ten·e·brous (t
n
-br
s) also te·neb·ri·ous (t
-n
b
r
-
s)
adj.
Dark and gloomy.
An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of the wind absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and light like a child’s cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, while the whole atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past her, roaring away from the tenebrous earth.
Typhoon, Joseph Conrad
Parthenogenesis (from the Greek παρθένος parthenos, “virgin”, + γένεσις genesis, “creation”) is an asexual form of reproduction found in females where growth and development of embryos occurs without fertilization by a male.
Athene, the Athenians City-goddess, was the parthenogenous daughter of the immortal Metis, Titaness of the fourth day and all the planet Mercury, who presided over all wisdom and knowledge.
The Greek Myths, Robert Graves.
recognition or discovery, as of a disguised character, one thought to be lost, or a critical fact.
Pantechnicon has become the generic name for vehicles specially designed and constructed to transport furniture, except where “moving van” is usual. This is derived from a building of that name in Motcombe Street, Belgravia, London. The Seth Smith brothers, originally from Wiltshire, were builders in the early 19th century and constructed much of the new housing in Belgravia, then a country area. Their clients required storage facilities and this was built with a Greek style Doric column façade, and called Pantechnicon, Greek for “pertaining to all the arts or crafts”. Subsequently special wagons were designed with sloping ramps to more easily load furniture with the building name on the side.
pet·ti·fog·ger n.
1. A petty, quibbling, unscrupulous lawyer.
2. One who quibbles over trivia.
“Juridicial pettifoggery got mixed into it, and on the basis of this pettifoggery we are threatened with being chucked off the premesis!”
The Idiot
Autocthonous
ADJECTIVE:
1. Originating where found; indigenous: autochthonous rocks; an autochthonous people; autochthonous folktales. See Synonyms at native.
2. Biology Originating or formed in the place where found: an autochthonous blood clot.
Amaranth
1. Any of various annuals of the genus Amaranthus having dense green or reddish clusters of tiny flowers and including several weeds, ornamentals, and food plants. Also called pigweed.
2. An imaginary flower that never fades.
3. A deep reddish purple to dark or grayish, purplish red.
4. A dark red to purple azo dye.
The bizarre débris of some recent picture, a decayed street scene in India, a great cardboard whale, a monstrous tree bearing cherries large as basketballs, blooming there by exotic dispensation, autocthonous as the pale amaranth, mimosa, cork oak or dwarf pine.
- Tender is The Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
‘Pataphysics (French: ‘Pataphysique), a term coined by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873 – 1907), is a philosophy dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. It is a parody of the theory and methods of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language.
I seldom agree with Baudrillard, not least because I am never too certain how seriously (given his anti-academic stance and avowed debt to pataphysics) to take him.
