n. In man, the gateway to the soul; in woman, the outlet of the heart

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

In Latin, the beak of a bird or the prow of a ship. In America, a place from which a candidate for office energetically expounds the wisdom, virtue and power of the rabble.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(n.) a word that exists primarily to help out desperate scrabble players

(n.) music for those moody angst-ridden teenager types; derived from a mix of african-american styles like jazz and country or gospel

(n.) when thing go boom big

Rich people without money

how the Earth is miraculously just right to allow the existence of the type of life that exists on Earth.

(n.) a madonna who is depicted with dark skin. found from Italy to France, to Spain, to Philippines, to South America. a patron saint of outsiders, often.
"Research into the Black Madonna phenomenon is limited due to a wide consensus among scholars that the dark-skinned aspect was unintentional." something in art, something on the outskirts of mainstream religion, found across *many* instances -- unintentional? the silliest thing I've read in some time now! it may be metaphorical & symbolic, or it may be literal, or (most definitely) it may vary across the cities and centuries, but it sure is intentional. and that outskirts/ outsider thing -- yea, you bet it is addressing an otherwise-unfulfilled need of the community.

Guadalupe, Spain (crying olive oil):

Poland:

Prague:


https://www.matthewfox.org/blog/the-return-of-the-black-madonna-a-sign-of-our-times-or-how-the-black-madonna-is-shaking-us-up-for-the-twenty-first-century
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/123051483
https://www.missmelindasmetaphysicalservices.com/blog/cult-black-madonna-our-lady-guadalupe
http://libgen.rs/search.php?req=black+madonna&lg_topic=libgen&open=0&view=simple&res=25&phrase=1&column=def
https://www.goodreads.com/search?page=1&q=black+madonna&qid=WPqLt3m3OA&tab=books

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/793242.Longing_for_Darkness
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197067.The_Black_Madonna_In_Latin_America_And_Europe
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28648036-faces-of-the-black-madonna

piece of the former yugoslavia, and formerly united with the czech republic

artists andy warhol and steve ditko came from slovak immigrant families, suggesting that this is mostly a place people come from rather than go to

a game where you wait in line, shoot a basketball, get back in line, shoot again, nope, you missed, now wait for the next game.

An advantage that accrues to A by denial of the right of B to take the property of C.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

an extra feature of a movie where you get to see the start of a scene, but then it gets interrupted by a character laughing, and then the rest of the characters laughing

(noun):
The noble act of toiling tirelessly and sacrificing precious moments of life in pursuit of success, while inadvertently fueling the relentless machinery of capitalism.


(also: success)
(also: best military cadences)

the political concept that posits that left-wingers I disagree with and right-wingers I disagree with are equally wrong.

ZEALA certain nervous disorder afflicting the young and inexperienced. A passion that goeth before a sprawl.
When Zeal sought Gratitude for his reward
He went away exclaiming: "O my Lord!"
"What do you want?" the Lord asked, bending down.
"An ointment for my cracked and bleeding crown."
—Jum Coople
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

Pestilent bits of metal suspected of destroying civilization and enlightenment, despite their obvious agency in this incomparable dictionary.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: dictionary)

(n.) a small island nation that exists primarily to serve as england's whipping boy

once nearly starved to death after running out of potatoes. presumably they really like potatoes.

a mainstream religion that predominates throughout the western world. it purports to follow the teachings of jesus christ/jesus of nazareth, a sectarian leader from roman-occupied judea some 2000 years ago, regarded as a divine figure (either god or a relative of His) by christians. jesus taught many things, but since almost nobody can agree on what exactly they were, discussing these things is a bit difficult.

christianity comes in a number of flavors.
--catholicism: more or less original recipe christianity, supposedly founded by jesus' friend peter, who tried to bring his teachings to rome and in doing so was crucified upside down and became known as the first pope. catholics favor big cathedrals and elaborate vestments, and a complicated hierarchy of bishops, priests, deacons, monks and nuns, and thus they're the only denomination that gets to fight demons in the movies. practically any denomination that is not catholic is protestant.
--other episcopal denominations, who like the vestments and complicated hierarchy but don't want to follow the pope, resulting in a number of schisms. includes the egypt-based coptic church which broke away in 42 AD; the greek-based eastern orthodox church, which broke away in 1054; the german-based lutheran church that broke away in 1517; the england-based anglican church which broke away in 1534; and the episcopaleans who are basically anglican but refuse to acknowledge anything from england.
--then there's a bunch of denominations that don't like having elaborately-dressed bishops or cathedrals at all, so they settle mostly for button down shirts and office buildings: see presbyterians, baptists, and the red-headed stepchild of the family tree, the mormons

as might be inferred, it's a whole big thing.

A failing sense of exemption, inspired by contrast.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

In race & racism, orientalism is the idea that western society is the "occident", and all other cultures and countries are "Orient". Orient didn't just mean asian, it mean middle eastern, indian, etc. Basically Europe seeing itself as the center of the universe and that all other cultures are "exotic".

This concept is problematic because it encourages othering and sets western culture as the "norm".