PREPARE FOR THE GRE TEST WITH A NEW WORD EACH DAY

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Words and phrases shown on this blog are taken from actual speeches and written text in the public arena during the current week

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"Language is the medium of all understanding and all tradition

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Monday, May 7, 2012

215. Termagant


From, “Seven Tickets to India, Please, and Reservations for an Adventure, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,’ With Judi Dench,” by Stephen Holden, 5/3/12, The New York Times:

Muriel Donnelly (Ms. Smith), a xenophobic, racist termagant and retired housekeeper in need of a hip replacement, makes the trip because the surgery in India is cheaper and doesn’t entail a monthslong wait. The character has the screenplay’s meanest and snappiest lines, but it is beyond even Ms. Smith’s capacity to make Muriel’s eventual metamorphosis, from monster into sweet, caring old lady who befriends a low-caste Indian servant, remotely credible.

Termagant: a quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew

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