A long lock of hair left on the top of the shaven head by certain Native American men.
Tag Archives: Kurt Vonnegut
pablum
A cereal brand for infants made from wheat, oat and cornmeal; a diet that does not require chewing.
And thus: Anything overly bland or simplistic, especially speech or writing.
If there had been a lesson in the execution for Unk’s squadmates, they were finding the lesson as digestible as Pablum.
Definition from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English (via Wordnik)
infundibulum
In anatomy, a funnel-shaped organ or part.
Infundibulum (in-fun-dib-u-lum) is what the ancient Romans like Julius Caesar and Nero called a funnel.
Definition from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (via Wordnik)
eightball
A chronically unfortunate and ineffective person; loser.
Stony laughs all the time. He heard what an eightball you were, Unk, so he came over to your barrack to have a look at you. He pretended he was a friend of yours, so he could hear you talk.
Definition from Dictionary.com
mirabile dictu
[LATIN, INTERJECTION] Wonderful to relate.
Will the little trains or will Winston Niles Rumfoord chuffa-chuffa-chuffa into view again? Oh, mirabile dictu! … they will!”
Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition (via Wordnik)
rococo
rebus
A representation of words in the form of pictures or symbols, often presented as a puzzle.
There was a rebus of her name on her sweatshirt.
The “her” in this sentence is Bee, so I guess it’s a pretty simple rebus.
Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition (via Wordnik); image from literaryterms.net
vandyke
A style of facial hair which has both a mustache and goatee but with all cheek hair shaven.
flews
The pendulous flaps of skin hanging from the side of the lips of certain dogs, especially hounds.
puttees
Strips of cloth wound round the leg, worn for protection or support by hikers, soldiers etc.
metonymic / autodidactic 