Another Gloria Steinem Spelling Test Study Guide

Here are more words to learn from "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions":

Deference - respectful submission or yielding to the judgement, opinion, will, etc of another

Indefatigable - incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue

Couching - to express indirectly or obscurely (Sentence in the book for which it's used, "For one thing, I can finally stop couching my suggestions in hesitancy and humor. That alone should save me a lot of time."

Pariah - an outcast. Any person or animal that is generally despised or avoided

Obstreperous - resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; noisy or boisterous

Frenetic - frenzied

Truism - a self-evident, obvious truth

Machinations - crafty schemes; plots; intrigues - To contrive a plot, especially artfully or with evil purpose

"Affirmative Action" - refers to policies that take factors including "race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education, and business", usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discrimination. (Wikipedia)

Superciliously - haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression


All of these words can be found in her chapter called "Campaigning". Within this chapter, she brings us on the journey of reporting on McGovern, McCarthy and Nixon. It's a wonderful insight into the 1968 and 1972 Presidential Elections and also an unjaded look at Nixon before Watergate. I've also come to the conclusion from how she presents McGovern, that he was a pretty stand-up guy.

Try and use one of these words in a sentence today or this week. I know I will be trying!

Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions

I am currently reading "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions" by Gloria Steinem. 

I think this book is described best by the review on the back cover from actor, Alan Alda, "Her book is like the women herself: Intelligent, concerned, articulate, precise, and never without a sense of humor or balance." Basically that sums up everything. Way to go Hawkeye Pierce!!

To say that I am an admirer of Gloria Steinem is an understatement, which I'm sure will one day be an entry. My point is to explain just how much I've learned from this book when it comes to words. I have never been one to write or underline the contents of a book I'm reading. I figure I won't remember the significance of the underline or I won't read it again so why mark up a perfectly good book. Well, I guess I'm growing because I have not only underlined and pointed out paragraphs and anecdotes that are simplistically moving and revealing, but I have also begun to circle words I do not know. Oh, but I don't stop there. I have also included the definition in the blank space on the page. It's one of the first times while reading a book that I don't just want to guess what the word means, or look it up only to forget it in 5 seconds, but to instead write it down so I will always have it, literally, at my fingertips. 

This is an entry devoted to words. Not mundane words. Not everyday words. Not bland words. But words with which we are unfamiliar, a relative statement if I've ever seen any. The words I know, recognize and use will be different from yours, as it should be. I bring this up because I love to read and I love to learn, both of which are happening at the same time, in full force, while reading this book by this amazing author/journalist/activist/feminist/former comedy writer.

----- Spelling Test Study Guide from Ms. Gloria Steinem -----

Itinerant: traveling from place to place

Bastion: upholding particular principles

Metier: occupation/activity a person is good at

Acerbic: sharp and forthright speech (I've been trying to use this in a sentence. Easier said wished than done.)

Subterfuge: deceit to achieve one's goal

Jettison: abandon or discard

Palliative: fixing a problem without addressing the cause

Empathy: understand feelings of another (I knew this but always need a reminder.)

Apathetic: feeling no interest or concern

Antithetical: directly opposed or contrasted; opposite

Quixotic: resembling or befitting Don Quixote - chivalrous

Appropriations: anything appropriated for a special purpose, especially money

Circumlocution: roundabout way of speaking - indirect (she uses this word to describe Nixon)

Bombast: speech too pompous for an occasion; pretentious

Condescension: voluntary assumption of equality with a person regarded as inferior

Obsequious: compliant, obedient, dutiful

Ideologue: a person who zealously advocates an ideology

Pragmatist: person oriented toward success or failure of a particular line of action; practical person

Manchurian Candidate: novel by Richard Condon about the son of a prominent U.S. political family who is brainwashed to be an unwitting assassin for a Communist conspiracy. (Wikipedia)

Burghers: inhabitant of a middle class town

Inexorably: not to be persuaded

That's it so far and I'm only on page 105 out of 410. I also love that, just from this list of words, you can tell it mostly has to do with politics or at least the political arena thus far. It may be just the perfect time for me to be reading this book with elections looming around the corner. :)

A big thank you goes out to Gloria Steinem for improving my vocabulary! *Oh, and improving my life as a woman!*