Monkey's Dad's definitions

A Head of Esteem

In facing a challenging goal, the confidence that you are good enough to do it.

She'd give it a shot, but first she needed to work up a head of esteem.

by Monkey's Dad October 5, 2022

Icon tact

The care a sports hero or movie star takes to maintain eye-contact and appear humble when expounding on something they know nothing about.

Asked his opinion on the impact of coronavirus on climate change, and also how it felt to see his new action flick streamed instead of released, he looked directly at the host, maintaining icon tact, and began cautiously to espouse his scientific theories.

by Monkey's Dad March 29, 2020

Amanda Gorman

The 22-year-old poet who spoke with poise and eloquence at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, reading her poem "The Hill We Climb". Ms. Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in United States history, earned wide praise and admiration for her contribution to an event regarded, by several measures, as historically significant.

Amanda Gorman joins a small group of poets who have graced a presidential inauguration with their words, among them Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams, Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco.

From "The Hill We Climb", she read:
"And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it.
Somehow, we do it.
Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed
A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished."

by Monkey's Dad January 24, 2021

para-apocalyptic

A situation created out of fear that the end is coming, when in all probability it isn't. Feeling equivalent to the apocalypse, while not actually being there.

Empty shelves, empty stores, empty restaurants and empty streets, 'it's para-apocalyptic', he thought.

by Monkey's Dad March 13, 2020

Eros Insanitas

Eros and Thanatos. Life Force meets Death Wish.

Shedding their clothes and their inhibitions, people gathered in a celebration of Eros Insanitas, knowing that many would be infected, some would die.

by Monkey's Dad May 25, 2020

twenty-twenty-phorbia

Fear of the coming year, as twenty-twenty-three draws to a close and 2024 presents potential for catastrophic damage, with A.I. and a certain former president threatening to overturn the world as we have known it.

He had lived through a great deal, yet the prospect of 2024 was inducing twenty-twenty-phorbia, the deep-seated fear of the year ahead.

by Monkey's Dad December 5, 2023

less-lethal weapons

Rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, stun grenades and other projectiles fired by police at unarmed and non-violent American citizens. Such weapons can produce serious injury, permanent disability and death.

An 18-year-old man, struck in the head by one of the less-lethal weapons, suffered massive injuries. 'You could look down into the wound and see fractured skull fragments', said the EMT. Rubber bullets, fired by police from military grenade launchers, can cause internal bleeding, nerve damage and permanent injury to vital organs.

by Monkey's Dad June 13, 2020