Thursday Thirteen

Today's Thursday Thirteen is brought to you by the letter "D," as in, damnation, dang it, and darn.

1. The denouement is the final resolution of a work, such as a play or a novel. It is the wrap-up of the piece. For example, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the denouement is the last few pages that wrap up the mopping up after Harry kills Vlodemort.

2. To diddle is to waste time, as in, to diddle around until the cows come home (talk about cliche!). The word also has a vulgar meaning which I shall not repeat here (and frankly did not know until I just looked up the word). Additionally, it is a nickname my brother gave himself when he first learned to talk. He was trying to say "tickle" but it came out "diddle" and stuck with him forever.

3. To be in danger means you are susceptible to harm. To live dangerously means to put yourself in harm's way, such as by parachuting from a plane. It might also mean stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something you might not normally do.

4. Being deceitful means you're being fraudulent or false. May politicians are deceitful in that they say one thing so that you will vote for them, but then do something other than what they said. Virginia is full of politicians like that.

5. Decriminalization is legislation that makes something legal that once was against the law. In the United States, you most often hear about it in terms of marijuana use, but politicians have managed to decriminalize many other things, mostly dealing with corporations and banks, giving them leeway to screw over the population with high interest rates, fees, and other methods to part you from your money.

6. Deer are those cute four-hooved animals that eat up my rose bushes and destroy the alfalfa field by eating the grass. On any given night, I can see a dozen of them.

7. To deify is to give someone or something a position of the highest order; to make them god or godlike. Americans like to deify movie stars and other celebrities, though we don't call it that. It is what we do, though. Otherwise I cannot account for this fascination with glamour and money.

8. A democracy is government where rule is by the people or their elected representatives. In a democracy, everyone has an equal say. Do you feel that is still true in the United States? Or are some people - or corporations - much more equal than others these days? Or does your financial status, gender, or race determine exactly how equal you are?

9. A diary is a personal journal or written record of your day or life. It might also be something that records the weather. A Diary of Anne Frank is a famous diary that was turned into a book.

10. I have a dilly-dally problem in that I constantly put things off. Dilly-dally means to procrastinate. Or lollygag.

11. A dissertation is a formal, elaborate argument or discourse that puts forth some discussion or research. I am writing a thesis, which is a little different, for my masters degree (and I'm almost done with it).

12. A doctorate is one of the highest degrees one can obtain from a university. It generally takes three to five more years of school to obtain. I daresay I will not obtain this degree at this late stage of my life.

13. A draught is a dose of medicine, usually liquid. It's also a serving of alcohol. It's not a common word; I usually see it in historical novels.



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 229th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.