The word for today is… glower (verb, noun): verb : to look or stare with sullen annoyance or anger noun : a sullen brooding look of annoyance or anger Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : We send this word, glower, out to the glaring grumps, the scowling scoundrels, and the pouting pessimists of the
On Thursday, nine [Wellington] city councillors voted to bung corporate welfare to foreign millionaires in order to breathe new life into the city’s grubby party strip. The shuttered Reading cinema site had became a symbol of a general malaise settling over the threadbare city. Now it is an allegory
The word for today is… sangfroid (noun): : self-possession or imperturbability especially under strain Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Sangfroid comes from the French term sang-froid, which literally translates as “cold blood.” When describing amphibians and reptiles, cold-blooded means “having a body temperature that is similar to the temperature of the environment,
In 2004, a renegade sheep that had avoided muster for five years was found in Central Otago, on Bendigo Station near Tarras. He was, as his owner John Perriam remembers, completely wool blind and “the most useless worthless creature.” But he would go on to be worth an estimated $100
The word for today is… chapfallen (adjective): 1: having the lower jaw hanging loosely 2: cast down in spirit : depressed Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : To be chapfallen is, literally, to have one’s jaw in a fallen or lower position, a physical sign of dejection. The chap in chapfallen is
Destiny Church bikers will continue to wear their Tu Tangata leather vests because “they are korowai, not gang patches”, says church matriarch Hannah Tamaki. New legislation on Monday outlawed the wearing of gang patches in public, and offenders who break that ban could be fined up to $5000 or jailed
The word for today is… envisage (verb): 1: to view or regard in a certain way 2: to have a mental picture of especially in advance of realization Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Envisage is a word borrowed from French in the mid-17th century and sticks around to be used in
In the middle of last year, Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau needed a win. She was being criticised for absences from civic functions, she claimed she was booed and heckled at a residents’ association meeting to the point she said “f*** that was rough” on her way out, and voting blocks
The word for today is… purview (noun): 1a: the body or enacting part of a statute b: the limit, purpose, or scope of a statute 2: the range or limit of authority, competence, responsibility, concern, or intention 3: range of vision, understanding, or cognizance Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : It may
Nikitalove Brampton Tekotia, 24, pleaded guilty last March to the manslaughter of Arapera Fia, who was beaten to death at their Weymouth, South Auckland home during the city’s strict 2021 Covid-19 lockdown. Read more here. Discuss it on The BFD. If you would like to access exclusive Member content
The word for today is… Kafkaesque (adjective): : of, relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings, especially having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech-born German-language writer whose surreal fiction vividly expressed the anxiety, alienation, and powerlessness of
Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen has publicly apologised for comments she made about Police Minister Mark Mitchell‘s private security work in Iraq. “I apologise to Mark Mitchell. It is unacceptable to personally attack someone,” she told Morning Report on Monday. “It is not my usual standards … I would like
The word for today is… overweening (adjective): 1: arrogant, presumptuous 2: immoderate, exaggerated Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : “The overweening conceit which the greater part of men have of their own abilities is an ancient evil remarked by the philosophers and moralists of all ages.” So wrote the Scottish philosopher Adam
The word for today is… portmanteau (noun, adjective): noun 1: a word or part of a word made by combining the spellings and meanings of two or more other words or word parts (such as smog from smoke and fog) 2: a large suitcase adjective : combining more than one element,
[…] it was reported earlier this week that more than 9000 New Zealand nurses have registered to work in Australia in the past 10 months. […] National proposed in April 2023 to pay nurses’ and midwives’ student loan repayments up to $4500 a year for the first five years of their careers.
The word for today is… word (visceral) adjective 1: felt in or as if in the internal organs of the body : deep 2: not intellectual : instinctive, unreasoning 3: dealing with crude or elemental emotions : earthy 4: of, relating to, or located on or among the viscera : splanchnic Source : Merriam -Webster
