In the interest of increasing the vocabulary of electronics users, which vocabulary some members and fans of print media say is becoming simple to the point of infantilization (ha! how do you like THAT word, me old luv?)… I lost my place…. Oh, yes: In the interest of increasing the vocabulary of electronics users, I offer another in my series of Hard Words.

prescient – knowing things before they happen. EX: News sources think they’re prescient when they call elections while the polls are still open.

circuitous – roundabout; indirect; devious. EX: I don’t take a circuitous route to my destination because I’m paranoid; I do it because I’ve forgotten where I’m going.

cogent – compelling; convincing, as an argument. EX: Your reasoning is cogent; nevertheless, you may not have another cookie.

bellicose – of a quarrelsome or hostile nature; warlike. EX: I don’t care how bellicose you become, you still may not have another cookie.

integral – necessary for completeness; essential. EX: Chocolate is integral to my happiness; another cookie is not integral to yours.

clench – to bring together tightly; to grip tightly. EX: I clenched my teeth when the writer had his hero clench his head, but the dictionary tells me he used the word correctly.

propitiate – to win or regain the good will of. EX: You can always propitiate me with chocolate.

propagate – to cause to reproduce itself. EX: Contrary to what Bette Midler sings, one does not propagate a rose by seed.

perpetrate – to do (something evil, criminal or offensive). EX: Southern Indiana Writers perpetrated a whole book of “crimes against literature”.

perpetuate – cause to continue or be remembered. EX: By these posts, I hope to perpetuate the use of hard words.

I hope you have occasion to utilize one or more of these words. It may propitiate people who become bellicose when they find you on the computer AGAIN.

WRITING PROMPT: What is integral to your main character’s happiness? Write a page about a character who discovers that something he or she thought was integral is, in fact, peripheral.

MA