TOW #14

Immediately jumping into superficial action, local woman Catherine Nielson, 32, placed her cat, Reggie, on five minutes of half-assed observation Tuesday night after the gray tabby possibly ingested a small plastic thing from her apartment floor. “I saw him gnawing on some little white piece of plastic, so I’m just going to briefly and sporadically glance over at him for the next couple minutes.” The Onion writes about this not so extraordinary story about a cat who had consumed something plastic and its owner didn't really try much to observe it. This is a humorous post, filled with quotes like, "she would not let Reggie leave her peripheral vision until after the next commercial break." This mocks what people do during emergencies, and also how pet owners take their pets injuries a bit too seriously. I don't really know what the purpose of this article is, it is rather short and doesn't really have a point to it. But it is rather funny. The Onion is known for posting satirical articles that mock and poke fun at different topics. This one being pet owners. The author uses satire and parody to make fun of articles that report important articles. I think the idea was to prank readers into clicking on the article, thinking it would be an interesting story, when really it's just a dumb recap of a woman's cat who ended up eating some plastic, but was fine in the end. I personally enjoyed the article, because it was short and sarcastic.

Vocab #7

Pauperism
My guess: being in a bad position
Definition: poverty or generally the state of being poor
Context: APUSH
Own sentence: The pauperism plaguing the lower class citizens of France led to the French Revolution.
Connotation: Neutral

Penance
My guess: shame
Definition: voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong
Context: APUSH
Mnemonic Device: resembles the word punish
History: 1250-1300; Middle English penaunce < Anglo-French; Old French peneance < Latin paenitentia penitence

Dismal
My guess: dumb
Definition: causing gloom or dejection; gloomy; dreary; cheerless; melancholy
Context: APUSH
Own sentence: The dismal weather did little to brighten the sad girl's mood
Connotation: Neutral

Orated
My guess: self-centered
Definition: to deliver an oration; speak pompously; declaim
Context: APUSH
History: 1590-1600; back formation from oration
Own Sentence: "Everyone settle down," The teacher orated

Mandate
My guess: to control
Definition: a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative
Context: APUSH
Own Sentence: The president had a clear mandate to end the war
History: 1540-50; < Latin mandātum, noun use of neuter of mandātus, past participle of mandāre to commission, literally, to give into (someone's) hand

Minstrel
My guess: an artist
Definition: a medieval poet and musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour
Context: APUSH
History: 1175-1225; Middle English ministrel < Old French < Late Latin ministeriālis servant
Connotation: neutral

Stella
My guess: night
Definition: star
Words: stellar, constellation, interstellar, Stella Luna, rostella

Tres
My guess: three
Definition: three
Words: ternary, treble, tres, trois,

Verbum
My guess: action
Definition: Word
Words: Verbs, verbal, verbatim, proverb, verbose

Astron
My guess: space
Definition: star
Words: astronomy, astronomer, astronomic, astronaut, astrology