Interesting, Esoteric and Notable Words of the Slate Podcast Literati

by Stephan Kinsella on July 10, 2009

I confess: I am an avid listener of various Slate magazine podcasts, mainly the Slate Political Gabfest, Slate’s Culture Gabfest, and Slate’s Spoiler Specials. The hosts often use words that I find notable or interesting. I formerly called this feature “Pretentious Terms of the Slate Podcast Literati.” But after debate and reflection, I am changing it to the more ungainly and accurate, but less insulting and offensive, “Interesting and Notable Words and Phrases.” These are words and turns of phrase I find interesting, or delicious, or perhaps a bit too fancy or strained or, yes, in some cases, maybe pretentious, or even misused. But usually just interesting and notable. (Or as Metcalf called them on a recent episode, “SAT words.”)

[See also my list of Annoying & Pretentious Terms; and Frequently Mispronounced Fancy Words]

alternadad [SM, CG05-19-10]
anodyne [EB, PG7-17-09; DP, PG10-30-09; JT, CG11-17-09; DP, PG01-07-11]
annus horribilis [CG#40]
antipatica [JuneT, CG10-19-11]
arrogate [PG10-9-09]
arrivistes [SM, CG11-4-09]
“at university” [JT, CG04-21-10]
au courant [JT, CG03-31-10]
august (adj.) [JT, CG04-28-10; DS, CG10-19-11]
auteur [JuneT, CG10-19-11]
avant la lettre [SM, CG0-12-10]
avidity [DS, CG04-14-10]
baleful [SM, CG04-21-10]
banal [PG8-27-09]
biopic [JT, CG10-05-11]
bookend [PG10-30-09]
bourgeois [JuneT, CG10-19-11]
bowdlerized [JT, CG06-16-10]
callipygian [CG04-28-10]
carapace (SM, CG11-17-09)
chanteuse [CG#40]
congeries [SM, CG10-19-11]
contrapuntal [JT, CG11-10-09]
cowl [SM, CG04-21-10; SM, CG05-19-10]
curated [DS, CG05-05-10]
déclassé [SM, CG11-4-09]
denatured [DS, CG01-20-10]
desuetude [SM, CG03-30-11] (mispronounced)
detritus [DS, CG05-19-10]
diacritic [DS, CG10-05-11]
dint [DS, CG05-19-10]
efficacity [DS, CG01-27-10]
elegiac [CG05-05-10]
ennui [SM, JT, CG10-05-11]
épater les lesbiennes (June Thomas, CG01-20-10) 19:00
épater les bourgeousie [Jodi Rosen, CG04-14-10]
epigrammatic [JT, SM, CG10-14-09]
eponymous [Alice Tynan, guest from Australia, CG04-21-10]
extant [SM, CG10-19-11]
falstaff [SM, CG10-05-11]
frenetic [SM, CG0-12-10]
funereal [SM, CG05-19-10]
garret [DS, CG04-21-10]
gestalt [JR, CG04-14-10]
grog [SM, CG10-05-11]
frisson
gamine [DS, CG01-20-10]
garret [JT, CG06-16-10]
giant nougat of incivility [CG9-16-09, SM]
gonzo [CG#40-all 3 hosts]
haute bourgeois [Jodi Rosen, CG01-13-10]
hidebound [DS, CG04-21-10]
impresario [SM, CG04-14-10]
imprimatur [PG8-27-09, and Emily mispronounces it as im-PREE-muh-tyure–at 24:00]
inchoate [SM, CG04-14-10]
Indestructible omnibot of a pop tartlett (JT, CG11-17-09, referring to Lady GaGa)
insouciance (EB, XX11-19-09]
Janissary [SM, CG10-05-11]
je ne sais quoi [SM, CG0-12-10]
Johns Hopkins [SM, CG04-21-10]
joie de vivre [JT, CG05-19-10]
lacque (lack? black? — IKEA color/style) [JT, CG10-05-11]
lability [DS, CG11-4-09]
l’esprit de l’escalier [CG9-16-09, SM, a new one on me, I’ll admit]
logrolling [JT, CG01-12-11]
louche [JT, CG10-05-11]
lugubrious [SM, DS, CG05-19-10]
malaise [pronounced “muh-lezz”] [CG04-14-10]
martinet [DS, CG11-4-09]
materiel [JD, PG10-9-09]
mettle [DS, CG10-05-11]
milquetoast [PG7-17-09, guest host Chris Beam]
milieu [JT, CG9-9-09]
mimetic fallacy [SM, CG05-19-10]
nascent [JR, CG04-14-10]
nettlesome [SM, CG03-31-10]
objet d’art (DS, CG01-06-10)
oeuvre [DS, CG9-9-09; other occasions]
on Martha’s Vineyard [PG 8-12-09, Plotz–as if everyone knows it’s an island]
optics [DP, PG10-30-09]
paean [DS, CG11-4-09]
pastiches (JT, CG11-17-09)
patois [DS, CG04-14-10]
patrimony [CG#40; SM, CG11-4-09]
perfervid [DP, PG10-16-09]
peripatetic
peripatetically [DP, PG8-12-09]
plaudits [DS, CG11-10-09]
portmanteau [DS, CG03-24-10]
précis [SM, CG05-19-10]
presages [DS, CG03-30-11] (possibly mispronounced)
priapic (SM, CG01-06-10)
programmatic [DS, CG11-10-09]
proselyte [SM, CG05-19-10]
provocateur [DS, CG04-14-10]
quotidian [DS, CG06-09-10]
raconteur [DS, CG10-14-09]
rather (pronounced “rahh-ther”) [SM, CG05-19-10]
reasonable expectation of privacy [SM, CG04-21-10]
recherche [DS, CG01-27-10]
risible [JD, PG9-11-09; SM, CG10-19-11]
rumpy-pumpy (June Thomas, CG12-23-09)
samizdat [SM, CG04-21-10]
sanguine [JT, DS, CG05-19-10]
sartorial (JT, CG01-06-10; SM, CG04-21-10)
satyriasis (SM, CG01-06-10)
simulacrum [SM, CG01-12-11]
slanket [JT, CG04-28-10]
slattern [SM, CG10-7-09]
SoHo [JT, CG10-05-11]
somatizes [DS, CG01-20-10]
sonorous [EB, PG01-07-11]
spanner (for wrench) [JD, PG7-17-09]
sprezzatura [SM, CG#?; DS, CG05-12-10; DS, CG05-19-10]
spriteliness [JT, CG05-19-10]
stigmeditation (?) [JT, CG10-05-11]
Sturm und Drang [JD, PG11-6-09]
sui generis [SM, CG10-7-09; EB, PG10-30-09]
sussed out [CG#40]
syncopated [DS, CG04-14-10]
synecdotal [SM, CG01-13-10]
synesthete (DS, CG01-13-10)
tchotchkes [SM, CG10-05-11]
tic [JuneT, CG10-19-11]
totem [SM, CG10-7-09]
transom [DS, CG10-7-09]
treacly [JT, CG11-4-09]
TriBeCa [SM, CG11-4-09; JT, CG10-05-11]
triptych [CG9-16-09, DS]
trope [Emily Bazelon–all the time; SM, DS, CG03-31-10]
twee (SM, CG11-17-09)
umlaut [JT, CG10-05-11]
ungainly [JT, CG10-05-11]
valence [SM, CG05-12-10; JT, CG06-16-10]
verklempt (JT, CG12-23-09)
wheelhouse [DS, CG04-28-10]
zaftig (June Thomas, CG12-23-09)
zeitgeist (SM, CG12-23-09)