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Sycophantic – a characteristic of or relating to a sycophant (an informer, a talebearer, a parasite, one who seeks favor by flattering people of wealth or influence)
Not until the book was launched did he give an exclusive interview to She on TV4, once again scooping the state-run stations. But the questions were anything but sycophantic.
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Delphic – oracular; obscure in meaning; ambiguous
When she was asked why the previous year’s exposé of Wennerström had been such a fiasco, she was even more delphic. She never lied, but she may not always have told the whole truth.
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Vitriolic – extremely biting or caustic; sarcastic; sharp and bitter
“For me, it’s also important that you absolutely understand that I have nothing whatsoever to do with this vitriolic attack.”
Vanger to Blomkvist, in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Cogitation – the act of thinking; thought; meditation; contemplation
After six months of fruitless cogitation, the case of Harriet Vanger cracked open.
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Importunate – pressing or urging in request or demand; urgent and persistent in solicitation; refusing to be denied; annoyingly urgent or persistent; causing vexation; troublesome
Cecelia Vanger kept her distance. Blomkvist did not want to be importunate, so he waited a week before he went to her house.
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Gallimaufry – a hodgepodge; a jumbled assortment
Every family had a few skeletons in their cupboards, but the Vanger family had an entire gallimaufry of them.
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Kitsch – something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality; a tacky or lowbrow quality or condition (Merriam-Webster online dictionary)
“That’s where Eugene Norman lives. He’s in his late seventies and is a painter of sorts. I think his work is kitsch, but he’s rather well known as a landscape painter.”
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
When I realize that it is not God who is in my debt but I who am in His great debt, then doesn’t all become gift?
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
After trying all sorts of approaches to writing and failing miserably and therefore being miserable (a daily word goal of 1000 words; sitting at the desk for two hours morning and afternoon; writing a page of gibberish before writing “the novel”), I decided that my only obligation was to type one word per day. Just one. The beauty of this goal is two-fold. First, the requirement is so insignificant that it is not worthy of the procrastination monkey. Secondly, it is hard to fall short. All I have to do is open my laptop and type one word. It will take a minute, maybe two, and then I am permitted to close my laptop and watch Netflix. But it’s like telling someone who is avoiding exercise that all they are required to do is put on their runners and take one step out the door. Once your runners are on and the door is open, walking is easy. Similarly, once the laptop is open and you’ve typed that first word, the next two or three just tumble out and before you know it you’ve written 100 words, maybe 200 words, sometimes 300 words – at that point you are as good as Virginia Woolf and any more words would be an overachievement.
Pip Williams in an interview with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog and printed in the endnotes of The dictionary of Lost Words
A lifetime of sermons on “thanks in all things” and the shelves sagging with books on these things and I testify: life-changing gratitude does not fasten to a life unless nailed through with one very specific nail at a time.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
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