Stuart's Daily Word Spot (Antonyms): Taboo/Permitted

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Taboo/Permitted:

Taboo: verb - to place under a literal taboo; to debar or forbid by influence; to place under a social ban; to ostracize or boycott; to award a sacred status to something, thereby restricting its use; to prohibit.

Permitt(ed): verb - to allow; to give permission; to consent to a person doing or experiencing something.

'In many religions, the eating of certain foods is taboo. These restrictions stem mostly from ancient observations of health risks associated with the consumption of the foods, but modern methods of cooking, along with other safeguards, now render the taboos irrelevant. However, the religious organisations concerned, having built the prohibitions into the very structure of their dogma, find themselves incapable of admitting the truth and freeing up their adherents to sample foods that are now known to be safe to eat.'

'Long before Natalie discovered that nude swimming was permitted in the private pool, she'd abandoned her costume and taken to the waters in her skin to enjoy the delights of skinny dipping.'

1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook, who therefore decided to name it after the celebratory day of his chosen moral leader.

1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII made a Christmas Eve appeal for peace. The war had been under way for only a few months, so perhaps the world in general, having conveniently forgotten the mass death and destruction of the previous world war, wasn't yet ready to gang together to defeat the evil that was Nazi aggression led by the madman, Hitler.

2011 - It's Christmas Eve, and the occasion for joy, celebration and merriment the world over for all those who live in a state formed or dominated by Christian beliefs. As an agnostic, I no longer follow the man who became unwittingly responsible for this once wonderful celebration of goodwill and peace. It doesn't prevent me enjoying the ideas held within that celebration, however. Much as I detest the absolute commercialism that's now replaced any form of spiritual awareness for the mass of the population, I still enjoy the idea of giving. And my past, as a once active member of the Church of England, catches up with me to make me enjoy the music and spiritual richness of the occasion.

So, I wish all peace-loving, caring and kind individuals, whatever their faith or philosophy, a very Merry Christmas, and hope they receive those things they most desire.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Irony

Irony: noun - a pretence of ignorance used to entice others into saying things that can then be challenged; the use of language, normally expressing the opposite, to make some point; humorous use of praise to suggest condemnation or contempt.

In literature, irony is a device, in which the actual meaning is hidden or contradicted by the literal meaning of what is said or written. In dramatic irony, there is incongruity between what’s expected and what actually happens. Irony often comes from a resigned awareness of the contrast between what is and what should be and is expressed through controlled pathos lacking sentimentality. It’s a type of indirection that avoids overt praise or censure, as in the casual irony of statements like, ‘Brilliant!’ meaning, ‘Stupid’, or ‘The comprehensive philanthropy of conservative politics.’ meaning ‘The absolute self-serving meanness of conservative politics.’.

When used in a none literary fashion, irony is usually called ‘sarcasm’.

There is a pervasive theory amongst Brits that Americans have no understanding of irony, which probably stems from the British characteristic of self-deprecation contrasted with what the islanders see as the brash self-confidence of the newer country.

‘When Brenda referred to the level of intellectual tension conveyed by the two naked female mud-wrestlers, Bryan was oblivious of her irony and actually took his eyes off the action in order to agree with her.’

Picture: In the days before Google took over Blogger, I was able to associate posts with free images through a little widget called Zemanta. I might've delighted some of you, disgusted others, with a picture of nude women mud-wrestlers, but you'll have to make do with this picture of a local landscape, taken on a walk just a short distance from my home. I don't think there's any irony here; unless you think otherwise, of course.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Table

Table: noun - flat slab or board, usually a thin sheet of wood, stone, metal, a board, plate, slab, or tablet forming a surface; In architecture - a horizontal member projecting as a string course or cornice; flat rectangular vertical surface, sunk into or projecting beyond the surrounding surface, a panel; board or other flat surface for a painted picture, the picture; In palmistry - a quadrangle between lines on the palm of the hand; In anatomy - either of two dense bony layers of the skull separated by the diploe; a flat plate or board used with or forming part of a mechanism or apparatus; a flat metal plate for supporting something to be worked on; the upper part of the soundboard in an organ, perforated to admit air to the pipes; In a full table diamond – a diamond cut with a large flat upper surface surrounded by smaller facets, the flat surface of a table diamond or other gem; a flat elevated tract of land, tableland, plateau or flat mountain top; large flat circular sheet of crown glass; crystal of flattened or short prismatic form; raised board at which people may sit, piece of furniture consisting of a raised flat top of wood, or other solid material, supported on one or more legs, and used to place things on for various purposes; company of people at table, a group seated for dinner; an official body of people who do business around a table; the provision of food for meals; supply of food in a household; tabulated arrangement or statement; systematic display of numbers, words, or items in a definite and compact form; a display of information in columns and lines occupying a single defined area; list, written or recited, of multiplications of two factors, weights, measures; collection of data stored in memory as a series of records, each defined by a unique key stored with it.

‘Jock, Henry, Glenda and Paul sat around the table, eating curry and discussing the end of season table of the Premier League.’

‘When partying, which she did frequently, it wasn’t uncommon for Janice to step up onto the table, slip off her clothes and dance nude for all and sundry.’

‘James created a table on the computer to show the relationship between the cost of items bought and the frequency of such purchases.’

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Bowdlerize

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Bowdlerize: verb – (Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825) was an English editor, who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare.); to expurgate a text by removing or altering material considered improper or offensive, emasculate.

Bowdler’s numerous and often silly cuts and edits to Shakespeare have immortalized his name as another word for censorship.

‘It seems some people never learn from history: Bowdler did his best to emasculate and sanitise Shakespeare and produced a laughable piece of work as a result. But others continue in his name and Bowdlerize many works, replacing evocative expletives with meaningless euphemisms and chopping out great chunks of text that fail to fall into their peculiar definition of what is or is not acceptable. Idiots; the lot of them. Perhaps these same folk would like to paint clothes on the numerous wonderful nudes? Certainly, there have been those who added fig leaves to classical Greek sculpture in order that ‘ladies’ would not be offended by the sight of carved genitalia. Such prudishness invariably declares more about the minds of the censors than about those they presume to protect from what they perceive, with their foul interpretations, as offensive or evil.’

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Altogether or all together:

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Altogether: noun - the whole together, total, everything; nude, naked. Adverb – entirely, totally, in every respect.

All together; in one place or grouped; all at the same time.

‘Persephone stepped from the shower, dried herself and wandered into the sitting room in the altogether, only to discover her gathered friends had arranged a surprise party for her birthday.’

‘It is altogether likely that we humans are not the only life form inhabiting the universe.’

‘When we go to the beach, we should go all together.’