"The human was a proper vessel of holes and pores--but soon after it emerged accretions swept in--the proper music sounded through that aeolian horn became whistle and chuff. Scourges were applied that aged the surface--but cleared the vessel for intervals--diminishing intervals--"
BEMUSED
"Mr. Knight, bemused by the antics of the youthful dancers, sat back in his chair and squinted."
A broad-based and largely unconscious coalition is gradually working to change this word; from a superfluous synonym for "confused" it has become a more specific and apt standalone, "simultaneously confused and amused". Any attempts to subdue this salutary process can only serve to discredit preservationist Anglophones.
REJOINDER
"Her rejoinder to Mr. Knight came in the form of a rude gesture."
Specifically a reply to a reply. I couldn't have summoned this definition up without some thought (or consultation), but I do feel it's easy to use correctly without intending to. One, in that every utterance can be considered a reply, a new link on a long concatenation of replies; two, in that the added length and heft of "rejoinder" (as against "reply") naturally evokes a more comprehensive, programmatic, and oppositional answer.
LINSEY-WOOLSEY
"Mr. Knight gazed impassively at his wife in her linsey-woolsey."
A word that exemplifies contempt, play, and plainness; it flops and fights itself in your mouth.
BOTH
"Faced with the choice, Mr. Knight paused for a while; finally, he brightened and asked for both."
A measure of incredulity is always assumed. "Both?" "Yes, both." Simultaneity is somehow outlandish, isn't it? Cultures preoccupied with a reduction to units earn their bedevilment by specters of totality and indifferentiation.
REMEDIATION
"Mr. Knight took careful notes as they detailed their plans for the remediation of the Lamoille River Basin."
A cloudy parallel is drawn between the attempted education of the lacking student and the attempted amelioration of hopeless tracts. As applied to the land, remediation would imply a fallen nature after the manner of the fallen woman; ensuing attempts at rescue, while commendable, are by definition limited, inefficacious, and unrewarding. Implicitly: "Why bother?"
