Okay… today’s lesson is vocabulary. You give me the word (stop talking to her), the part of speech (please sit down), the synonym (spit out that gum), and the sentence (eyes front). I will help by giving (did I say sit down?) examples:
incipient: adj. new or beginning (nascent)
Yes, nascent is a real word…do you need an example for incipient? OKay–my baby girl’s incipient language still tells us what her personality is like. It’s true–when I get to the babysitters, she grabs my hand and says, “Mama…lesss goooooo….” Yup. Incipient. It means beginning. Next word.
commiserate: v. to show sorrow or support for (empathize)
An example, you say? Okay–my older children, ages 14 and 12 are going to get home from school today and tell me about how hard their teachers are, and how they have no friends, and I’m going to ‘commiserate’–I’m going to tell them how much I sympathize.
Do we have time for a few more? We might if you all stop talking, yes we might! The next word is ‘narrative’.
narrative: n. a story, real of fictional, told in more or less chronological order.
So this example is the Cave Troll’s. This weekend he went down a water slide into a pool of water that was more like a puddle, and when he came up he slipped. I hauled him out, but he was really scared, and this morning he told me a narrative of it. He said, “I went down the slide…but I fell. And the water got in my eyes. And you pulled me out. And it was skeeeeerrrry.” And I thought it was a pretty good ‘narrative’ for such a little guy.
okay… one more word. The word is ‘thwart’.
Thwart: verb to hinder or stop (foil)
An example of thwart would be when my baby tries to use the lap top and the whole family jumps in to ‘thwart’ her. Or when my older kids try to get five minutes alone, and the little ones run into their rooms to be with their favorite people and ‘thwart’ their attempt for alone time. Or when I’m trying gamely to lead you guys into a productive adult hood, and you think I’m hard on you because I don’t like kids, and you try to ‘thwart’ me. Or when I’m dying to finish writing my book, and all these responsibilities of adulthood are here to ‘thwart’ my dreams or…Oh. I guess you’re right. That should be good for examples for ‘thwart’. What’s our next word?
Anyone?
The word is persevere; v, to keep going in the face of adversity. You need an example? Mother with several children who teaches and writesand does all the other motherly things that need doing, perseveres in finishing her knitting and updating her blog.
Inspirational? Admirable? Funny or witty?
The word is triumphant: adjective, having overcome or triumphed over adversity. Sentence:” Amy was triumphant over her starting-the-school-year blues.
Keep it up dear girl, and watch out for the possums and the assholes!
Apathy; n, Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
The school administrator’s constant bitching and apathy about Amy’s hard work makes her not want to continue coming in.
When people ask for team names I love to say, I’m on Team Apathy. Most of the time it really fits.