Me Talk Pretty One Day: List 1

by David Sedaris
In this collection of humorous essays, Sedaris reflects on his childhood, living in New York City, and moving to France.

This list covers "Go Carolina"–"Twelve Moments in the Life of an Artist."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 192 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. mincing
    affectedly dainty or refined
    A week or two later my session was interrupted by mincing Steve Bixler, who popped his head in the door and announced that his parents were taking him out of town for a long weekend, meaning that he would miss his regular Friday session.
  2. potpourri
    a jar of mixed flower petals and spices used as perfume
    Baking scones and cupcakes for the school janitors, watching Guiding Light with our mothers, collecting rose petals for use in a fragrant potpourri: anything worth doing turned out to be a girl thing.
  3. duplicitous
    marked by deliberate deceptiveness
    In order to enjoy ourselves, we learned to be duplicitous.
  4. elicit
    call forth, as an emotion, feeling, or response
    The effect produced a sound not unlike that of a tire releasing air. It was awkward and strange-sounding, and elicited much more attention than the original lisp.
  5. articulation
    the aspect of pronunciation that shapes the sounds of speech
    Agent Samson was not amused when I began referring to her as an articulation coach, but the majority of my teachers were delighted.
  6. prudent
    marked by sound judgment
    After all the compliments I had received on my improved vocabulary, it seemed prudent to lie low and keep my mouth shut.
  7. abbey
    a church or building associated with a monastery or convent
    My former classmates would call the abbey, wondering how I was doing, and the priest would answer the phone. “You can’t talk to him!” he’d say. “Why, Brother David hasn’t spoken to anyone in thirty-five years!”
  8. morbid
    suggesting an unhealthy mental state
    She shuddered. "Don't be so morbid."
  9. oxymoron
    conjoined contradictory terms
    They themselves listened only to Greek music, an oxymoron as far as the rest of the world is concerned.
  10. consort
    keep company with
    As a young man he hid his 78s under the sofa bed and regularly snuck off to New York City, where he'd haunt the clubs and consort with Negroes.
  11. rendition
    a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role
    A quick nod to my accompanist, and I'd launch into "The Excitement of Cameron Village Will Carry You Away." The beauty of my rendition was that it captured both the joy and the sorrow of a visit to Ellisburg's or J. C. Penney.
  12. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    The following afternoon he bought a baby grand piano. It was a used model that managed to look imposing even when positioned on a linoleum-tiled floor.
  13. fastidious
    giving careful attention to detail
    A fastidious dresser stuck in a small, unfashionable town, Mister Mancini wore clothing I recognized from the Young Squires department of Hudson Belk.
  14. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    The current hit version of the song was performed by Jose Feliciano, a blind man whose plaintive voice served the lyrics much better than did Jim Morrison, who sang it in what I considered a bossy and conceited tone of voice.
  15. amble
    walk leisurely
    A toddler ambled up on his chubby bowed legs, attempting to embrace my teacher with ketchup-smeared fingers, while a party of elementary-school students openly stared in wonder.
  16. blowhard
    a very boastful and talkative person
    I'd always thought of Mister Mancini as a blowhard, a pocket playboy, but watching him dip his hamburger into a sad puddle of mayonnaise, I broadened my view and came to see him as a wee outsider, a misfit whose take-it-or-leave-it attitude had left him all alone.
  17. pretense
    the act of giving a false appearance
    Maybe then we could drop the pretense of Joan and get down to work. If things worked out the way I hoped, I'd someday mention in interviews that my accompanist was both my best friend and a midget.
  18. ebb
    flow back or recede
    The color ebbed from my teacher's face.
  19. a cappella
    without musical accompaniment
    I started in on an a cappella version of the latest Oscar Mayer commercial, hoping he might join in once the spirit moved him.
  20. interminable
    tiresomely long; seemingly without end
    As children, we placed a great deal of faith in his ability but learned to steer clear while he was working. The experience of watching was ruined, time and time again, by an interminable explanation of how things were put together.
  21. fickle
    liable to sudden unpredictable change
    Fickle gnomes control the weather, and an air conditioner is powered by a team of squirrels, their cheeks packed with ice cubes.
  22. dissertation
    a treatise advancing a point of view resulting from research
    Miniature golf was ruined with a lengthy dissertation on impact, trajectory, and wind velocity, and our sand castles were critiqued with stifling lectures on the dynamics of the vaulted ceiling.
  23. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Miniature golf was ruined with a lengthy dissertation on impact, trajectory, and wind velocity, and our sand castles were critiqued with stifling lectures on the dynamics of the vaulted ceiling.
  24. symbiotic
    of organisms living together, especially to mutual advantage
    It involves a symbiotic relationship with the wind: you have to know exactly how and when to turn your head in order to keep the smoke out of your eyes.
  25. latent
    potentially existing but not presently evident or realized
    Proving his to be a latent gift, my father bought himself a box of acrylic paints and set up his easel in front of the basement TV, turning out exact copies of Renoir cafés and Spanish monks brooding beneath their hooded robes.
  26. brood
    think moodily or anxiously about something
    Proving his to be a latent gift, my father bought himself a box of acrylic paints and set up his easel in front of the basement TV, turning out exact copies of Renoir cafés and Spanish monks brooding beneath their hooded robes.
  27. garret
    floor consisting of open space at the top of a house
    Leafing past the paintings, I would admire the photographs of the artists seated in their garrets, dressed in tattered smocks and frowning in the direction of their beefy nude models.
  28. beefy
    muscular and heavily built
    Leafing past the paintings, I would admire the photographs of the artists seated in their garrets, dressed in tattered smocks and frowning in the direction of their beefy nude models.
  29. finicky
    fussy, especially about details
    I envisioned the finicky curators coming to my door and begging me to hold another show at the Louvre or the Metropolitan.
  30. curator
    the custodian of a collection, as a museum or library
    I envisioned the finicky curators coming to my door and begging me to hold another show at the Louvre or the Metropolitan.
  31. lithography
    a method of printing from a metal or stone surface
    After switching from lithography to clay modeling, I stopped attending classes altogether...
  32. ponderous
    labored and dull
    In their company I attended grainy black-and-white movies in which ponderous, turtlenecked men slogged the stony beaches, cursing the gulls for their ability to fly.
  33. slog
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    In their company I attended grainy black-and-white movies in which ponderous, turtlenecked men slogged the stony beaches, cursing the gulls for their ability to fly.
  34. despondent
    without or almost without hope
    Unfortunately, the school had no accredited sulking program and I dropped out, more despondent than ever.
  35. hokey
    very sentimental or emotional
    My socks balled up on the hardwood floor made a greater statement than any of their hokey claptrap with the carefully matted frames and big curly signatures in the lower left-hand corners.
  36. fulminate
    cause to explode violently and with loud noise
    Speed heats the brain to a full boil, leaving the mouth to function as a fulminating exhaust pipe.
  37. avant-garde
    radically new or original
    This officially confirmed their outsider status and made me an enemy of the avant-garde.
  38. penitence
    remorse for your past conduct
    The show was up for two months, and when it came down, I carried my crates to a vacant lot and burned them in penitence for my undeserved success.
  39. discernible
    capable of being perceived clearly
    A play without a story, dialogue, or any discernible characters.
  40. jowl
    a looseness of the flesh of the lower cheek and jaw
    I looked into this woman's face, her fuzzy jowls hanging like saddlebags...
Created on Wed Jul 17 20:07:26 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Aug 15 09:01:14 EDT 2019)

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