good morning all,
Cyn, things are the same here in NY. This weather is not cooperating! Last night we had a lovely thunderstorm. It poured and poured inches of blessed rain. Unfortunately my new roof LEAKS! I dumbfounded. I called the contractor and I'm patiently waiting his call.
I'm sure it will be fine, these things always work out sooner or later. ( I hope)
I'm totally stumped on this trivia question, In fact I don't know any of the words. But I'm guessing 5 goes with G.?
:) Laura

Oh dear, I haven't a clue to you are referring to but I think 4 is J and so far, guessing, 9 might be B. It's looks like it's going to be a great day for the garden so that's where I'll be heading shortly to pull weeds.

Annette

That is what I love/hate about some of these words. They are familiar, but I can't quite define them. Annette you are 2 for 2. Yay for you. Laura, you are oh-so-close. Try choosing the other word!

Yes, we had huge storms last night as well. It was so nice going to sleep to the sound of pouring rain. Of course, the pups heard or smelled something outside around 3 am and jumped on the bed to get me up-up and down, up and down. The Jr. member of the tag team is spending the weekend because the kids are away to a wedding, so I slept downstairs where the room is carpeted and the bed lower. Makes the jumping quieter. ;) Anyway, once I got up and closed the windows around 4 am, they settled down-until 6:15! :(

The erudite gentleman of whom I spoke was once on the Phil Donohue Show. Now, Phil was pretty good at getting the best of some of his guests who were of a different political persuasion than he. When this fellow was on the show, Donahue asked a question which the guest answered. Donahue jumped all over him for not answering the question, to which this man replied, "I answered the question you asked, not the one you meant to ask" -that is a paraphrase from memory. Never saw Phil at a loss for words before or since that. I loved it. Even though my political bent is quite the opposite of his, I admired this man who has been called "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century..." Not sure a national review of writings and speeches, and television shows would come up with a consensus on that, but I rather agree with it. I think he himself certainly did! ;)

Cynthia

Well, yesterday was a positive peach here!! Today is another story - it iced!! No kidding, not snow, not rain, not slush, little pellets of ice. I imagine hail to be much more dramatic.

So, we have heard this man speak, and he is not of a 'democrat'-ic persuasion......hmmmm, indeed. I do like those words, and will play with them some, coming back hopefully for a clue or two!

Nancy.

Forgot to say - that is horrible, your new roof leaking! Maybe we should send our Mike Holmes down to 'make it right'!! Good luck with the contractor.

Nancy.

Laura, I meant to say I am sorry about your roof leak, too. That is such a pain. Mike Holmes would be great! I could use him around here, Nancy!

Although born in New York City, I think of him as more of a Connecticut man.

I am thinking of running to the library to look for a couple of spy novels. I usually prefer murder mysteries, but a well-written spy novel is fun, too. Cloak and dagger, penumbral happenings, skull and bones...nothing like being right on the Firing Line!

Cynthia

thanks for you comments about my roof. lol I'm sure it's just something simple to fix. and my contractor is a nice guy and lives by his word. I'm not worried, just shocked.

Is this author still alive? I imagine he is also in the field of politics?
need many more clues
:) Laura

I'm on west coast time this week, so I'm joining later than usual. We are reportedly having snow today back home, but ha, ha, I'm not there. Here in Seattle it is 53 F with peeks of sun.

Sorry for your roof and cold weather frustrations, Laura and Cynthia, respectively. Unfun!

The man's name that has popped into my mind reminds me a lot of a charitable organization that has thrift stores all over the country, but not the S.A.

I'll take a shot at the vocab quiz. Some I know. Some are guesses.

1. hemidemisemiquaver --- d
2. limn --- f
3. penumbral --- h
4. williwaw --- j
5. Solecism --- g
6. Solipsism --- c
7. eristic --- b
8. diapasonal --- i
9. anfractuous --- e

10. Brobdingnagian --- a

TM

I'm still in the mist - I think I am taking too many pain killers, and suspect they are not good for my memory.

Nancy.

He is not still alive. He died in 2008, about a year after his wife. I really think he didn't want to live without her. He was not a politician, but he certainly was influential in that arena.In the book, The Manchurian Candidate, the author referred to him as "...that fascinating young man who wrote about man and God at Yale."

In 1964, I was part of a debate team in my junior high school during the election campaign. Interesting, but we weren't televised.

Like him, I have one son. Unlike him, I would never write in support of Joseph McCarthy.

Nancy, hang in there. I am so sorry you are having such a rotten time.

TM, well, you certainly wasted no time once you arrived here today! Like Laura, though, you swtiched the two that sound so similar. You were right on 1-4, 8, and 10. Nice going. Lest you exult (to be extremely joyful, often with an outward display of triumph or exuberant self-satisfaction-his definition-:) ) too much, I must say I am not sure of your identification of this man. My favorite photos of him are those when he was out on the sea sailing. I suspect he would have been a grand neighbor as long as we stayed away from politics. He was certainly the poster boy for the Conservative ideal.He was also old-style in that he could disagree vehemently with someone and still be good friends as he was with George McGovern and Allan Lowenstein, both of whom he invited frequently to his show on PBS.

Laura, I bet you are too young to have known about him since the height of his fame was in the mid-50s to the 80s, I guess.

Cynthia

Hmmm. 6 out of 10. Sounds like a D- to me.

I was thinking of George Will, but after reading your latest hints, I'm thinking of WFB, whom I heard once on TV tell Gore Vidal that if Vidal kept on saying whatever it was at the time, that he, WFB, would punch him in the G@#D!@#& face. It must have been a live show. As I remember, Vidal shut up and went unpunched.

I have one of WFB's books where he tells some of his family's sailing tales.

TM

This post was edited by thinman on Sat, Apr 20, 13 at 19:19

Yes, that is exactly the sort of story that made me like him so much. Very funny.There are not too many people who could carry that off.

We saw George Will once at an ice cream shop in Bethesda. What I remember is how pock-marked his face was. Awful. Poor guy. I am not a fan of his-he just seems to always act as though he thinks he is better than everyone else and as if he spends all day sucking lemons. We play a game that I may have mentioned here before. We have our imaginary neighborhood where we get to choose who can live in it. My guy is one. George Will would not be allowed. Requirements are that you have a good sense of humor, be fun and not take life or yourself too seriously (unless of course the moment requires that), be at least somewhat intelligent, and be kind. That's it. I think fun and with a good sense of humor are the most important requirements. Vidal would not have made it in either.

Now that would be a fun question. Who would you choose to inhabit your neighborhood? :)

Cynthia

Oh, and didn't Mailer actually haul off and hit Gore Vidal on tv once? I seem to recall that. Much more powerful to use words to shut someone up, I think. Mailer-Too violent for our neighborhood. heehee

I have been gone all day but knew this man's identity at once, WFB. My vocabulary is not as extensive. Though I read a lot I must not read the right books. The only one that I know for sure is Solipsism, how apropos.

Even his initials didn't help me - lol.

Nancy.

**** for TM and Bobbie

The gentleman in question is William F. Buckley. He founded The National Review, wrote spy novels featuring Blackford Oakes as his protagonist, and hosted the show Firing Line from 1966 to 1999-bet he chose that year to end it just because of the number as related to 1966!

He served as delegate to the U.N. in 1973, and was on the board of Amnesty International from the late 1960s until 1978 when he resigned over their stand against capital punishment.

Buckley became close friends with liberal Democratic activist Allard K. Lowenstein. Buckley featured Lowenstein on many Firing Line shows, publicly endorsed his candidacies for U.S. Congress, and delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also friends with economist John Kenneth Galbraith and former senator and presidential candidate George McGovern. He often featured or debated both of them on Firing Line and at college campuses.

He went to Yale and was a member of the Skull and Crossbones club-very secretive group. He formed the Young Americans for Freedom group and helped his brother get elected to the Senate in NY. I am happy to say he served only one term and was defeated by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1976 (he is one of my favorites-we used to see him sometimes when we went to brunch in DC at his local Sunday morning hangout-I always wanted to speak to him, but it seemed intrusive, so I never did).

As TM hinted, he loved sailing. He also loved his wife Pat, and loved intellectual sparring. Like Bobbie, I don't read the books he devoured and I am afraid I never will, but I did love to listen to him speak and read/watch as he calming skewered someone in print or in person. I am in awe of great thinkers, even those who have a dark side in their views (IMHO-ha).

Oh, and just for fun, here are the words and Buckley's meanings in his book The Lexicon:
1. Hemidemisemiquaver: a sixty-fourth note; i.e., thoughts or frustrations lasting for only passing seconds.
2. Limn: to become visible, traceable, detectable as to features or form
3. Penumbral: shadowy; done under the cover of darkness; concealed
4. Sacerdotal: of or relating to priests or priesthood
5. Solecism: a breach of the formal rules, usually of syntax
6. Solipsism: the idea that, actually, only you exist
7. eristic: finely argumentative
8. Diapasonal: a musical term which suggests fully orchestrated; full; harmonious
9. Anfractuous: full of twists and turns; winding; tortuous

10. Brobdingnagian: huge(from Swift's Gulliver's Travels)

Have a wonderful day all. Thanks for playing. I have already taken three extra strength aspirin to combat the stiffness from weeding yesterday. Need to take a few more before I start today! ;) Ain't getting old wonderful? I need to start doing Yoga.

Cynthia

Thanks for the stars and the fun, Cynthia. Regarding getting old, my new mantra is something I read recently: Getting old is a privilege not granted to everyone. Does it help? Maybe a little.

Cheers.

TM

My goodness! Are you all college professors?
I'm in awe. These games are fun :)
I have to admit, I don't stand a chance on some of the questions But reading all your posts is amazing.
:) Laura

Laura, you are too nice! I think our trivia is fun, too. TM used to be in charge and he was REALLY good at giving clues rather than just hints-you know, where you have to pick up on a word or phrase and make a connection. I try to do that and sometimes I am successful, but more often, I am not. I always learn something! Of course, I ofetn forget what I've learned way too quickly. *sigh*

TM, Ha-yes, of course that helps! I actually don't mean to complain about it. I do love being the age I am; I just wish I I still had those well-oiled joints of youth. ;)

Cynthia

Thanks for the stars and question, Cynthia. I read Buckley's commentary column in our paper. He was well known for his Brodingnagian vocabulary.

Hehheheheh, Bobbie-love it!