias

#65
All I know about protest, I learned from my mother.

Oh, you may stare all you want. You just see her as she is now. The nomothetic genius, the Cambridge don, coaching the future Supreme Court judges. Do you think she was born like that, or something?

Look, my mother grew up in North Yorkshire, and she was a teenager as the ‘80s rolled in. Do put two and two together. There were protests all over the country during old Maggie’s years, but Yorkshire was wall-to-wall riots for a while. Her family was better off than most and was not affected by the collapse of the mines and steelworks, but they voted Labour, so… yeah. Demonstrations, petitions… she was tear-gassed, arrested, the lot. It was a certain judge, who decided to be clement and, instead of sending her to juvie, advised her that, if she wanted to change the laws, she should learn them first, that started her on her path. The rest, as they say, is history--the bits you know.

Once I told her I wished she had gone for the barrister path--watching her in court would be more entertaining than TV. She said she wouldn’t be seen dead in those wigs and robes, and she’d rather train people to do away with them. I’m telling you, she’s not done protesting yet.

tallied! -Brit
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Sebile

#66


spacerHabitual a myriad of perpetual; the workaholic busybodies, the ebb and flow of traffic, a metropolis reaching toward the heavens. It was picturesque, the sun rising on a new day. Yet something was amiss in paradise. The pavement quaked underfoot as the gargantuan beast approached, its roar piercing the airwaves; the only warning the masses were awarded. Hysterical screams followed suit, denizens fleeing the scene of the crime as fast as their cards could carry them. Little could be done now. Mighty skyscrapers easily reduced to rubble within a blink of an eye. Glass, steel, and ash raining down--

The channel changed in an instant. Another remake of Godzilla continued to play, but not tonight. Not here.



tallied! -Brit
spacer

Lovely Complex

#67
She had gotten off the elevator with a scoff just as she had hung up the phone from her so-called boyfriend. Her heels clicked violently underneath her as she walked through the halls, which lead to her office. Before she reached her office though, she ranted to her secretary about how her boyfriend forgot it was Valentine's Day and that he's going out of town for the week. She was highly furious that she let out a frustrated grunt then proceeded to walk towards her office with her secretary trailing behind her, reading out messages that she had missed. Her hand rested upon the doorknob as she turned to face her secretary now.

"Give me my messages in a bit. I need to calm down. As a matter of fact, go get me a coffee with sugar, cream and two drops of vodka." Her hand then twisted the knob as she pushed forward and walked inside her office with a gasp. Flowers, red roses to be exact, scattered everywhere in a gargantuan amount as her eyes fell upon her boyfriend, down on one knee with a ring box in hand. She squealed as if he had already asked the question but he already knew the answered as a smile developed between his lips.




tallied! -Brit
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Daeva

Today's Word of the Day is....


wherewithal
noun WAIR-wih-thawl

Definition
1 : means or resources for purchasing or doing something; specifically : financial resources : money

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your writing pleasure we have our new weekly theme!


Weekly Theme
Sci-Fi


Did You Know?
Wherewithal has been with us in one form or another since the 16th century. It comes from our still-familiar word where, and withal, a Middle English combination of with and all, meaning "with." Wherewithal has been used as a conjunction meaning "with or by means of which" and as a pronoun meaning "that with or by which." These days, however, it is almost always used as a noun referring to the means or resources—especially financial resources—one has at one's disposal.

Absences Updated 6/15/22 Selectively Accepting New Stories
Ons and Offs & Current Story List | Desired RP's

wordpecker

He re-read the mail for what seemed like the hundredth time. It has been sitting there in front of him for close to an hour now, even as the blinking dots on the periphery of his vision warned him of unread messages getting piled up, and the yellow signal of his smart glasses' battery being low was pestering him too. He had been sitting still all this while of course. Had he walked a little, the glasses would have got charged up enough for that notification light to disappear. But he has been robbed of all energy, it was as though the yellow warning sign pertained to his soul and spirit, and not the glasses. The mail made for terrible reading.

We regret to inform you that after a thorough check of your educational qualifications, your service to the motherland, and your financial situation, the Committee has come to the conclusion that you are ineligible for the Phases IV to VI of lunar relocation.

He and his family would be stuck on earth, even as it got worse for living every day. He had neither the skills that would make him essential on the moon base, nor the wherewithal to purchase commercial seats for all four of them. His son's asthma was not as big a problem for the Committee as it was for him, and didn't qualify them for an early evacuation either.

As his wife's face appeared before his eyes, through the hotline messaging system, asking if he was awake and reminding him that dinner was getting cold, he made up his mind. He had no choice but to accept Tremblay's proposal. He would help them with their pirate spaceship.

Lilias

#70
The comm crackled into life five minutes before the night shift was due to come in, after a couple of hours so uneventful that Shara had almost nodded off at her station. ‘Base Control, this is Fury Three requesting permission to dock. ETA eight minutes.’

Shara smiled and adjusted her headset. ‘Copy that, Fury Three. You’re late. Over two days, to be exact.’

Mea culpa, Lieutenant. We didn’t manage to reach the spaceport before snow grounded all transports. So much snow, you would have loved it.’

‘You should have offered to shovel it, Sergeant. It would have earned you priority takeoff status,’ replied Shara, not bothering to stifle a chuckle. The man at the other end chuckled as well.

‘I still managed to bring you something, though. But you can’t have it yet. Not for another… three weeks, right?’

Shara groaned. ‘You’re telling me you brought booze while I can’t have any?’

‘I can’t keep secrets from you, plus I trust you. Shara Bey, lush by nature, teetotaler by iron discipline.’

‘Kes Dameron, unless you have decided you don’t care to live to meet your son, you will get off the comm right now and proceed to hangar bay seven, because Force help you if you fail to make your ETA again!’

tallied! -Brit
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

Double Os <> Double As (updated Feb 20) <> The Hoard <> 50 Tales 2024 <> The Lab <> ELLUIKI

Sebile

#71


spacerPluto; the latest colonized, frozen hellscape that harbors the worst and the best that intergalactic travel has to offer in the Milky Way. It has fashioned itself into an illegal market, the largest in the universe, where any and all find their fixation. If it could be thought of, they have it. Perhaps your interest is the synthetic simulacrum? What is it, you ask? The man-made voluptuary is only the newest, and hottest, state-of-the-art addiction ready to satisfy. They take the novel concept of escapism to a whole new level! But like the planet's striking surface, they are cold and most of their fundamental motivation comes in the peculiar form of nummary. Without some sort of wherewithal to secure their time, you get nothing. Nada. Jack. Window shopping ne'er hurt anyone, just don't touch the valuable merchandise!

[A voice laced with a mechanical hum says: "AND THE LUCKY WINNER IS.... NUMBERS: THREE! ONE! SEVEN! SEVENNNN!" ]

Maybe next time, friend.



tallied! -Brit

spacer

Nymphadora

It was always a struggle for Sophia. Ball games. Movies. Just going to the mall made her practically a jittery mess. It wasn't as bad as agoraphobia, those poor people refused to leave their homes! Sophia just needed some pushing.

Jarella knew how to get her friend out into those farouche environments of entertainment. It worked every time too.

"We will totally go by the library, you madwoman..." Jarella promised with a chuckle.
A&As UPDATED Oct 26/23

Rate:Weekly give or take
Status: Enjoying myself
Availability:
Unavailable for new plottings, sorry.
O&Os Please review
♪As flawed as you may think you are, you're perfect to me!♪

The Green One

#73
He walked down a bright neon street, a farouche young man, lost in a world of glass and carbon fiber, where no one could tell who was living and who was machine. Under the rain, he zigzagged his way, avoiding vendors and their syllogisms, avoiding to waste his digital wherewithal in stuff he didn't need and didn't want.


tallied! -Brit

Not available for new stories

Daeva

Today's Word of the Day is....


substantive
adjective SUB-stun-tiv

Definition
1 : having substance : involving matters of major or practical importance to all concerned
2 : considerable in amount or numbers : substantial
3 a : real rather than apparent : firm; also : permanent, enduring
b : belonging to the substance of a thing : essential

Weekly Theme
Sci-Fi


Did You Know?
Substantive was borrowed into Middle English from the Anglo-French adjective sustentif, meaning "having or expressing substance," and can be traced back to the Latin verb substare, which literally means "to stand under." Figuratively, the meaning of substare is best understood as "to stand firm" or "to hold out." Since the 14th century, we have used substantive to speak of that which is of enough "substance" to stand alone, or be independent. By the 19th century, the word evolved related meanings, such as "enduring" and "essential." It also shares some senses with substantial, such as "considerable in quantity."
Absences Updated 6/15/22 Selectively Accepting New Stories
Ons and Offs & Current Story List | Desired RP's