voluptuous

1. Very pleasing to the senses.
2. Very sexually/sensually appealing
3. (of a woman's body) Broad-hipped, well-endowed in the breasts and butt, plenty of womanly curves; Marilyn Monroe, Crystal Renn, Sara Rodriguez, and Jennifer Hudson as opposed to Twiggy and Calista Flockhart
1. The bed with its plentiful blankets and voluptuous white pillows beckoned me to rest my head.

2. His arms were well-muscled and his shoulders broad avove his furred chest. His voluptuous torso, ample butt, and strong, masculine legs teased me as he jogged.

3. Her creamy complexion contrasted the raven black tresses that flowed down her back; her amber eyes as piercing as those of a cat; the low neckline of her bodice emphasised her full, voluptuous figure.
by Lorelili November 15, 2009
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modest

Not narcissistic or full of yourself. Humble.

Of clothing: not revealing. Covered up.
- "Me? A great artist? No, I can't accept that title."
- "But you are! You don't have to be so modest."

- "I'm looking for a more modest dress."
- "What's modest?"
- "You know- long skirt, high neckline, long sleeves. Nothing that shows off my breasts or my thighs."
- "I've never seen anything like that."
- "Forget it!"
by Lorelili April 07, 2005
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The Burning Times

A period of early modern European history (spanning from the 1400s to the middle 1600s) during which there was an increased paranoia and thus hysteria that there were witches practicing forms of vice to harm the people... and these "witches" were thus tried and executed for it.

Contrary to many pagan sources, the death toll of nine million people, almost exclusively women, who were trying to keep their indigenous pre-Christian religions alive, is about as real as the Blair Witch Project; records show that somewhere between 50,000 and 300,000 people were tried (and about 48% of them executed) on charges of witchcraft.

The loss of nine million people would severely have crippled society. And those tried and executed were, by and large, Christians who asked for God to save them; anybody with strange quirks, liberal views, red hair, suspicious skin marks (freckles, birthmarks, moles, warts, etc), animal companions, or some difference that called attention, you were suspect. You were especially vulnerable if you were a woman, but roughly 25% of the victims were men (virtually all of Iceland's accused were men).

And many countries were virtually untouched by the this frenzy; Ireland saw only four "witches" executed while Russia saw ten executions; Germany, Switzerland, and eastern France saw the most hysteria.
The second most popular book of the Burning Times (after the Bible) was the Malleus Maleficarum ("The Witch's Hammer"), an absolutely humorless and misogynistic guide to "finding witches".

Southwestern Germany saw the worst of the Burning Times; Wurzburg saw several hundred executed through the late 1620s, including several priests and a number of children.

There were allegedly towns, largely in Germany, where there were no women left after the Inquisitors came through.
by Lorelili July 11, 2008
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Cosette

A character in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Cosette is the illigitimate daughter of Fantine, who had to leave her in the care of the Thénardier family while she worked to support Cosette. Unknown to the illiterate Fantine, the sociopathically cruel Thénardier family abuse the little girl and make false claims about her health so that Fantine will send more money to them. The money is then used for their own expenses and to spoil their own daughters, Eponine and Azelma, while Cosette is treated as a virtual slave... until Fantine's death, when her former boss, Jean Valjean, comes to rescue Cosette, bribing the ruthless Thénardiers to let her go. From there, Jean Valjean and Cosette escape to Paris.

Nine years later, at age seventeen, Cosette is a beautiful, well-bred young woman and doted on by Papa Valjean. Trouble begins when she runs into Marius Pontmercy, a young nobleman and student, and they fall in love. Valjean, worried about his discovery by Javert and about his adoptive daughter's safety, tries to thwart the budding love affair until he realizes that she's no longer a little girl and he has to let her go; out of love for her, he saves a wounded Marius from the barricade. She and Marius eventually marry before Valjean dies, leaving his life story to her.
Cosette's character is much stronger in the book and the depth of her romance with Marius a major emotional focus while Eponine is a peripheral character, although no less sad and pitiful.

Cosette is the peripheral character in the musical, almost one-dimensional while Eponine's presence is much stronger and shares the pathos with Fantine.
by Lorelili July 28, 2011
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poetry

A form of art that uses language. Poets use the beauty of a language and its words to create a feeling or convey a message to the reader, whether the wording is soft, sweet, sunny, and a lovely walk through a meadow... or clotted, ugly, grungy, and conjures up images of a slum. Just like artists use images and colors to create a mood or message, poets use words to do the same thing.

Poetry has been around for over 5,00 years and it's still young, vibrant, and growing. Poetry might even go further into the past, since most people memorized poetry and passed it on orally; 5,000-year-old poems from Mesopotamia could have already been old when they were written.

The practice of memorizing poetery and passing it on by word of mouth is pretty much gone.

Humans change, but maybe their nature doesn't change very much; practically everything that could be said through poetry has already been said, often many times, albeit in different ways. Poets must be original and avoid any cliché if they want to look competent.
#1244

Chan eil fìor. Abair thugam (It’s not true. Say to me)
Nach eil fìor. Mas e ur toil e... (That it’s not true. If you please...)
O h-iochdaist! ‘N dualchas sin ann- (O goodness! That culture there-)
Mar a bhuin dhuinn o cheann fhada... (What belonged to us long ago...)

Sean dòighean mar a bh’againn... (Ancient ways that we had...)
Rudan gun robh, ‘s nach eil a-nis... (Things that were, and that are no more...)
Ar daoine, ar dualchas glan... (Our people, our pristine culture...)
Am faic sinn iad a-chaoidh a-rithist...? (Will we ever see them again...?)

Seallaibh! Na òg daoine seo... (Behold! These young ones...)
Nach faic sinn tannasgan idir... (That will not see us ghosts at all...)
Fhathast th’ann beagan gun tog (Yet there are some that will)
Ar dòighean suas. Th’iad òg, làidir... (Pick our old ways up. They are young, strong...)

Linnean o cheann, bha sinn ‘nar (Ages ago, we were a)
Clì gun do riaghal thar an tìr (Force that reigned over the land)
Far an dhfhan sinne... ‘s an nuair (Where we lived... and then)
Sin nuair thàinig iad: an-iochd fìor... (They came: true cruelty...)

Ciamer a ‘s thèid do àite (How can a place)
Bi mar seo: cho mòr ‘s cho dòmhail...? (Be like this: so spacious and so crowded...?)
Tha ‘n guthan seo nas ciùine... (These voices are quieter...)
Dhfhàs iad nas ciùine anns an dail (They became calmer in)

Seo. O cheann thàinig iadsan... (This meadow. Since they arrived...)
Chan urrainn dhomhsa chuimhneachadh (I cannot remember)
Na rudan gun rinn sinn an (The things that we did)
Uair sin. Ar n-aodach, ar taighean... (Then. Our clothing, our houses...)
by Lorelili March 27, 2005
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poetry

A form of art that places emphasis on words and language. In ancient times, poetry was memorised and carried by word of mouth. Today, most poems are written.

*Avoid any cliché, be original, or it will become boring and be regarded as poor.*

Poems may rhyme or not rhyme; there are so many ways to go with poetry... provided that the writer avoids any cliché, rambling, and doesn't state the subject of the poem directly.
Some of moi's personal poetry:

#1255

An leabhar seo. Th’ann duilleagan (This book. There’s pages)
A dhìth. Stàdaidh guth, tòisichidh guth eile... (Missing. A voice will stop, another voice begins...) Tha ‘n cùl cho mòr! A’ dol air ais cho fada... (The back is so big! Going back so far...)
Is th’ann duilleagan reubta... (And there’s ripped pages...)

Amhaircibh na cànanan...! (Behold the languages...!)
Chan eil mi gan n-aideachadh. Th’iad cho gallda! (I’m not recognizing them. They’re so foreign!)
bha iad gun do sgrìobh seo? Tha duilleagan (Who were they that wrote this? Pages are)
Traiste. Dè bha iad ag ràdh...? (Crumpled. What were they saying...?)

Chan eil ‘n cùl càil coimeasta (The back is nothing compared)
Ri mar a tha na duilleagan ri teachd mar... (To what the pages to come are like...)
Mòran meud nas motha na ‘n cùl, gu dearbh! (Many sizes greater than the back, of course!)
Th’iad dol gu bràgh! Th’iad falamh! (They’re going on forever! They’re empty!)

Th’iad nuadh! Th’ann faclan sgìobhadh (They’re new! There’s words writing)
Leòtha fhèin! Èirichidh duilleag nuadh bho càil! (By themselves! A new page rises from nothing!)
Dè bha reubta bho ‘n leabhar seo? Agus dè (What was torn from this book? And what)
Bhios sgrìobhta ‘san àm ri teachd...? (Will be written in the time to come...?)
by Lorelili March 22, 2005
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horticulture

A subsistence pattern distinguished by intensive gardening. Essentially small-scale farming, growing all manner of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other plant products.

In societies that subsist on horticulture, there is a strong association with matrilineal families; daughters inherit the land from their mothers. The men clear a patch of forest for a garden and the women take over. This is usually accomplished by slash-and-burn.

The most important relationship in a horticultural society is usually the bond between brother and sister (as opposed to between father and son in many farming societies); a woman marries and her husband is recognized as the father of her children, husband and wife generally live separately and the main father figure for her children is their maternal uncle.
Among the societies that practice horticulture are the Maroons of Suriname, the Mosuo and Naxi of China, and numerous indigenous peoples in Indonesia and the Americas, like the Iroquois, Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, and Zapotec. All of these nations are traditionally matrilineal.
by Lorelili May 26, 2012
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