Word of the week F block

 (Adjective) Suffering or being subjected to constant or repeated trouble or harassment "Whipple’s spymasters come across as more beleaguered than omnipotent, stumbling more often than swaggering (to use a word favored by the former director Mike Pompeo)" (The New York Times "One of the Most Perilous Jobs in Government") I chose the word because I thought it was an interesting and I liked how it was pronounced. 

 Eke (v): According to Merriam-Webster, eke is defined as, " to get [something] with great difficulty" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eke In The Chosen , Reuven describes the simple, rather tough material existence of Hasidic Jews who have a rich spiritual existence. I came across Reuven’s description of Hasidic Jews as: “They could be seen behind their counters, wearing black skull caps, full beards and long earlocks, eking out their meager livelihoods [...]” This word was one of my favorites from this week. Whenever I think about words that are synonyms for barely making out a living, I can usually only think of the ever-popular idiomatic expression "struggling to make ends meet." Knowing the definition of eke, I have now learned a new and more complex/sophisticated way to describe one's impecuniosity. I also appreciate Potok's use of eke in this context. As a Jewish person himself, Potok spends much time in The Chosen elaborating upon the rich...

Palooka: (N) an athlete, especially a boxer, lacking in ability, experience, or competitive spirit. “Who would’ve thought that after all these years, all I needed to take over the tri-state area was a pint-sized ​palooka”​ (Used by Dr. Doofenshmirtz in an episode of Phineas and Ferb) I chose this word because I like the way it looks and is pronounced. I also thought it has an interesting definition. Although it’s probably not a word that I’ll use in the future I was interested to learn its meaning.

Impropriety: (noun).  a failure to observe standards or show due honesty or modesty; improper language, behavior, or character. " The report offered a catalog of potential improprieties - citing tax documents - that threaten to dog the president just as he tries to breathe new life into his struggling campaign with the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court." -Bloomberg News article on Trump’s personal finance conflict. While reading about the latest Trump tax evasion article, I noticed the word "Impropriety" and didn't know what it meant but realized that it was important to the article. In simple terms, this word means to lie, and the article was implying that Trump could've lied about his tax payments which would be a huge scandal especially since the election is coming up soon.

  Subsistence : the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level. "The Virginians needed labor, to grow corn for subsistence , to grow tobacco for export. They had just figured out how to grow tobacco, and in 1617 they sent off the first cargo to England. Finding that, like all pleasurable drugs tainted with moral disapproval, it brought a high price, the planters, despite their high religious talk, were not going to ask questions about something so profitable." (Drawing the Color Line by Howard Zinn - History Primary Source) When I read this originally, I didn't know what the word meant. I looked it up and it means to support oneself at a minimum level. I feel that this word can be applicable in many different eras of history where a lower class may be struggling to support themselves.

 Credence: (noun) belief in or acceptance of something true, "Why does the belief that slavery and all its problems was confined to the southern colonies and later to the southern states continue to have credence in contemporary society?" (History Homework) I decided to choose this word because I had never seen it used before. It stood out to me in the sentence and I knew right away that I wouldn't fully comprehend the question until I knew what credence meant. So, I also chose this word so that I would be able to answer the question fully. 

 Conditioning: (noun) the process of training or accustoming a person or animal to behave in a certain way or to accept certain circumstances, "Classical conditioning was Ian Pavlov's most famous and influential work, and it laid much of the groundwork of behavioral psychology," (Psych 101, page 10).  I chose this word from a book that I am currently reading about psychology, as I love the subject and want to learn as much about it as I can.  Additionally, I chose this word not so much because I didn't understand it, but because of the theory of Classical Conditioning itself.  I'm fascinated by the four types of principals (conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned response, and unconditioned response) and how those can be applied to better understand how people learn.      

 Eclectic  Adj) deriving style or taste from a diverse range of sources  “My musical taste may seem eclectic, ranging from classical Beethoven to head banging to Iron Maiden” This was part of the program notes in the song “Havana Nights”, by Randall Standridge. 

  Vector: (n.)  Any physical quantity that is defined by size and direction; "A vector quantity incorporates both magnitude and direction, and displacement and velocity are examples of vector quantities." -Physics class I decided to use this word as my word of the week because I learned it in physics class, and I think a lot of other people in this english class take physics since it's common for juniors to take it.

 Entreat - Verb, to ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something " Victor said it was really not worth while to go inside for the letter, when his mother entreated him to go in search of them” - The Awakening page 198 I chose this word for the week because it came from The Awakening, and while I was reading The Awakening over the summer I had to look up many words including this one so I could fully understand the text. I also chose this word because I think that although I haven't heard it used very much, I think it is an easy word to use in conversation, for example Mr. Antonelli entreats us to wear our masks in school.

  Litigation : (N) The act of settling a dispute or taking legal action. "In addition, breaches of out security measures and the unapproved dissemination of proprietary information or sensitive or confidential data about us or our customers or other third parties, could expose us, our customers, or other third parties affected to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, result inn litigation and potential liability for us, damage our brand and reputation, or otherwise harm our business" (Dell Inc. Form 10k pdf). I hope to use this word in my writing to strengthen my work. This word is used a lot in the law field and interests me.

Endows (Verb) provide with a quality, ability, or asset. Nurture works on what nature endows -Psych textbook

  Recrimination :    (noun) an accusation in response to one from someone else “No president has escaped press criticism, and no president has considered himself fairly treated. The record of every administration has been the same, beginning with mutual protestations of goodwill, ending with recriminations and mistrust” SAT Practice Test (Reading passage) I chose to use the word recrimination in the blog entry because when I came across this word on a SAT reading practice test, I did not understand what it meant. By not being able to comprehend the word, I could have missed an important detail in the passage. This could result in getting an answer of a question regarding this passage wrong. Now that I know the meaning of the word I can use it correctly. 

Hullabaloo: (N) a commotion; a fuss.  “‘They think we’re really insane, sir?’ ‘Quite. That’s why there was no hullabaloo  to welcome us. They merely tolerated what, to them, must be a constantly recurring psychotic condition’” (Bradbury 32). The Martian Chronicles  I chose this word because I’ve never heard a word like it before, and it popped off the page as I read it. In The Martian Chronicles,  there are a series of little stories intertwined and connect to the answer of what life is on Mars. The cool sound of hullabaloo seemed foreign, just like the aliens that are on Mars in this story.

 Bonanza: (n.)  a situation or event that creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or profits Read in my History Textbook : “Bonanza farm are enormous single crop spreads”

  Hypostatize : (v.) treat or represent (something abstract) as a concrete reality. "Musical soloing and improvisation is sometimes overanalyzed and hypostatized as preconceived and thought-out-beforehand formulas, when really it's more spontaneous and in-the-moment." Conversation with my dad about music I thought this was a cool concept that could be applied to life in general. Sometimes the best and most genuine things come in-the-moment/spontaneously after life experiences build up, as opposed to a preconceived and rigid plan.

  Discord :  (N) A disagreement between people; lack of harmony between notes sounding together. (V) (Of people) disagree. “Identify the causes of the sources of discord in early New England? Which ones were the most threatening and to what extent were they handled correctly?” - A question for history. This really surprised me as I never knew Discord was actually a word, I thought it was a creative name for the website. I never thought I could say " Discord is often used for discords" as it sheds a new light on the website's name. 8.4.3

 (noun)  the deliberate inoculation of an uninfected person with the smallpox virus (as by contact with pustular matter) that was widely practiced before the era of vaccination as prophylaxis against the severe form of smallpox. "The push for variolation in North America and Europe produced one other unexpected effect"  National Geographic Magazine (August 2020 Edition) I chose this word because I thought it applied to our current situation with COVID-19. Although a completely different disease, I felt it sort of correlated to what was going on in the world around us.

Hypos :  (N) Stimulus. " Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."  Moby Dick  Moby Dick was the first book I read where I looked up every word I didn't know. This was the first word I didn't know in the novel.