Tuesday, March 10, 2026

WORD MAN: SELF-IMMOLATION

I knew that the act of SELF-IMMOLATION was bad; then I looked it up.

Self-immolation is the deliberate act of setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest, sacrifice, or religious devotion.

Yep, that's bad.

✍️✍️✍️


ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

Sunday, March 8, 2026

WORD MAN: SOPOR

I'm reading a John D. MacDonald book called The Turquoise Lament, and lead character Travis McGee just used the word sopor. It was unfamiliar, so I looked it up. 

Sopor is an abnormally deep sleep; a stupor.

It resembles soporific (tending to induce drowsiness or sleep: "the motion of the train had a somewhat soporific effect"; sleepy or drowsy: "some medicine made her soporific.")

I'd say they go together.

McGee just used the word saturnine to describe a doctor. Similar words: gloomy, somber, melancholy, moody, dour, glum.

MacDonald has used geodetic at least three times so far. Meaning: relating to geodesy, especially as applied to land surveying.

I've seen ferroconcrete mentioned twice so far; ferro indicates iron. From the online dictionary, ferroconcrete is concrete reinforced with steel: "a ferroconcrete storage tank."

✍️✍️✍️


ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)