Me Talk Pretty One Day: List 5

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 "I Almost Saw This Girl Get Killed"–"I’ll Eat What He’s Wearing."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
35 words 39 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hardscrabble
    involving struggle, difficulties, or poverty
    The cows in question were lean, long-horned teenagers known as vachettes. Bullish in both appearance and temperament, they're the juvenile delinquents of the cow family, the hardscrabble cousins who sleep in trailers and fight like men.
  2. waive
    do without or cease to hold or adhere to
    The woman at the gate explained that should Hugh and I volunteer to participate, that is, to spend time with one of these angry young cows, our admission fees would be waived.
  3. intrinsic
    belonging to a thing by its very nature
    While others might find it stifling, I like the storybook quality intrinsic to village life.
  4. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    The young men scattered and ran for cover, occasionally darting from their protective barricades to give the ball another fleeting whack.
  5. mediocre
    moderate to inferior in quality
    In the not-too-distant future, whenever the conversation turned to the subject of fairs or amusement parks, I'd wait until my companions had finished their mediocre anecdotes and then, at just the right moment, almost as an afterthought, I'd say, "I once saw a girl fall to her death from one of those rides."
  6. anecdote
    short account of an incident
    In the not-too-distant future, whenever the conversation turned to the subject of fairs or amusement parks, I'd wait until my companions had finished their mediocre anecdotes and then, at just the right moment, almost as an afterthought, I'd say, "I once saw a girl fall to her death from one of those rides."
  7. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    The dead woman was nobody I knew personally, and this would free my audience from having to feel awkward or embarrassed for having broached the subject in the first place.
  8. disperse
    move away from each other
    The mob dispersed, and people headed off to other, equally dangerous rides where they were strapped into harnesses and jerked into the sky to tempt their own untimely deaths.
  9. untimely
    too soon; earlier than expected
    The mob dispersed, and people headed off to other, equally dangerous rides where they were strapped into harnesses and jerked into the sky to tempt their own untimely deaths.
  10. wane
    grow smaller
    I tried it both in French and in English but found my enthusiasm waned after the word almost.
  11. gusto
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    Something about the inner tubes seemed to disturb her deeply, and she attacked them with frightening gusto.
  12. pyrotechnic
    a device with an explosive with colored flames
    I've seen more elaborate pyrotechnics at the grand openings of grocery stores, but the audience was kind and everyone made an effort to pretend that the display was magnificent.
  13. wreak
    cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
    They would leave the following morning to wreak their havoc at some other backwater festival, where another set of figures would end their evening gathered before their perfect matchbox village, pointing to the sky and whispering, “Ohhh. Ahhh.”
  14. exploit
    use or manipulate to one's advantage
    Watching even the sorriest of sporting events bears no resemblance to coming upon an accident and hoping to exploit it for your own personal gain.
  15. corroborate
    support with evidence or authority or make more certain
    The theory was completely my own, corroborated by no one, but so what?
  16. philosophical
    relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge
    In high school I flirted with the idea that I might be a philosophical genius.
  17. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    I should have been tested then, before I squandered what little sense I had.
  18. perverse
    marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
    As a perverse and incredibly boring experiment, I am now trying to prove that I can get by...
  19. taper
    diminish gradually
    My trees grow at an advanced rate for anywhere from two to five years before tapering off to normal, and they are a wild success.
  20. peal
    a deep prolonged sound
    Their self-serving message will be met with great peals of laughter, as will the flood of books with titles such as Getting Over Getting Better and Remission Impossible: The Conflict of Identity in a Post-Cancer Society.
  21. remission
    an abatement in intensity or degree
    Their self-serving message will be met with great peals of laughter, as will the flood of books with titles such as Getting Over Getting Better and Remission Impossible: The Conflict of Identity in a Post-Cancer Society.
  22. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
    For reasons that confound medical science, the product also fails to affect those working in certain professions—the editors of fashion magazines, for example.
  23. perpetually
    without interruption
    When petitioned by these people to please, for the love of God, come up with something that can help them, I'll redesign that goofy plastic bird that perpetually lowers its head into a little cup of water.
  24. coronary
    of or relating to the heart
    The question is answered when hate notes and truck-loads of pansies are delivered to my training camp, the little sanctuary where I skip rope while listening to taped lectures on coronary collateralization and threadworm infection.
  25. hyperventilate
    breathe excessively hard and fast
    When out is used as a verb, I start to hyperventilate.
  26. upstart
    a person who has suddenly risen to a higher economic status
    I go with one of the young English upstarts and choose a slightly exaggerated, magnificently tailored suit that emphasizes my new, waspy figure.
  27. haughtiness
    overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner
    Accessorized with the right mix of confidence and haughtiness, it reduces my audience to a world of leering carpetbaggers and gasping Aunt Pittypats.
  28. leer
    look suggestively or obliquely
    Accessorized with the right mix of confidence and haughtiness, it reduces my audience to a world of leering carpetbaggers and gasping Aunt Pittypats.
  29. audacious
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    The moment I enter the courtroom it is understood that I am the most audacious and beautiful woman in the world.
  30. contempt
    disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body
    The judge holds me in contempt, and the fashion press notes that my suit jacket neither strained nor bunched when my hands were cuffed behind my back.
  31. inordinate
    beyond normal limits
    My name is now a code word...for someone who displays an inordinate amount of dignity, someone beautiful and mysterious and slightly dangerous.
  32. enigma
    something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
    I now have a reputation as both a dignified enigma and a genius, but I don't want people reading Lolita because I wrote it.
  33. modest
    humble in spirit or manner
    In imagining myself as modest, mysterious, and fiercely intelligent, I'm forced to realize that, in real life, I have none of these qualities.
  34. hale
    exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health
    It was, of course, too late for crisp, but he took the refrigerator drawer at its word, insisting it was capable of reviving the dead and returning them, hale and vibrant, to the prime of their lives.
  35. frugal
    avoiding waste
    Even at our most selfish, we could understand why someone might be frugal with six children to support.
Created on Wed Jul 17 21:49:00 EDT 2019 (updated Fri Aug 16 09:39:17 EDT 2019)

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