Thursday, September 07, 2006

Endear

ENDEAR, v.t. To procure for yourself, or bestow upon another, the ability to do a favor.
The friendship of Crocker I tenderly prize-
I wear many kinds of his collars.
He's endeared to my heart by the sacred ties
Of a thousand accessible dollars.*
- Rare Ben. Truman

2006 Update: To marinate.

*Note: Crocker was a railroad baron in California who once offered to pay Bierce if he would stop writing columns about $73 million in unpaid taxes that Crocker owed. Bierce responded publicly, offering to accept a bribe of $73 million and suggesting if he weren't at home, Crocker could just leave the check with Bierce's dear friend, the Secretary of the United States Treasury. Such practice is archaic, as contemporary journalistic ethics now require discrete billing.

42 comments:

TLP said...

That should endear me to Minka.

TLP said...

Okay. Now onward. I was so excited about being first, I forgot to say something. How unlike me.

Endear: To hit a dear from behind.

Anonymous said...

*.... ...*

Anonymous said...

methinks there's a Penguin lurking behind that bleeped out message directly above my comment... which completely endears her to me. on the other hand, a certain Dawg has clearly NOT endeared himself to her.

endear: one of the many wildlife critters you can see in the woods on any given day. i.e., "Look out in the yard, Marge! We've got woodchucks, coyotes, foxes... endear!"

Anonymous said...

by the way... great definitions today. i find your addendum especially endearing.

Anonymous said...

Endear: how to endear yourself to me? buy my books!!

But oh dear...what have you done to Minka? *sigh*

The Boy from S.A.C.A.D.A. said...

Endear: Smile at someone like you used to when you were 11 years old.

Miz BoheMia said...

Methinks I have marinated long enough cause I know you loooooveee me! Yep, little sisters are cheeky that way!

Funkified!

As for the party below I so missed... you are quite the impressive reader hermano... *sigh* Marinate away en mi corazon I tell you! Marinate away!

Anonymous said...

The line between endearing and obnoxious is often quite thin and not easily defined.

Charlene Amsden said...

Okay, I'm tired this morning. I've put in three 12 hour days in a row and my brain is not functioning at prime, so I tip-toed off tot he dictionary.

The first description was: to inflict. That being the case I can say with complete confidence: My supervisor endeared herself to us by giving us ten days worth of work and a two day deadline.

Sorry I couldn't visit yesterday, Doug. If I ever catch up on the work I didn't do while doing all that extra work (and teaching and as well), I'll visit yesterday's post -- if for no other reason then to find out what you've done to Minka.

Charlene Amsden said...

Yea -- what Joel said!

Mistress Anna said...

Marinate your meat, but never marinate in your perfume. A person that oozes floral scent is not endearing.

Doug The Una said...

TLP, you look lovely there at the top. A real breath of fresh air. Regarding your definition, 2x4?

Reject, it's your shame blocking your tongue, not me.

Puppybrose, I still can't believe Marge left me for that.

Jenna, you know penguins. The feathers don't quite keep out the cold.

S.A.C.A.D.A. I was surly then, too.

Hermana, en tu corazon, los jugos son siempre dulissimios.

Joel, see PENGUIN.

Quilldancer, I'm touched you made it by at all. Please come by any time you can comfortably. As to Minka, why do you assume I'm not the victim? I shared my humanity when all Minka wanted was my mortality.

No problem here, Mistress Anna. What's shaking up Canada way?

The amoeba said...

ENDEAR, v. To be outrageously successful in hunting season. To adorn your living room with the trophy of your success. To praise to the skies your husband's dedication and marksmanship while you stir the rum and arsenic.

My gourd, was Bierce prophetic or what? How could he have known that Ben's descendent Harry would be a protégé of, and of course endeared to, the Pendergast political machine? At least until he became President and turned (egad!) honest ...

G said...

endear: I am endeared by all the sensitity yesterday's post has inflamed. As the lamplady smoothes the penguin's feathers and pats the dogs head, and goes on to see what bus is not picking up which child and should she be in Queens or Manhattan at 3:00 pm...

"I was just trying to be convivial!" Larry David (see Joel's def).

G said...

oops - you knew that was sensiti-vi-ty. One dropped syllable and you could lose your family rating.

Anonymous said...

Gasp! You didn't ask me what was shaking up Canada way. This is not endearing. AT ALL!!

Sensitity!!!! -howling G...I'm just howling with laughter.

mireille said...

Yeah, on that oozing of floral scent. I find I am more likely to endear when I'm soaked in civet. In the words of darling MizB (or something like them): I REEK, I TELL YOU, I ABSOLUTELY REEK!! xoxo

The amoeba said...

All this talk of sensitivity, and endearments, and ruffled penguin feathers, reminds me of a story ... Hey. If that line was good enough for Abe Lincoln, it's good enough for me.

I was walking across my college campus one day, eating Hostess Cupcakes. Yes, the chocolate version of Twinkies. No, I don't know how I managed to live so long.

Anyway, this dog walks up. Irish setter. Beautiful specimen. Owner nowhere to be seen. My bestest buddy in the entire world, if not the universe. Because I Have Cupcakes.

Which Dog is not going to get. A. I'm hungry. B. Even I know that Dogs Do Not Get Chocolate. So I finished them off.

That mangy mutt let out a howl like I had just beaten him to the last of a cat's nine lives. Skulks off just out of reach and looks back over his shoulder with a stare so baleful it could have been 10 barns full of hay. Fifteen people turn to look at me like I was a serial child molester. "It's Not My Dog!!"

Ever since, with all due respect to Our Beneficient Host, I have been on the Cat side of The Great Divide.

:)

FirstNations said...

ENDEAR:
the last of the bo-hicans.


i'm not going to explain that, either. simply stand back and ADORE THE SPLENDOUR THAT IS MY WIT.

Charlene Amsden said...

Endear -- wasn't he an Orson Scott Card character? A little kid tricked into committing genocide through the medium of video games?

Shhhh, I'm in my classroom. The kids are composing mini-plays. Gotta go!

Anonymous said...

Endear: to manipulate and/or obligate.

that Marge was never one for puns.

TLP said...

End.ear: The last ear of corn. Also see gettin' pretty corny 'round here.

The Boy from S.A.C.A.D.A. said...

You spelled deer wrong.

Kyahgirl said...

TLP is right, its getting pretty silly.

Let it end 'ere mate!

Ariel the Thief said...

endear, v, to make them understand what they want.

Ariel the Thief said...

if someone offered me 73 million in unpaid taxes for stopping working, I'd stop working. the office I work for would be quite relieved, too.

Charlene Amsden said...

Brina, I knew that! It was trying to create an oxymoron. Sometimes I'm just too ambitious. sigh

Doug The Una said...

O Ceallaigh, you had me going there a minute. Bierce's Truman is fictional, no?

G, I'll let your comments stand for themselves.

Jenna, I'm a little traumatized today. Your skills as a writer are impressive.

Mireille, that was a hilarious impersonation of mi hermanita.

O Ceallaigh, that's a great story with the wrong moral. It's bred critters you should avoid.

First Nations, simply brilliant, that was a flat-butt joke, no?

Quilldancer, you lost me. Don't lose the class too.

Puppybrose, you mean to trick. You have children. I understand.

TLP, you got that right.

S.A.C.A.D.A. I read your stories. You really want to question my spelling? Get back to me in fifth grade.

Kyah, the situation called for one more rhyme didn't it?

Brian, get on that. Diane will thank you.

Ariel, that's a good one.

Quilldancer, ambition is almost heartbreaking in a teacher.

Thanks, Actonbell. The Geico Gecko is endearing, you're right. I liked that post, too. Oh, and I'd hate for you to go without my wishing you a great week so please accept the wishes now against any future slackness on my part.

Jamie Dawn said...

Endearing qualities of Doug:

kind to animals

funny

...I'm thinking...

...still thinking...

intelligent (you knew that was coming)

friendly to all who visit here.

The End.

Anonymous said...

Traumatized, Doug? Well...you did buy a romance. That's awfully endearing especially since it was mine! So...that's bonus points.

Anonymous said...

endear: pay off

Anonymous said...

endear: to charm your way into the lives of people you don't know and who have no idea who the hell you really are, for no reason you can really think of.

Omnipotent Poobah said...

endear - An ear grown on a person's backside to be used as a transplant.

Charlene Amsden said...

Doug -- you have never read the Ender series by Orson Scvott Card? As well as being an entertaining read, it is also a bit of eye opening philosophy. When you finish Jenna's novel give it a try.

Doug The Una said...

Jamie Dawn, I don't have time to make you a list, but everything after the smile's just frosting anyway.

Thanks, Jenna. You were my first. Romance, you say? There wasn't even foreplay.

Not to fear, Puppybrose. I'm cheap.

Alice, you just serve destiny.

Welcome, Actonbell!

Poobah, that just might be the funniest pun ever.

Quilldancer, when I finish Jenna's book I'm reading Luther's Small Catechism. Thrice. Then we'll see.

Charlene Amsden said...

uhmmm, Doug, that was a suggestion, not an order -- these little posting boxes muddle inflection ...

Doug The Una said...

Sorry, Quill, I knew that. I was making fun of Jenna not you.

Logophile said...

With a face like Willie's all that is required to endear oneself is show up.

Charlene Amsden said...

Doug, in that case -- READ IT!

Thanks, Brian, I haven't read that one, I'll get it. You know they are making Ender's Game into a movie in 2008. I'll see it, but I don't see how it's going to measure up ....

Anonymous said...

Oooooh you loved the story. Admit it. ;)

Doug The Una said...

Brian, that sounds like enough to do. It's always good to see you here but no hard feelings otherwise. I've been scarce on blogs, myself.

Logo, my young blue heagle friend endears like I breathe. Thank you.

Yes'm, Quilly.

Jenna, you are a talented writer. No question and it's easy to see why you're published.