Words Pronunciation

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(The Capitalized syllable gets the emphasis)

alacrity a-LACK-ra-tee
cheerful willingness and promptness

anathema a-NATH-a-ma
a thing or person cursed, banned, or reviled

anodyne AN-a-dine
anything that sooths or comforts

aphorism AFF-oar-ism
a short, witty saying or concise principle

apostate ah-POSS-tate (also: apostasy)
person who has left the fold or deserted the faith.

arrogate ARROW-gate
to make an unreasonable claim

atavistic at-a-VIS-tic
reverting to a primitive type

avuncular a-VUNC-you-lar
"like an uncle"; benevolent

bathos BATH-ose
an anticlimax

bereft ba-REFT
to be deprived of something valuable
"He was bereft of reason."

calumny KAL-um-knee
a slander or false accusation

canard kan-ARD
a fabricated story (French="duck"; morte canard=dead duck)

cant kant
insincerity

chimera ki-MEER-ah (not: chim-er-ah)
Originally: a mythical beast; any unreal thing; foolish fancy
(adj=chimerical ki-MEER-a-cal)

cloy
to grow sick from an abundance of something

comitatus com-a-TAY-tus
loyalty to one's band or group

concatenation con-CAT-a-nation
things linked together or joined in a chain

cosseted KOS-a-ted
pampered

cupidity que-PID-a-tee
greed; avarice

cynosure SIGH-na-shore (from the Greek: "dog's tail")
center of attention; point to which all eyes are drawn.
(Really? From "dog's tail"? Yes. The "dog's tail" appears in a constellation,
locating the North star, which rivets the attention of sailors at sea. Thus:
center of attention.)
(see also: sinecure)

dilettante DILL-ah-tent
1. having superficial/amateurish interest in a branch of knowledge;
2. a connoisseur or lover of the fine arts

discursive dis-KUR-seive
covering a wide field of subjects

docent DOE-cent
a teacher, but not regular faculty; a museum tour guide

egregious a-GREE-jous
conspiculously bad; flagrant; shocking

epigone EP-a-goan
a second rate imitator or follower

fatuous FAT-chew-us
foolish; stupid; silly

felicity fa-LISS-a-tee
bliss; a pleasing aptness in speech and deportment; grace

furtive FURR-tive
sly; shifty; secretive

gratuitous gra-TOO-a-tus
given freely

haik HIKE
a large piece of cloth worn as an outer garment by Arabs.

heuristic HYOUR-is-tik (noun)
an idea or speculation acting as a guide to an investigation

hubris HUE-bris
arrogance from excessive pride or passion (hubristic)

ignominy IG-na-min-ee (noun) (also: ignoble)
signifying disgrace or dishonour (ignominious)

incisive in-SI-seive
displaying sharp mental perception; direct and effective

inimical in-IM-a-cal
unfriendly; hostile

insipid in-SIP-id (adj.)
Lacking flavor, zest, or interest; dull

insuperable in-SUPER-a-bul
not able to be overcome

inveigh in-VAY
attack verbally

iterative IT-ter-a-tive
something recurring or repeating
("An iterative process")

jeremiad jer-a-MY-add
a series of doleful, dismal complaints

lagniappe lan-yap (noun) (a Creole word)
something given away as a gift for buying something else;
(such as an ashtray given for buying a full tank of gas)

leitmotif LIGHT-moe-teef
a dominant or recurring theme or pattern

luddite LUD-ite
a person who tries to halt progress by smashing machines

manque mon-KAY
unfulfilled; frustrated (literally: maimed)
"He was an artist manque."

maudlin MAUDE-lin
easily emotional

mendacious men-DAY-shous (adj.)
untruthful. (the noun is mendacity)

meretricious mer-a-TRISH-ous
deceitful; tawdry
(Note that the two words above are pejorative, but if the
meaning is not known, they "sound" meritorious.)

misanthrope MISS-an-throwp
a person who dislikes the human race

nugatory NEW-ga-tory
trifling; worthless; ineffective

obloquy OB-la-key
a public reproach

opprobrium ah-PROBE-re-um
disgrace arising from shameful conduct;
a reproach mingled with contempt
"That word - a term of opprobrium - cut him like a knife."

paradigm PEAR-ah-dime
"side by side"; a pattern or example. A "paradigm shift" is
usually used to signify a major change in thinking or acting,
in the sense of employing new examples.

parvenue PAR-ven-oou
an upstart; someone trying to rise above their proper place

pejorative pa-JOUR-a-tive
tending to be worse; downgrading; disparaging

penury PEN-your-ee
extreme poverty

peremptory per-EM-tory
a command which may not be refused

perdition per-DISH-un
future misery, such as in going to Hell

perfidy PUR-fa-dee
treachery; falsehood (perfidious is the adjective)

perfunctory pur-FUNK-tory
done routinely, with little interest or care

peripatetic PER-ee-pa-TET-ick
walking about; itinerant (Often used to describe Aristotle)

philistine PHIL-a-stine
a person lacking culture; narrow minded with common tastes

poignant POIN-yent An adjective with multiple flavors:
1: appealing to emotion 2: physically painful 3: sharp, pungent
4: piercing, incisive 5: astute, pertinent 6: neat, skillful

poltroon pole-troon
a thouroughly cowardly person

polymath polly-math
a person of great or (more usually) varied learning.
(poly=much math=learning)

presentiment pre-SENT-a-ment
a foreboding of misfortune

propitiate pro-PISH-ee-ate
pacify

puerile PURE-ill (Fr.: "puer" - child)
juvenile, immature, childish

punctilio punk-TILL-ee-oh (noun)
a fine point of etiquette; precise observance of formalities
or ceremony; precise to the letter

rancor RANG-kur
vindictive malice

rapacity ra-PASS-a-tee
act of seizing that which is coveted; greed

recondite REK-in-dite
hard to understand; profound; obscure; concealed

regnant REG-nant
reigning; predominant; widespread

samizdat SAM-iz-dot
an underground newspaper

sanguine SANG-win
cheerful, confident
sanguinary SANG-win-airy
bloody
(note the huge difference in meaning between the above two
similarly sounding words)

saturnine SAT-ter-nine
morose; gloomy

scurrilous SKER-a-less
grossly offensive and vulgar

seriatim sir-ee-AT-um
occuring one after another; in serial fashion

sinecure SIN-a-cure
a job (usually politically appointed) requiring little or no
work.
(See also: cynosure)

sobriquet so-bric-KAY
a nickname or an assumed name ("Minnesota Fats")

solecism SOL-a-sys-um
an ungrammatical combination of words

specious SPEE-shous
appearing to be right; deceptively good looking

spurious SPYOUR-ee-ous
false

sycophant SIGH-ko-phant
a flattering parasite

terse
short and to the point; pithy

turpitude TUR-pa-toode
depravity

unctous UNK-shus
oily and persuasive

venal VEE-nal
a sacrifice of honor for profit

veracity ver-ASS-a-tee
truthfulness

voracity vor-ASS-a-tee
greed
(the above two words are very close in spelling and
pronunciation, but mean quite different things.)

verisimilitude ver-ah-SIM-ah-la-tude
the quality of appearing to be true or real

David Bowie Quotes

Musician Quotes
And I mean amateur in that dedicated fashion you find in a man who, only on Sundays, will build a cathedral out of matchsticks, beautiful but only to please himself and his family and friends.

And I saw the sax line-up that he had behind him and I thought, I'm going to learn the saxophone. When I grow up, I'm going to play in his band. So I sort of persuaded my dad to get me a kind of a plastic saxophone on the hire purchase plan.

But I'm pretty good with collaborative thinking. I work well with other people.

But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I've seen on some of the songs that I've written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods presence in his life. He is the 21st century man.

However, there's no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums.

I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.

I believe that I often bring out the best in somebody's talents.

I don't believe in some force outside of ourselves that creates bad things. I just think of it as all dysfunctionalism of one kind of another.

I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring.

I either get super euphoric or darkly depressive, misery being my default position. My soul flies erratically on the wings of what I would imagine is a feeble bi-polarism.

I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.

I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does.

I never could get over the fact that The Pixies formed, worked and separated without America taking them to its heart or even recognizing their existence for the most part.

I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.

I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image.

I think the biggest frightener now is the disturbing lack of interest in... among a certain proportion of younger people, a lack of interest in... no curiosity in what's going on.

I tried passionately hard in the first part of the '80s to fit in, and I had my first overground success.

I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music.

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players.

I'm always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously.

I'm an instant star. Just add water and stir.

I'm just an individual who doesn't feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I'm working for me.

I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.

I've never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.

It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.

It hadn't slipped my notice that I'd had more than a leaning toward pluralism in the '70s. I saw the proverbial two sides to every story, and that applied to music and religion and, I guess, politics.

Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.

On the other hand, what I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts.

Pixies and Sonic Youth were so important to the eighties.

Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place.

Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write.

The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.

There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means.

To not be modest about it, you'll find that with only a couple of exceptions, most of the musicians that I've worked with have done their best work by far with me.

Tony Visconti and I had been wanting to work together again for a few years now. Both of us had fairly large commitments and for a long time we couldn't see a space in which we could get anything together.

We formed Tin Machine, which was possibly the best decision I ever made in terms of freeing myself from this cul-de-sac and decontextualizing myself. Once I had done Tin Machine, nobody could see me anymore.

What is very enlightening for me right now is that I sense that I'm arriving at a place of peace with my writing that I've never experienced before.

When Brian and I came back together this time, we found that we'd gone through very similar psychological states during the course of the '80s.

When I heard Little Richard, I mean, it just set my world on fire.

When you think about it, Adolf Hitler was the first pop star.

You can neither win nor lose if you don't run the race.
Musician Quotes