five deadly venoms

trustycoffeemug
a reasonably famous piece of hong kong cinema released in 1978, when the martial arts craze was still going relatively strong. the domestic popularity of the film was such that the central cast was propelled to significant local fame

the plot runs as such: the aged master of the poison clan once had five students, each trained to fight like a different kind of venomous animal: the quick-handed centipede, the flexible snake, the stingy scorpion, the really-good-at-climbing-walls lizard, and the, um, *indestructible* toad. however, this aged master is now on death's doorstoop, and he is haunted by a dream that one or more of these students have used his teachings for evil. he calls on his newest, youngest, sixth student to go to the nearby village and investigate to see which, if any, of the five are guilty, which is complicated by the fact that all the students wore masks and their identities are secret.

in case you're curious (but not curious enough to actually watch the movie): scorpion is evil, centipede is a willing accomplice, snake is an unwilling accomplice, toad is murdered and lizard is a hero who teams up with the main character.

scoop

trustycoffeemug
(n.) a dipping device too big to be a spoon (to show you mean business) and too small to be a shovel (to show you're not insecure)

(v.) scooping things with a scooping motion often by using a scoop

wheat

the devils dictionary
A cereal from which a tolerably good whisky can with some difficulty be made, and which is used also for bread. The French are said to eat more bread per capita of population than any other people, which is natural, for only they know how to make the stuff palatable.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

fetish

trustycoffeemug
(n.) an obsession of a sexual nature; one of the major drivers of activity on the internet. because of the diverse array of refined perversions that afflict humanity, virtually everything is someone's fetish: a certain body part, a certain article of clothing, a cartoon character, the inversion of traditional gender roles, one's ethnicity and cultural heritage, good dental hygiene, bad dental hygiene, smearing condiments all over yourself, dressing up as an animal and pretending to maul one's partner, actually letting one's partner be mauled by animals, etc.

the word 'fetish' has also been used as a synonym idol (i.e., a physical object of religious reverence), but this usage has mostly been phased out in favor of the aforementioned perversion.

president

the devils dictionary
The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.

If that's an honor surely 'tis a greater
To have been a simple and undamned spectator.
Behold in me a man of mark and note
Whom no elector e'er denied a vote! —
An undiscredited, unhooted gent
Who might, for all we know, be President
By acclamation. Cheer, ye varlets, cheer —
I'm passing with a wide and open ear!
—Jonathan Fomry
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

living water

orikami
(n.) step two if your beloved has been cut to pieces in a fairytale: now pour the living water, the water of life. rejoice, for your beloved is with you once more! do not drink the living water. the gods frown on you testing their goodwill so. the water of life is for sacred purposes, not petty thirst. be on your way now, you still have a ways to go on your quest.

https://nicholaskotar.com/2018/10/05/living-and-dead-water/

(also: dead water)
(also: magical water)
(also: slavic folktales)

mustard

trustycoffeemug
(n.) a somewhat popular condiment commonly enjoyed on emulsified meat tubules, pulverized cow viscera, and sometimes pretzels.

the snobbish moutardier should always remember this mnemonic: if it's tangy and yella, you got crap there, fella. if it's gritty and brown, you're in quality town.

family

victor von lichtenstein
N. A group that shares similar genetic material via sexual reproduction. With the parental beings usually (except in Alabama) originating from different familial units
(also: alabama)
(also: problem of alabama)
(also: family bussinesses in alabama)

2. N. In case the first definition is full of crazy, hateful, or downright evil people and one gets disowned (whether by choice or not) the discarded individual will usually seek to build their own more perfect version by choosing different people/things/animals to surround themselves with.

cult

orikami
(n.) what inevitably happens when you cut off the tail end of culture and leave it hanging, when you rip the religion (aka nascent metaphysics) out of a culture's foundation and deem it 'passe', 'ignorant' or some such without providing a suitable alternative. a bastard child of culture who, on a bad day, develops bpd, does coke, and engages in love-bombing, isolation, gaslighting and other manipulation.

(also: culture)
(also: religion)
(also: metaphysics)

magdalene

the devils dictionary
An inhabitant of Magdala. Popularly, a woman found out. This definition of the word has the authority of ignorance, Mary of Magdala being another person than the penitent woman mentioned by St. Luke. It has also the official sanction of the governments of Great Britain and the United States. In England the word is pronounced Maudlin, whence maudlin, adjective, unpleasantly sentimental. With their Maudlin for Magdalene, and their Bedlam for Bethlehem, the English may justly boast themselves the greatest of revisers.

yesterday

the devils dictionary
The infancy of youth, the youth of manhood, the entire past of age.

But yesterday I should have thought me blest
To stand high-pinnacled upon the peak
Of middle life and look adown the bleak
And unfamiliar foreslope to the West,
Where solemn shadows all the land invest
And stilly voices, half-remembered, speak
Unfinished prophecy, and witch-fires freak
The haunted twilight of the Dark of Rest.
Yea, yesterday my soul was all aflame
To stay the shadow on the dial's face
At manhood's noonmark! Now, in God His name
I chide aloud the little interspace
Disparting me from Certitude, and fain
Would know the dream and vision ne'er again.
—Baruch Arnegriff

It is said that in his last illness the poet Arnegriff was attended at different times by seven doctors.

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

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