My words of today:

Flagrant: This is an adjective. It means conspicuously wicked. For example: The young man's flagrant misconduct led him to expulsion. I cannot guarantee that the usage was proper, because I made that one up. From the word, flagrant, I would have thought that it had something to do with either fragrances, or perhaps something to do with a flag. Turns out neither are close. My flagrant excuses for not doing my homework was not appreciated by the instructor. The poor puppy's flagrant abuse by the monstrous ogre was reported to the animal rights organization.

Fastidious: Also an adjective. It means difficult to please, or squeamish. For example: The babysitter's attempt to stop the boy's tantrum failed because of the boy's fastidious mind. That one didn't sound too correct. My vocab card has the following sentence: The waitresses disliked serving him dinner because of his very fastidious taste. The wedding planner had a difficult job planning the ceremony because of the fastidious bride. His fastidious nature has made it increasingly difficult for the wife to keep him content. Well, that sounds about right.

Unobtrusive: Third adjective of the day. Opposite of obtrusive, perhaps. It means inconspicuous or not blatant. The nurse tried to make her patient's treatment be as unobtrusive as possible. The unobtrusive work of the bodyguards was appreciated by the superstar. I wonder if these words would actually stick in my mind.

While it is a pet peeve of mine to see people bludgeon simple grammar and spelling rules, I do worry that sometimes I do such things. When doing peer evaluations (which I think is done by instructors because they want less papers to grade!) I can never give positive feedback to someone who proves to be an ignoramus of good English. Also, when I get my own essay back with absolutely no correction or advice but a chicken scratch that appears to be "good job -- A" -- I can only think less of the "peer" who critiqued my paper. Peer evaluations are just full of balony, unless maybe in an advanced English course. In courses such as English 101 and the like, people are just interested in getting a passing grade, rather than to improve their writing. Of course only a small portion of the English class is going to major in English or prepare for a future in academia, but the ignoramuses fail to realize that having good writing skills is critical in their future, unless they desire to become a bricklayer. Which upsets me. I mean, why attend college, if all you desire to be is a bricklayer or something like it? Well, that is none of my business, I guess. But the flagrant lack of respect for their education just angers me. Hey -- one of these words did stick!