204
206
VERBAL ADVANTAGE
tion convivial means gathering together to eat, drink, and be merry. In modern
usage convivial may mean either "pertaining to a feast or festive occasion" or
"fond of eating, drinking, and good company." A convivial atmosphere is a
merry, festive atmosphere; a convivial person is a friendly, sociable person, especially someone who likes to socialize while eating and drinking.
VERBAL ADVANTAGE
is often both extraordinary and wonderful.
When you think of the word prodigious, consider this: William Shakespeare
composed twenty of his plays in only ten years, an output that can only be de-.,;
scribed as prodigious.
Word 49: IDIOSYNCRASY (ID-ee-oh-SING-kruh-see)
Word 47: ESCHEW (es-CHOO, like s plus the word chew)
A peculiarity, distinctive characteristic of a person or group, an identifying trait
or mannerism.
An idiosyncrasy, an eccentricity (EK-sen-TRIS-i-tee), and a quirk
(KWURK, rhymes with shirk) all designate behavior that is peculiar or distinctive.
Quirk is a mild term for any unusual trait, characteristic, or mannerism. ;:
Constant use of um,,like, and y'know is a quirk of adolescent speech. Old peo- :
pie often have quirks, odd preferences or strange ways of doing things.
An eccentricity is a habit or characteristic that seems strange or peculiar
because it differs from what is considered usual or normal. A friend of mine who
is also a writer prefers to spell his name without the customary period after the ;
Morally upright people eschew evil, teetotalers eschew alcohol, nonsmokers
middle initial. Of course, every time he publishes an article he winds up in a bat-1
tie withit.some copyeditor who insists on "correcting" this eccentricity.
eschew tobacco, and vegetarians eschew meat—which doesn't mean thf\e it but that they avoid eating
Our keyword, idiosyncrasy, comes from Greek and means literally "one's
own peculiar temperament, habit, or bent." In modern usage the word sugIn recent years some people have begun pronouncing eschew as 3
gests a distinctive characteristic or identifying trait that sets a person apart. An;:
SHOO, iike s plus shoe, so that in 1993 one dictionary, Merriam-Websh
idiosyncrasy may appear somewhat strange or odd, or it may simply mark •
Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition, recognized this mispronunciation al
someone or something as individual and different from others: a writer may '•
with the even more eccentric e-SKXOO (almost iike askew1). For a thorough
have certain stylistic idiosyncrasies; a wine connoisseur can tell you the idiocount of why you should eschew these variants, see the entry for esc/ie1
syncrasies of a particular vintage; and to a person from the Midwest, the
my Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations. In the meantime, rem'eifribef,1 •
speech of someone from New England is full of idiosyncrasies, peculiar or disthere is no shoe in eschew (and no skew either). Put a chew in it. ''${ ''y<tinctive characteristics.
You may recall that in the introduction to this level I noted tha^Mfe &q.
idiosyncrasy is the noun; the corresponding adjective is idiosyncratic (IDtwo bad habits you must eschew at all costs. First, don't invent you'r'own pidj'f
ee-oh-sin-KRAT-ik), peculiar, distinctive, odd.
nunciations, and second, don't blindly imitate the way other people propi
words. If you follow those two guidelines, you will have no tiouble
objectionable pronunciations and mastering the correct ones
To avoid, shun, abstain from; keep away from something harmful, wrong, or
distasteful.
Don't be misled by the sound and spelling of eschew; the word has nothing to do with the act of chewing—for which the fancy synonym, by the way, is
mastication (MAS-tj-KAY-shin). When you masticate your food, you chew il
thoroughly.
Eschew comes through Middle English from Old French and Old High
German words meaning to shun, avoid, or dread. According to the third edition
of The American Heritage Dictionary, eschew suggests avoiding or abstaining
from something "because to do otherwise would be unwise or morally wrong.1
Word 50: APPROBATION (AP-roh-BAY-shin)
Word 48: PRODIGIOUS (pmh-Dij-us)
'.-',' ':;[ ''''•'• "• '" :'•'•. ','•"•;
Enormous, huge, tremendous, immense; extraordinary in size, exfehtVp
degree.
>,' ' ' !Stf|fff
Synonyms of prodigious include mammoth, monumental^cojjsjj^S
gantuan, elephantine, herculean, and Brobdingnagian.
i? @t|fiff'
Approval, acceptance; especially, official approval or authorization.
Synonyms of approbation include commendation, endorsement, sanc-\ ratification, and acclamation (AK-luh-MAY-shin).
Antonyms include rejection, opposition, disapprobation, renunciation, re-'j:
pudiation, disavowal, and abjuration (AB-)uu-FUW-shiri).
The noun approbation comes from the Laton approbare, to approve,
dev'wafen means apprcwaV However, because ctf \\ \_aY\ derivation^