Paladin

OK @Summerabbacat, I spent a lot of time as confused as you about this. As far as I can work out American biscuits are like our scones, while our biscuits are like American cookies. American biscuits are often referred to as being served with gravy and again this seems to be what we would call a meat sauce, like a bolognese sauce. As they seem to be usually served in a sauce I wonder if they are more like Yorkshire pudding than scones. Hopefully our American friends will help us sort out this cross cultural confusion.

A very young potential drag racer. Yes, I can see a future alter ego Justin. 🤣

For some reason I've always associated the word capricious with the Italian Isle of Capri (Isola di capri) where I have always suspected that the locals and tourists are very capricious in their behaviour. I have discovered that there is another Isle of Capri on the Gold Coast, Queensland where I'm sure the locals may behave capriciously.

Everyone has heard of the Neverending Story. There are real life stories which unfortunately seem never ending, but parts of which can and need to be told skillfully, honestly, compassionately and dramatically. Kept Boy to Made Man is one of these. Kept Boy to Made Man explores the immediate and long term effects of child abuse in the context of a dramatic narrative involving intrigue, rescues, support and healing. As the story unfolds, the many characters personalities also develop depth, often in surprising ways. Other readers have hinted on the plot and there is no need for me to add any more to that. All I will say is you will find this must read story emotionally engaging, compelling and thought provoking. My only regret with Kept Boy to Made Man is that I cannot give it more than five stars.

I love the way these guys share the loving tickling. There are a number of sayings that express this sharing and I liked "what you give is what you get." Now I have this image in my head of @Ticklishboy30 in full leathers on a Harley. We need photos.

A playful start to another of your stories @Ticklishboy30. John and Chip are another two of the lovable and loving characters you keep creating. If Chip is not based on you then can we guess that maybe John is?

Great find @Bill W. I love how authorities differ on word history and how interesting I find the etymology and history of words. The middle of the 17th Century, around 1648, is when English spelling started to become standardized. Before that spelling varied, often because of differing English dialects. It took more than a century for it to settle down to what we have today. Unfortunately along the way some words retained letters that were no longer pronounced (eg k in knife) and in others letters were added by well meaning, but mistaken, scholars (eg l in could). No wonder English spelling is such a mess. I'm sure you all know the ghoti spelling for fish.

As I understand this, ambience was in English usage and spelling since around 1572 and ambiance became an alternate spelling for the same word around 350 years later in around 1923. My Macquarie dictionary only gives the spelling ambience as Australian usage. It also points out that ambi means "around" or "both" as in ambidextrous. It is interesting to note that Merriam-Webster uses the Oxford and Macquarie spelling ambient for the related adjective rather than what you might expect, ambiant.

An interesting strategy: A "secret hater" on livestream to garner attention and have viewers like Jamie on his own stream. So we need to find out who the secret hater really is and if he really hates Jamie.

I am so tempted to write an insipid comment about this word of the day. Oops it looks like I just did.

Quote: "but like a building wired for demolition, the initial explosion was surprisingly anticlimactic." Very nicely described @empath and reminiscent of T S Eliot's, "ends not with a bang but a whimper." Now we are all waiting for their criminal edifice to be demolished and for the world they created to end.

Thank you @Summerabbacat, although I wasn't thinking of a night in police custody helping Lucas in itself but that the police might realize he has problems and give him a chance to explain them. Also police custody keeps him away from that good for nothing uncle. I'm still making up my mind about Owen and the other friends. Are they just spineless or are they scared teenagers involved with a bully that Owen describes as not just a bully, but "crazy". Time will tell.

Am I wrong? I didn't think Sammy was even a little bit bi. Oh well, I'll need to go back and read again.

That sounds like my study, but are all these word just randomly coming out of your furtive mind rather than an actual dictionary.?

Jason scanned the Penguin suit for what it might reveal. "Are you a King Penguin" he asked "or maybe a little bit Queenie?" "You'll have to come with me to the Capybaras enclosure to find out. And remember it's Valentine's Day." "But what about your treasure hunt?"

This word of the day has rekindled my redolent wistfulness for previous obscure and little used words @Myr was able to retrieve from his dictionary. 😄

Sammy is certainly a force of nature and a wonderful ally for Neil to have, especially now he is starting to relax in a supportive environment. Owen is wavering and hopefully with Lucas out of school for a week Owen and the others will be able to engage in some fruitful introspection. I am concerned about Lucas. His "I ain't done nothing" attitude will not endear him to the police, whereas being in custody could be one of the best things to happen to him.

Yes I agree with you although I think, especially in marketing, that its use goes further. There is a story, probably apocryphal, that the company that first started to can pink salmon used a slogan "pink salmon: guaranteed not to go red in the can". I think that is an example of reframing a perceived attitude to quality.

In a similar (or opposite) way reframe often (and especially in marketing) is simply the same as "spin", presenting something bad as good or desirable.

Euphonious derives once again from those Ancient Greeks. While the saying warns about accepting gifts from Greeks it is fortunate we have accepted and adapted many useful words from them. In this case euphonious derives from the Ancient Greek word εὔφωνος euphōnos, meaning "well-sounding" or "sweet-voiced" (εὖ eu means "well" or "good" and φωνή phōnē means "sound", hence "of good sound"). And that leads us to that brass musical instrument, the Euphonium. I'll leave you to decide how "sweet voiced" it is.

If you think men in their fifties who have lost their partners no longer look for love and are over the hill sexually then this is the story you need to read. Your preconceptions will be blown away by this pleasant tale of these golden boys who find themselves boarding together in a spacious Victorian style house.

I was not suggesting a listing of every arrest. I was just hoping for an overall suggestion that they had not escaped justice. I'm looking forward to how you round this story off.

I want to add that with @Summerabbacat I've grown to like Orlando and Rocky and their multi faceted personalities. They can be ruthless murderers and torturers, soft pizza and soda buying carers, playfully impersonator FBI informers, meticulous crime scene cleaners and above all that, seriously concerned about mistreated children.

Another gripping action packed chapter @empath. The Kings captured, the card houses collapsed and more boys released, but it's not over if the media in Las Vegas and El Paso are "unable" to report the arrests and boy trafficking. We haven't heard about the cards' customers. We learned early on that it included "prominent" men in Chicago. I hope they are being rounded up as well. I can't see Roger or Thomas turning away a single rescued boy, no matter what they have to do accommodate and support them. Even so this rescue is just the beginning of them being fully rescued from their past.

This entry in Merriam,-Webster included reference to flood inundation by the Mississippi and Nile Rivers. Having lived through a flood in an Australian town I lived in, I have a very real experience based appreciation of inundate and inundation (definition 2 in M-W).