anodyne

This is one of those slippery words that I think I know but when pressed can’t actually define.

Definition of anodyne:
“adj. Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
n. A medicine, such as aspirin, that relieves pain. A source of soothing comfort.” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
8/29/08 Time Magazine article about the recent Democratic convention in Denver, “The Convention: Redefining Change” by David Von Drehle.

“…Left on the altar of the anodyne was a much more interesting convention that might have been.…”

My two cents:
We’re in the thick of it now, children. It’s drama drama drama in American politics, and it’s riveting. It’s historic. It’s head-spinning one-upsmanship at its highest and best.

An unprecedented extravaganza that was the Democratic convention just concluded in Denver. There were surprises: Obama’s VP pick, unveiled in a pointedly new-age way via text message and email, is the affable, yet older, wiser, and better connected Washington career politician, Joe Biden. How this squares with the buzzword du campaign, "change," I have no idea.

There were speeches: Hillary took the high road. An ailing Ted summoned the Kennedy strength to deliver a rousing oratory. Michelle didn’t put her foot in it. Thankfully, Jesse didn’t speak at all, but his son did. Now that was a change for the better.

There were cheers and tears: Obama’s acceptance speech, delivered on the very anniversary of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, was moved to Mile High Stadium to accommodate a crowd of over 75,000.

There were amazing visuals and there was music. There were fireworks, and people like Cheryl Crowe and John Legend performed. The soaring set, with its Doric columns, was so grand it was dubbed, “Barackopolis.” The stage boasted an expansive staircase of concentric circular steps carpeted in brilliant, Presidential blue.

It was the political version of an all-out Vegas spectacle, minus the dancing showgirls.

Lord, what drama.

And there was something else no one saw coming. No sooner did Barack Obama have us all "up in that," the very next morning John McCain grabbed the drama flag and ran with it. In a spectacularly stunning display of stop-the-presses one-upsmanship, McCain announced his choice for his Vice Presidential running mate: a woman. A young woman. With big hair and 5 kids. Governor of Alaska, no less (How does she do it? How will she do this?). They made their announcement the old fashioned way, at a podium with a microphone. No text messages or emails for ol' John the Luddite who admitted to a reporter that he had gone on the internet for the first time last week, and had no idea what Google was. But while a grinning, crazy-like-a-fox McCain displayed near-perfect comportment standing at the young and dewy Sarah Palin’s side (was he, or was he not, checking out her derriere?), deep down he must have been doing the happy dance, thumbing his nose at the Democrats, and laughing his ass off. All this, and the Republicans have yet to convene.

But wait, there's more. Snatching the drama flag from McCain's very grasp and upstaging everybody is a nasty villain named Gustav, a Cat 3 hurricane heading straight for New Orleans.

Lord, Lord, the drama. Pass me an anodyne, and give us all strength.

manque

Never heard this word in my life.

Definition of manqué:
adj. (män-kā´)

Unfulfilled or frustrated in the realization of one's ambitions or capabilities: an artist manqué; a writer manqué. Synonym: would-be.” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
8/10/08 NYT op-ed piece by Maureen Dowd, “Keeping it Rielle,” a spot-on assessment of Democratic candidate John Edwards and his recently revealed sexual misconduct.

“…The president manqué gives Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, more than $114,000 to shoot vain little videos for his Web site …”

My two cents:
Once again, Maureen Dowd brings it on: a new word for my vocabulary, and a fabulous article to boot.

I’m so sick of politicians who cheat on their wives. The latest stupid political man-pig is John Edwards. I don’t even know where to start with him. I'm so exasperated, I'm positively speechless. I need a chill pill.

Fortunately, Maureen Dowd’s column says it all so perfectly that I need not even try to gild the lily here.

So, go read. It’s just too good to miss.

lemniscate

This is a new word for me.

Definition of lemniscate:
“In algebraic geometry, any of several figure-eight or ∞ shaped curves, of which the best known is the Lemniscate of Bernoulli. It is also sometimes used to refer to the ∞ symbol used in mathematics as a symbol for infinity” (answers.com).

Where I ran across it:
8/8/08 NYT opinion article, “Crazy Eights,” in which illustrator Ben Schotts delivers a lot of useless (but interesting) information about the number 8.

“…Representing infinity with an elongated and rotated figure 8 is credited to the mathematician and cryptographer, John Wallis, who first used the lemniscate symbol in 1655…”

My two cents:
That old math deficit keeps returning to haunt me. Had I not been busy developing a nervous condition from trying to pass high school algebra and geometry, I might have learned the word lemniscate. I don’t remember learning much (if any) algebra from those days, but I remember my algebra teacher. He had a withered arm and was, I thought at the time, very old. He was probably no more than 50. At 16, 50 is very, very old. Now that I’m over 50, not so much. Although there are days when I seriously wonder…

Speaking of old, today’s NYT article about the number 8 is pretty interesting, with lots of references to ancient history, archaic origins, and customs surrounding that number. Example: tonight’s opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will begin at 8:08pm because in China, 8 is a lucky number.

Maybe I’ll get lucky in my old age and remember to tune in.