Torrid--9:1

Where I Found It

My boyfriend was reading an article on ESPN.com about Arian Foster, a football player for the Houstan Texans and came across the sentence "Foster was torrid before sustaining the injury in week 7." My boyfriend then asked me what it meant, because he thought that word meant something negative, like "terrible", but that didn't make sense to him based on Foster's playing, so he asked me, and that is how I encountered it.

Level of Familiarity

I know I have heard this word, and I thought I knew the meaning, so when he asked me what it meant, I answered confidently, "it means clouded or obscure." He said it couldn't that that didn't make any sense based on the context, so he told me the context and then he looked it up.

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines torrid as: subject to parching or burning heat, especially of the sun

Reflective Commentary

After looking up the defintion, we could clearly see what the sports analyst was trying to say, that Foster was "on fire." However, every defintion we saw related mostly to weather and climate, so we concluded that this was not the best word to describe a person. Also, I tried to find the word I had torrid confused with (clouded, obscure) and it was turbid :) Torrid is a nice word to know, and I can definitley use it while reading A Long Walk to Water to describe the setting, the Akobo desert connecting Sudan and Ethiopia.

Specious--8:2

Where I Found It

I went online to find a word I did not know, and came across "specious." It was listed under 100 words every college student should know, but I did not know it! I searched it in context and an excerpt from Lord of the Flies came up. It said "Ralph had been deceived now by the specious appearance in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed"


Level of Familiarity

I do not believe I have heard this word before, although I have read Lord of the Flies twice, so I must ahve come across it. It sounds like spacious, so that's immediately what I think of when I see this word. Judging by the context up above, I would say ugly, or lacking in something amazing.

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines specious as: apparently good or right though lacking in merit; pleasing to the eye but deceptive.

Reflective Commentary

I can actually see myself using this word, both in writing and speaking. I am surprised that I cannot recall ever hearing it, but know I must have at least came across it, I just wasn't practicing "word awareness" back then I guess. I am really hoping I see this word more often now, I hope it is used widely enough where I will encounter it.

Ubiquitous--8:1

Where I Found It

I came across the word while doing research for my genre expert share project for LTED 618. I was browsing through a favorite book of mine, Judith Ortiz Cofer's Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican when I saw the word ubiquitous. The sentence read: "the thick sweetness of women's perfume mixing with the ever present smells of food cooking in the kitchen: meat and plantain pasteles, the ubiquitous rice dish made special with pigeon peas--gandules--and seasoned with the precious sofrito."

Level of Familiarity

Seeing as I read this book before, I have 100% encountered this word before. I also came across it recently in reading for class, I believe in Hicks (2012) for LTED 618. I don't really know what it means, even though once I brought it up in our class (625) and Dr. Hopkins provided a definition for it, I do not remember it. Based on the above context, I think the word means "special" or "a staple" like a necessity.

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines the word as:
 /yuˈbɪkwɪtəs/ Show Spelled 

existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time; omnipresent.

 

Reflective Commentary

 

 

I was way off with the "special" definition, but a little closer with the "staple." I thought it could mean that because of how popular rice is in Puerto Rican cooking.The word itself sounds unique and special though, so I find it odd that for something that can be found everywhere can be called something so unique sounding. Hopefully this will help me remember the word once and for all.

Fracking--7:2

Where I Found it

I have seen this word on countless signs littering lawns all over the place. Signs that say: Say no to Fracking or something along those lines. Last night while watching tv, a commercial came on advocating for some politician, and there the word was again! I have no idea what this word means.

Level of Familiarity

I have seen this word as mentioned above many times, never is it used with any decsription, so I do not know what it means. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the environment, but thats about all I got.

What it Means

Google gives me the defintion: Another term for hydraulic fracturing

That is not good enough for me, since I do not know what "hydraulic fracturing" means.

Wikipedia says that hydraulic fracturing is the fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid.

I guess this is bad...ground water can be contaminated, there are risks to air pollution involved, and risk for noise pollution (whatever that is).

Reflective Commentary

So, I am coming away with still a very tenuous grasp on this "fracking" term, and am wondering why, with all the other problems we have, why people have these "No Fracking" signs, when it really does not seem altogether so horrible, BUT, I am sure I do not understand this very much.

Rife--7.1

Where I Found it

I didn't necessarily come across or find this word, it found me. Whil I was writing my annotated bibliography, I was writing about how a student came from a neighborhood that was rife with poverty and crime. Once I had that written, I realized I was not sure if I used the word correctly because I was not sure what it meant, but it sounded right, and it came to me naturally.

Level of Familiarity

I am not sure where I heard or encountered this word before, but since I was able to use it correctly, and it just popped into my heda as being a good fit, then I am sure I have encountered it multiple times. I thought it meant "full of".

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines Rife as:
1. of common or frequent occurrence; prevalent; in widespread existence, activity, or use

2. current in speech or report: Rumors are rife that the government is in financial difficulty. 

3. abundant, plentiful, or numerous.

4. abounding (usually followed by with )

 

Reflective Commentary

 

I chose this word because I thought it was interesting how the word came to me yet I didn't really know I knew it. Like, it sounded right, and I was pretty sure it made sense, but...I didn't really now the word. This just demonstrates the complexity of word awareness and knowledge!

Egregious--6:2

Where I Found It

Wedndesday night while looking for a non-fiction article for my students on "kellygallagher.org." I was reading his most recent article, determing if my students would need it "edited" so it was readable for them, when I came across it. The sentence was:

Never use many, always use myriad or plethora. Never say bad, always use egregious.”

 


Level of Familiarity

I am very confident I have heard this word before, just not sure where. I even can picture it being said, I am thinking it was used in a movie or tv show I recently watched. Maybe even the news. I knew the word had something to do with negativity. Before I read it in the context above I had thought it meant going to extreme lengths to get away with something or making a preposterous claim.

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines this word as: extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant. Or as : gross, outrageous , notorious, shocking

Reflective Commentary

Turns out I was more right than wrong (I think). The word does have an aspect dealing with something preposterous. Both of my previously held defintions involved "going beyond" the ordinary, and that is the case with the word. So, I get where Gallagher's idea for using bad and egregious synonymously came from, he was trying to argue a point about the SAT's, but if we were in Jonas's community from The Giver and we tried to use egregious as  a synonym for bad, we would get lectured on precision of language. I may use this word, I feel pretty comforatble with it, and like how it sounds :)

Renege--6.1

Where I Found It

While reading an article "Monogamy is Not the Problem" on the Huffington Post on my boyfriend's I-phone. The article was broken down into five sub-heading that were to explain why cheating cannot be blamed on monogamy being unnatural. The quote said: "to "cheat" you need an agreement to renege on, namely monogamy."

Level of Familiarity

When I first read it, I thought to myself, isn't this a slang term? I had never seen this word, but I thought I had heard it, and I thought it was spelled differently, and I thought it was slang. So, then I thought, maybe I had the wrong word, and this meant something different than what I had first thought of.

What I immediatley thought was that the word was spelled "renig" and it was slang to say someone who gives, then takes back. I also thought it had some type of racist dimension.

 I  highlighted the word and hit "define," at first it said could not find the word, so I hit "search the web. I am not sure where that brought me but it gave me a definition.

What it Means

The first definition that was given to me on the I-phone said something along the lines of breaking a contract. I was lying in bed while I found it, and did not write it down, but told my boyfriend to write the word down so I could use it for my blog. Now, as I write this, I am using dictionary.com and that says renege means:
1. Cards.  to play a card that is not of the suit led when one can follow suit; break a rule of play.

2. to go back on one's word: He has reneged on his promise.

 

Reflective Commentary

 

As soon as I said this word to my boyfriend he brought the game uchre. I do not know how to play, and I am made fun of often for this. He said he knew what the owrd menat because of uchre and explained his version to me. I told him what I had found, that it meant breaking a contract, and that I had always thought this was slang.

 

I was amazed to find this is a real world and not spelled how I thought. I wonder where I first heard it to lead me to think what I had thought. It does have a negative connotation regardless.

 

As for where I found the word, I thought it was quite easy to grasp what the word meant based on the context: break, go back on...

 

I still do not see myslef using this word, not yet anyways, I still have to get away from the fact that I thought it was racist and slang...

Tortious--5:2

When and Where

I found this word while reading an article on CNN.com about Alex Rodriguez and how he is suing MLB. It said "that MLB and Selig "engaged in tortious and egregious conduct with one and only one goal ... to destroy the reputation and career of Alex Rodriguez.""

Level of Familarity

I do not believe I have ever heard this word before, though I may have come across it in reading. My first thought was that it had something to do with torture. I thought that seemed a little extreme or exaggerated to claim however.

What it Means

Dictionary.com defines it as of the nature of or pertaining to a tort. This threw me, I had no idea what a "tort" was, although I quickly thought of the word retort.
 Tort is defined as: a wrongful act that results in injury to another's person, property, reputation, or the like, and for which the injured party is entitled to compensation

Reflective Commentary

I originally looked up egregious, but figured I didn't know tortious either, so I looked that up too. I went with tortious because I though the word to be more interesting and applied to the article well. Rodriguez felt what Selig and the MLB was doing to him was wrongful and meant to destroy his reputation. I also liked how it brought me to "tort" and its connection to torture and retort. I am not sure if retort has a real connection to tort, but retort does have a negative connotation, as in retaliate...

Perfunctory--5:1

When and Where

During a staff meeting last week my assistant principal used this word while speaking to us about our responsibilties. He said something like "these are not perfunctory duties." A little later as one of the counselors was speaking, she also used the word.

Level of Familiarity

I have heard this word before, but not sure where. The way my assistant principal used it, I gathered that it meant extra or superfluous.

What it Means
 

Dictionary.com defines this word as: performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial.

Or: lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent or apathetic.

 

Reflective Commentary

 

This is a word I feel I could have easily learned if encountered while reading. The fact that it was used in a staff meeting made it seem like I should definitely know what it meant, but I was also left wondering how many other staff members did not know the meaning. I do not see myself using this word while speaking, but definitely in writing. I feel it is a good adjective to know,