Vocabulary

Entertainment / Literature / Vocabulary: The stock of available words in (1) a given language or (2) a given speaker of that language.
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Clown

Entertainment / Literature / Clown: (1) A fool or rural bumpkin in Shakespearean vocabulary. Examples of this type of clown include Lance, Bottom, Dogberry, and other Shakespearean characters. (2) A professional jester who performs pran MORE

Haiku

Entertainment / Literature / Haiku: (pluralhaiku, from archaic Japanese): The term haiku is a fairly late addition to Japanese poetry. The poet Shiki coined the term in the nineteenth century from a longer, more traditional phrase, haik MORE

Rephaim

Entertainment / Literature / Rephaim: The Oxford Companion to the Bible goes into some detail on this term, and I summarize the material from Ackerman's article in this vocabulary entry. Several biblical texts, including Isaiah 26:14 and MORE

Imagism

Entertainment / Literature / Imagism: An early twentieth-century artistic movement in the United States and Britain. Imagists believed poets should use common, everyday vocabulary, experiment with new rhythm, and use clear, precise, conce MORE

Flyting

Entertainment / Literature / Flyting: A contest of wits and insults between two Germanic warriors. Each tries to demonstrate his superior vocabulary, cleverness, and bravery. The verbal rivalry between Unferth and Beowulf in Beowulf is on MORE

Renku

Entertainment / Literature / Renku: An earthier, humorous variant on the courtly renga introduced by Iio Sogi, Yamazzaki Sokan, and Nishiyama Soin. While the form of the renku are identical to the renga, the subject-matter, tone, and vo MORE