In which Fiona sniffs a bug and gets more than she bargained for

So yesterday, I see Fiona staring intently a what appears to be a blank stretch of bathroom floor. I take a closer look, and realise she's happened upon one of those tiny little spider-like bug things that are about the size of a period/full stop and just tend to show up every now and then. Cats with bugs can be quite amusing, and since the presence of the tiny critter doesn't bother me too much, I settle down to watch.

She circles it for awhile. Bats at it with her paw. And then she leans in to get a good sniff. Unfortunately, she gets a little too close and ends up with it on her nose. She rears back and thus commences the most amusing little panicked cat dance as the poor frightened thing crawls all over her face trying to get away and she ends up attempting catch it with her tongue.

I'm still not sure if she ever got it or if it just fell off :)

50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #36 -- John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, Poems by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, edited with an introduction and notes by Vivian de Sola Pinto, 238 pages.

Much of this is hit-or-miss. Some of the poems, like "A Satyr Against Mankind", are absolutely brilliant. Others are just witty and shocking for the sake of being witty and shocking with no real deeper characteristics. Still, Rochester definitely had a knack for crafting a turn of phrase.

Progress toward goals: 110/366 = 30.1%

Books: 36/150 = 24.0%

Pages: 10352/50000 = 20.7%

2008 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

That word

Why don't we use the word 'swive' anymore? It's a good word. It has a feel to it. It's not harsh like that other word. It's almost courtly, elegant. Like a dance step. Swive. 'S a good word.

Definitions

agonistic: (adj) 1. Of or pertaining to the athletic contests of ancient Greece; hence, pertaining to athletic feats generally, athletic.
2. In Zoology: Pertaining to or designating animal behaviour associated with hostility between individuals.
3. In Rhetoric: Polemic, combative, striving to overcome in argument.
4. Strained, aiming at effect; simulating strong feeling, tending to exaggeration of feeling.
5. In Physiology: Designating a muscle that is an agonist, and its mode of action.
6. In Pharmacology: Of or pertaining to an agonist; having the effect of an agonist.



agonist: (n) 1. A contender for prizes.
2. A person engaged in a contest or struggle; a protagonist.
3. One who advertises in an ‘agony column’
4. In Physiology: A muscle whose contraction is directly responsible for the movement of a part of the body.
5. In Pharmacology: A chemical which can not only combine with a receptor, like an antagonist, but when it does so stimulates it, resulting in an observable effect.



actant: (n) in the narratology of A. J. Greimas, one of six basic categories of fictional role common to all stories. The actants are paired in binary opposition: Subject/Object, Sender/Receiver, Helper/Opponent. A character (or acteur) is an individualized manifestation of one or more actants; but an actant may be realized in a non‐human creature (e.g. a dragon as Opponent) or inanimate object (e.g. magic sword as Helper, or Holy Grail as Object), or in more than one acteur



parataxis: (n) The placing of propositions or clauses one after another, without indicating by connecting words the relation (of coordination or subordination) between them, as in 'Tell me, how are you?'.



hypotaxis: (n) subordination, subordinate construction of clauses.



definiendum: (n) That which is, or is to be, defined; the phrase of which a definition states or purports to state the meaning; in Mathematical Logic, the word or symbol (or the formula devised to contain the symbol) that is being introduced by definition into a system.



fenugreek: (n) A leguminous plant (Trigonella Fœnum Græcum) cultivated for its seeds, which are used by farriers.



scabious: (n) 1. Any of the herbaceous plants of the genus Scabiosa (N.O. Dipsaceae), formerly believed to be efficacious for the cure of certain skin-diseases.
2. In the US, applied to some species of Erigeron.



dictamnus: (n) A perennial herb of the genus so called, belonging to the family Rutaceæ, especially the cultivated species D. albus (= FRAXINELLA); or the sub-shrub Origanum dictamnus (= DITTANY).



quinsy: (n) Originally: inflammation or swelling of the throat or part of the throat, esp. tonsillitis; an instance of this. Formerly also occasionally in plural. In later use: specifically peritonsillar abscess; an instance of this.



peritonsillar: (adj) situated or occurring around a tonsil or around the tonsils.



circumvallation: (n) 1. The making of a rampart or entrenchment round a place, esp. in besieging.
2. A rampart or entrenchment constructed round any place by way of investment or defence.



sachem: (n) 1. The supreme head or chief of some American Indian tribes.
2. jocularly applied to a prominent member of a society, etc.; a ‘chief’.
3. In US Politics: One of a body of twelve high officials in the Tammany Society of New York. grand sachem, the head of this body.



cretonne: (n) The French name of a strong fabric of hempen warp and linen woof; applied in England to a stout unglazed cotton cloth printed on one or both sides with a pattern in colours, and used for chair covers, curtains, and the like.



fuller: (n) One whose occupation is to full cloth.

full: (v) 1. To baptise.
2. To make full
3. To be or become full, specifically of the moon and the tide
4. To fulfil, complete.
5. In Dressmaking: To make full; to gather or pleat.
6. To draw up, pucker, bunch.
7. To tread or beat (cloth) for the purpose of cleansing and thickening it; hence, to cleanse and thicken (cloth, etc.).
8. To beat or trample down; also, to destroy.



vetch: (n) 1. The bean-like fruit of various species of the leguminous plant Vicia.
2. Plants belonging to the genus Vicia, especially to the species Vicia sativa, the common tare.
3. In generic use as a plant-name (or, in early use, as that of a grain), usually without article or with the; also occasionally, with a and plural, one or other species of the genus Vicia.
4. Applied, with distinguishing terms, to plants of various genera more or less resembling vetches.



quæstor: (n) 1. In the Roman Catholic Church: An official appointed to grant indulgences in exchange for gifts of alms to the Church; a pardoner.
2. In Roman history: Any of a number of officials in charge of public revenue and expenditure, acting as treasurers of state, paymasters of troops, etc
3. A public prosecutor in certain criminal cases.
4. An officer of any of various European governments (later also of other governments and of the European Parliament) with responsibility for internal financial and administrative matters.
4. In Italy: a commissary of police;
5. The chief financial officer of a university, esp. St Andrew's University (and formerly others) in Scotland.



ædile: (n) magistrate in Rome, who had the superintendence of public buildings, shows, police, and other municipal functions; hence, by extension, a municipal officer.