Jamie Fehr

Nepotism noun
The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, esp. by giving them jobs.

I knew of the existence of this word pretty much describing how things work in my hometown but I forgot exactly what it was. So last night when I was talking with some spanish people about exactly [...]

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Fortnight noun

A period of two weeks.

informal used after the name of a day to indicate that something will take place two weeks after that day.

I first learned this word in high school english when we were studying a Shakespeare and while we don’t use this word that often here in North America, the english will [...]

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Deputation noun

the act of appointing a person or persons to represent or act for another or others.
the person or body of persons so appointed or authorized.

In missions circles this word is also used to define the period of time after your appointment to service by a sending organization in which the necessary [...]

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Superfluous adj.

Unnecessary, especially through being more than enough: The purchaser should avoid asking for superfluous information.

I learned this word when I stumbled across the website superfluousbanter.org and I thought it was probably the most ingenious site name that I had ever come across. I don’t really follow the site that much but I really do [...]

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Gratuitous adj.

Uncalled for; lacking good reason; unwarranted: gratuitous violence.

I was working at CIAM Radio some weeks back and I was having a discussion with my coworkers about how I really hate the gratuitous use of Flash in a lot of websites and they just looked at me like I had been speaking Chinese.
I believe that [...]

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Opulent adj

Ostentatiously rich and luxurious or lavish: the opulent comfort of a limousine.

I learned this word from my educated spanish friend, Dani. We were walking around Stockholm one fine afternoon when he decided he wanted to practice his english and share with me a little about the royal palace in Stockholm. He told [...]

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Circumvent verb

Find a way around (an obstacle).

Overcome (a problem or difficulty), typically in a clever and surreptitious way: terrorists found the airport checks easy to circumvent.

archaic deceive; outwit: he’s circumvented her with some of his stories.

This word came out during the only five minutes of Arrested Development that I have watched and I thought it [...]

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Obsequious adjective

Obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree: they were served by obsequious waiters.

I learned this word while watching the episode of The Simpsons where Homer, in an effort to prevent Marge from finding out how bad his money management skills are, borrows money from his sisters-in-law. They then proceed to make [...]

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Ingratiate verb (ingratiate oneself)

Bring oneself into favor with someone by flattering or trying to please them: a social climber who had tried to ingratiate herself with the city gentry.

This word is just a more formal version of the expression “to suck up” or of the less popular phrase “brown-nosing.”I learned this word while riding in [...]

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