Word Tripping

In one of my Words With Friends games I have gone, so far, four fucking rounds without even one damn vowel! The first time this happened, I swapped out letters. What'd I get back? ALL consonants! Seeing as the letter gods are clearly against me, I'm now just playing what I've got. *sigh*

I don’t believe I’m gonna win this game.

In general, I've been tripping over words lately.

Obtuse
[uh b-toos, -tyoos]
adjective
1. not quick or alert in perception, feeling, or intellect; not sensitive or observant; dull.
2. not sharp, acute, or pointed; blunt in form.

I always think and use this word in the not perceptively alert sense (unless, of course, we're talkin' angle action). Specifically, failing to understand how words and/or actions might effect others.

At times, I'm pretty damned obtuse. As much as I always try to walk a mile in another’s shoes, sometimes I open my yap before taking that virtual walk. We all do. Yes, I know that. I’m much better than I used to be. I hope.

I didn't know that obtuse could also mean bonebrained.

And then there’s the profoundly, terminally obtuse woman who hit and then threw coffee on some dude whose most heinous crime seems to be…em…praying and playing volleyball in a Northern California park. This is, by the by, a park known for people engaging in prayer-type activities.

Rasheed Albeshari, 31, and his friends were playing volleyball and praying at the park — a Sunday ritual for the three friends.

Slader approached them and began "talking ... trash," mostly about religion, Albeshari said. That's when Albeshari said he decided to take out his cellphone and record the encounter with Slader. He later posted the video on Facebook.

Slader was recorded saying, "The people you tortured are going to be in eternity and heaven. You are very deceived by Satan. Your mind has been taken over, brainwashed and you have nothing but hate.”

The Subsiding Waters—Thomas Cole

OK, OK—this woman isn’t a great example of obtuse, (sorry) she’s flat out batshit. Also, just in case you’re wondering, this is NOT the most effective way to convert someone from Islam to Republican/Tea-Baggian Christianism.

Antediluvian
[an-tee-di-loo-vee-uh n]
adjective
1. of or belonging to the period before the Flood. Gen. 7, 8.
2. very old, old-fashioned, or out of date; antiquated; primitive:
antediluvian ideas.

I woke from some murder mystery-esque dream with this word pulsing in my head. The word antediluvian was the conundrum solving key.

Maybe the important word wasn’t antediluvian but, instead, antebellum. I always get these two confused for some reason. Probably because they both start with ante and don’t mean what they sound like AT ALL. To me anyway.

Antediluvian sounds like it ought to be something about bad smells (I’m thinking effluvium) or being delusional or maybe being smelly while clueless.

Antebellum sounds like a digestive problem. As in “Ooo, can you hand me the Pepto. I’ve got a vicious case of antebellum.” That’s not what it means at all though.

Antebellum
[an-tee-bel-uh m]
adjective
1. before or existing before a war, especially the American Civil War; prewar:
the antebellum plantations of Georgia.

Not being a Southerner (gee, duh, RILLY!) I don’t know how this word is considered there. Me?  Nita Northerner? It comes off as a smug and wistful lexeme describing a heavily romanticized (by some) time of genteel lady folk drinking sweet tea while gently fanning themselves on the veranda. A time of impossible wealth for white folk, made possible by slaves. You know, that embarrassing part of American history when it was perfectly legal to own another human being.

There’s some band named Lady Antebellum. ‘natch, it’s country music. Being deaf and all, I’ve no idea how they sound. Are they big with the Confederate flag waving, KKK types? Maybe I’m being obtuse here (been known to happen). What’s this band about?