Some vocabulary form the Marshall McLuhan Interview --------------------------------------------------- abdicate: (v) fail to fulfill or undertake a responsibility or duty. abstruse: hard to understand; esoteric. agglomeration: a mass or collection of things; an assemblage. anomie: (1) Lack of moral standards in a society (2) Personal state of isolation and anxiety resulting from a lack of social control and regulation aphorism: a pithy observation that contains a general truth (eg: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"). atavist: an organism that has the characteristics of a more primitive organism. avuncular: Being or relating to an uncle. Like an uncle in kindness or indulgence. Balkanization: a geopolitical term originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other. Bergson, Henri. French philosopher (1859-1941). condottiere: A military adventurer of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, who sold his services, and those of his followers, to any party in any contest: a mercenary. connubium: (Latin) marriage. coterie: (n) group of close associates. cybernation: the use of computers to control automatic processes. Doppelgänger: (German) a double, twin, or "evil twin". epigrammatic: terse and witty like a maxim. gnomic: like a gnome (a troll, a mythical, shriveled little old man guarding the earth's treasures, living in its interior). internecine: (1) (of conflict) within a group or organization; (2) characterized by bloodshed and carnage on both sides. labyrinthine: complicated, maze-like. limn (v) - To paint or draw. To describe. literati (pl noun): intellectuals, scholars. logos: the divine word of God; the second person in the Trinity (incarnate in Jesus). Luddite: a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology Marconi, Guglielmo (1874-1937): Italian electrical engineer, "father of the radio". mercurial: changeable, volatile, fickle. animated, lively. Narcissus: In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hero of the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. narcosis: the unconsciousness induced by a narcotic drug Nkrumah, Kwame: Pan-Africanist. Leader of Ghana. obsequy (obsequies) : a funeral rite or ceremony. plebiscite: a vote by the electorate determining public opinion on a question of national importance. protean: easily assuming different forms or characters, like an amoeba. sensorium: The seat of sensation; the nervous center or centers to which impressions from the external world must be conveyed before they can be perceived; the place where external impressions are localized, and transformed into sensations, prior to being reflected to other parts of the organism; hence, the whole nervous system, when animated, so far as it is susceptible of common or special sensations Spengler, Oswald - German historian, philosopher who wrote about the decline of Western civilization ("The Decline of the West", 1918). stigma, stigmata (pl): stain, mark of disgrace. Marks resembling the wounds on the body of the crucified Christ. sunder: break apart or in two, using violence. synaesthetic: relating to or experiencing synesthesia; involving more than one sense. (synesthesia: A sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurring when another modality is simulated.) terra incognita: an unknown land. theretofore: up to that time. transmogrify: change completely in appearance or nature.