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Tuesday word: Pusillanimous

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025

Pusillanimous (adjective)
pu·sil·lan·i·mous [pyoo-suh-lan-uh-muhs] (previously 01-16-14)

adjective
1. lacking courage or resolution; cowardly; faint-hearted; timid.
2. proceeding from or indicating a cowardly spirit.

Other Word Forms
pusillanimously adverb
pusillanimity noun

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
1. timorous, fearful, frightened.

Origin: 1580–90; < Late Latin pusillanimis petty-spirited, equivalent to Latin pusill ( us ) very small, petty + -anim ( is ) -spirited, -minded ( anim ( us ) spirit + -is adj. suffix); -ous

Example Sentences
It wasn’t entirely free of the pusillanimous approach he has taken thus far to Kennedy’s regime, however.
From Los Angeles Times

Some also have lost lawyers, dismayed by the pusillanimous behavior of their leaders.
From Los Angeles Times

Columbia University, through a thoroughly pusillanimous capitulation to a multimillion-dollar threat from the Trump administration, has put that conviction in the grave.
From Los Angeles Times

"It’s an unfortunate lost opportunity that speaks to the pusillanimous nature of Hollywood these days."
From Salon

The vice president had a reputation for being President Nixon’s attack dog and skewering political opponents as “nattering nabobs of negativism,” “vicars of vacillation” and “pusillanimous pussyfooters.”
From Seattle Times

thuja

thuja (THOO-juh) - n., any of several evergreen shrubs and trees (genus Thuja and related species), include various dwarf horticultural cultivars.

Thanks, WikiMedia!

The ones actually in Thuja are also known as arborvitae, of which there are five species. [Sidebar: arborvitae is the singular form, with that -ae being a genitive not plural ending -- literally, "tree of life".] Thuja also is used for the wood of the sandarac tree (Tetraclinis articulata), one of those closely related species (also valued for its resin, which makes a varnish) and the origin of the name: thuja is the Latin name (from Greek thuía) for sandarac.

---L.

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All-Inclusive Promptober 2025 - Daily Scenarios Starting Today!

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Disney_20in20 • Round 14

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NaCraMaMo starts October 1 (in TWO days!)

Hi all!

October will be here in 2 DAYS! Since 2008, October for me has been National Craft Making Month, or NaCraMaMo for short. NaCraMaMo started as a community on LJ, and I started a new

nacramamo community on DreamWidth when I moved here in 2017.

In short, during National Craft Making Month in October, you work on a craft every day for a month and post pictures of your work daily in

nacramamo.

nacramamo is very free-form; you can work on the same project every day or work on different projects every day. Crafting is also very loosely defined; it's basically anything that you do with your hands that results in a tangible object. For example, I count baking as crafting, but I don't count making dinner as crafting (but you might!)

A lot of people use

nacramamo as a jumpstart for Halloween projects and Winter holiday gift making.

I'd love to have you join me, giving it your best shot.

gunnera

gunnera (GUHN-er-uh, guh-NEER-uh) - n., any of several tropical, herbaceous plants (genus Gunnera) with gigantic leaves and small, red to purple drupes, sometimes grown as an ornamental.

Like, gigantic -- they look like the megaflora equivalent of rhubarb, with leaves up to 2m wide and long in some species:

Thanks, WikiMedia!

That one is Gunnera manicata or giant rhubarb -- nb: not actually a rhubarb. The plants (and genus) were named in the late 1780s after Norwegian botanist Johan Ernst Gunnerus.

---L.

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Monday Word: Labret

labret [ley-bret]

noun
an ornament worn in a pierced hole in the lip.

examples
1. Someone taps me on the shoulder then and I turn around and find myself staring at this unspeakably hot twenty-something girl with a labret piercing, flaming red hair, and boots up her calves. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

2. A “labret” of ivory or even of wood they valued at four or five dollars—or asked so much as that at first.Young Alaskans in the Far North by Emerson Hough

origins
1855–60; < Latin labr (um) lip + -et

Jungkook of Korean music group BTS revealed he removed his labret piercing recently

Watch on YouTube

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pinch hits

Post-Swaps PHs #2, 4, 8, 13, 18, 20-26

Thanks for your swaps requests!

The following pinch hits are due at 11:59pm EST on Saturday January 24th 2026, and pinch hitters are also asked to check in in November 2025. To claim, please reply with your AO3 name, and let me know which recipient/PH number you want. You're also welcome to claim by emailing mod.modzilla@gmail.com. You can swap from your current assignment to a pinch hit; if so, please say that's what you're doing - otherwise I'll assume you're picking up an assignment on top of any current assignments.

Minimum requirements: An art gift must be a completed comic at least 10 pages or 40 panels long; a fic gift must be a story at least 10,000 words long. You can also fulfil a pinch hit by giving two complete half-length works, if your recipient has opted into that for the fandom(s) you are creating in. Any work must be for a fandom your recipient has requested and one character/relationship/worldbuilding tag requested in that fandom, and must avoid their DNWs.

( Pinch hit #2 - fic - Fright Night (2011), Our Flag Means Death (TV), Riptide (TV), Star Trek: The Price of the Phoenix - Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, Strange Angel (TV), Evil (TV 2019) )

( Pinch hit #4 - art, fic [varies by request] - 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, Thor (Movies), Hannibal (TV) )

( Pinch hit #8 - fic - Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Big Country (1958), Home Before Dark (1958) )

Canon promo post: Dial M for Murder

( Pinch hit #13 - art, fic - World Wrestling Entertainment, The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- (Video Game), はたらく細胞 | Hataraku Saibou | Cells at Work! (Anime), Original Work )

( Pinch hit #18 - fic - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom x2 [Grimm TV/Guardian TV, Grimm TV/Christabel - Coleridge], 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), 绅探 | Detective L (TV) )

( Pinch hit #20 - fic - Tales of Berseria, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You (Video Games), Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Bleach (Anime & Manga) )

( Pinch hit #21 - art, fic [varies by request] - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), 黄金の太陽 | Golden Sun Series, BCV: Battle Construction Vehicles (Video Game), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga) )

( Pinch hit #22 - art, fic - 大梦归离 | Fangs of Fortune (TV), The Pitt (TV), The Bear (TV), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, KPop Demon Hunters (2025) )

( Pinch hit #23 - art, fic [varies by request] - Shadow of the Leviathan - Robert Jackson Bennett, LitenVerse - Nino Cipri, Stellar Harvest series - Eleanor Arnason, Original Work, Crossover Fandom [Queen's Gambit TV/Man Who Fell To Earth 1976], The Breakfast Club (1985) )

( Pinch hit #24 - fic - Angel: the Series, Black Widow (Movie 2021), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Crossover Fandom [various] x2, DCU (Comics), Gothika (2003), The Locked Tomb Series | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir, Original Work, Thunderbolts (Movie 2025) )

( Pinch hit #25 - art, fic [varies by request] - Original Work x2, Tenet (2020), Crossover Fandom [various], Murderbot (TV) x2 )

( Pinch hit #26 - art, fic [varies by request] - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games), Watch Dogs (Video Games) )

Canon promo post: Watch Dogs

Thanks for your interest! Please also let me know if I've missed any canon promo posts.

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[Harry Potter] Blackcest Fest 2025

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Sunday Word: Invidious

invidious [in-vid-eeuh-s]

adjective:
1 calculated to create ill will or resentment or give offense; hateful.
2 offensively or unfairly discriminating; injurious
3 causing or tending to cause animosity, resentment, or envy.

(click to enlarge)

Examples:
In truth, the PGA of America put Bradley in an invidious position by appointing him long before his days at the top of the game are done. (Iain Carter, 'Bradley avoids sporting masochism to make Europe's Ryder Cup harder', BBC, August 2025)

I am concerned today with Alfas and a section of the Ulama who engage in mercantilism and invidious rapprochement with occultic powers in order to be up ‘there’ in the world. (Afis A Oladosu, Of prosperity-preachers and materialism, Guardian Nigeria, September 2025)

The committee of the Bureau point out in their letter to the Government of India that in a matter of such importance to all the communities it is better to avoid any invidious distinction as was unfortunately made, and the committee hope that in connection with similar conferences in future Indian representatives will be invited. (Afis A Oladosu, Cotton and wheat conferences, Guardian Nigeria, September 2025)

He believes that awards are 'offensive', and describes them as 'invidious comparisons of works of art'. (Maya Binyam, Percival Everett Can't Say What His Novels Mean, Guardian Nigeria, March 2024)

This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt. (Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things)

The tribes belonging on this economic level have carried the economic differentiation to the point at which a marked distinction is made between the occupations of men and women, and this distinction is of an invidious character. (Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class)

Origin:
c1600, from Latin invidiosus 'full of envy, envious' (also 'exciting hatred, hateful'), from invidia 'envy, grudge, jealousy, ill will' (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Fittingly, invidious is a relative of 'envy.' Both are descendants of invidia, the Latin word for envy, which in turn comes from invidēre, meaning 'to look askance at' or 'to envy.' These days, however, invidious is rarely used as a synonym for 'envious.' The preferred uses are primarily pejorative, describing things that are unpleasant (such as 'invidious choices' and 'invidious tasks') or worthy of scorn ('invidious remarks' or 'invidious comparisons') (Merriam-Webster)

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salad

Simple Greek Pasta Salad

Simple Greek Pasta Salad
YIELD: 6 servings PREP TIME: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 10 minutes TOTAL TIME: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces whole wheat or gluten free macaroni noodles
½ red onion, thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, drained and halved
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup crumbled feta

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to package directions. When finished, drain the pasta and rinse under cool water. Transfer to a large bowl, and add the onion, tomatoes, olives, and capers.
Combine all remaining ingredients (except the feta) in a blender, and blend until emulsified.
Pour the dressing over the pasta, and stir to combine. Fold in the feta.
May eat immediately, or refrigerate until fully chilled.
Eat alone, or serve over a bed of baby spinach (you can add a scoop of hummus as well, but that's not necessary).

Vegan Option: Omit the feta.
Gluten Free Option: Make sure to use gluten-free pasta! I like quinoa and corn blend varieties.

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Just Create - Rewatch Edition

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.

anorak & parka

anorak (AN-uh-rak, AH-nuh-rahk) - n., a heavy weatherproof garment with a hood, traditionally a pullover, now often closing in front; (UK, slang) a trainspotter or other nerdy, socially awkward person.

parka (PAR-kuh) - n., a heavy weatherproof garment with a hood, traditionally a pullover, now often closing in front.

A traditional Iniut sealskin anorak:

Thanks, WikiMedia!

In modern usage, more or less synonyms, though a heavy jacket long enough to cover the hips is more likely to be an anorak while a shorter one is more likely to be a parka. Among traditional Arctic peoples, the difference was basically geographical: anorak (which English took on in the 1920s) is from Greenlandic name for the garment, annoraaq, with a root sense of clothing (the Inuktitut cognate annoraat, still means any sort of clothing), while parka (which English took on in the 1780s; ETA or possibly a few decades earlier, dictionaries have an unusually wide spread on this) is from Aleut, the indigenous people of the entire Aleutian Islands, both in Alaska and Russia, and the Alaskan Peninsula. [Sidebar: Aleut name for that last, Alaxsxa, is the origin of the state name Alaska.] The Aleuts got the word from Russian па́рка, who got it from Tundra Nenets, the Uralic language of the peoples of the coastal tundra just east of the Ural Mountains (so the Ob River delta and vicinity) -- the Finnish cognate parka means swaddling clothes.

And that wraps up a week of words from the Inuit, Aleut, and Yupik peoples (formerly known collectively as Eskimo). More random words next week, before moving south for other Indigenous words.

---L.

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Multifandom: Late Treat Bonanza - sign-ups/posting open

An assortment of presents on a light green background with the text "Late Treat Bonanza."

Link:

latetreatbonanza | AO3 Collection

Description: Do you have a late gift that you started a long time ago and need a little push to finish up? Post it for Late Treat Bonanza! Late Treat Bonanza is an event designed to motivate people to finish up old gifts for a deadline. You can add your late gifts to our collection, which will keep it hidden until everything gets revealed all at once on December 25th! We also provide a 1-week anonymous period to make it a Secret Santa-like gifting occasion. If you've been having trouble finishing up a late treat, maybe this event will provide you the motivation you need!

Even if you aren't planning on making anything, if you've signed up for exchanges and other gift-giving events in the past, you may want to sign up to indicate your interest in receiving late gifts. People already working on treats or looking for some old requests for inspiration might be motivated to create something for you!

* Note that Late Treat Bonanza is now running once a year during this Christmas time period, so get your late treats in now while you can!

Schedule:
Sign-ups end/works due: 24 December 23:59 PST (UTC-8)
Creator reveals/collection closed: 31 December 23:59 PST (UTC-8)

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celebrity20in20 Round 17

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mukluk

mukluk (MuHK-luhk) - n., a soft-soled knee-high boot made of sealskin or reindeer/caribou skin worn by Inuit, Inupiat, and Yupik peoples; a laced winter boot resembling a traditional mukluk, with thick rubber sole and cloth upper; a tall, fur-lined slipper resembling a traditional mukluk.

Two traditional mukluk made from sealskin, winterwear with the fur on the left, summerwear without on the right:

Thanks, WikiMedia!

In winter, they are part of a complex, three-part system for keeping feet warm and dry. We got the word in 1865 from the Yupik name for them, maklak -- Iniut, especially eastern Iniut and Greenlanders, tend to call them kamik. Maklak literally means bearded seal, from which you might correctly guess that Yupik often used bearded-seal skins to make theirs.

---L.

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Pinch Hits 39-46 (and repost of others)

Pinch hits are participants who are without creators; pinch hitting is the practice of volunteering to make a gift for a pinch hit. These pinch hits are all due on October 19 at 10:00 PM EDT.

Fic In A Box has a very unusual set of assignment requirements: everyone is owed (and is asking for) 10k of fanfiction, which by default can be given as one 10k+ fic or several 1k+ fics. Participants have also had the option to opt-in to other minimum lengths or to other formats of fanwork. The other fanwork mediums are given word count equivalents, which you can view on the medium ruleset post.

Additionally:

Fic In A Box creators may default after partially filling their assignment—say, if they discover that they can only write 9k of fic—and PHs can be picked up in 1k increments!
You may always swap all or part of your assignment for a PH, just let us know that's what you're doing when you post to claim the PH.
In the future we'll include details in the post, but for this post we're linking to the app for that to keep the post size down!

In order to pick up a pinch hit you need to either email us or comment on this post (comments are screened) with:

The amount of wordcount you would like to claim (even if you're going to do fanart or some other non-fic opt-in medium! If you aren't sure what the equivalent would be, we'd be happy to help you convert it!)
The exact username of the AO3 account you will be posting your fill(s) from (if you post from a different account from the one you give us, we won't be able to count the PH as filled unless you update us!)
An email where we can reach you (you might not be getting the AO3 assignment when you pick up a PH, so we need to know where to send the assignment!)

( PH 4 - 2k - Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (TV), Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Resistance (Cartoon) )

( PH 5 - 1k - Christian Astrology - William Lilly, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), 龍の国ルーンファクトリー | Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Video Game), Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses )

( PH 7 - 10k - Only Murders in the Building (TV), Roseanne (TV 1988), Red Band Society (US TV), Degrassi the Next Generation, Win or Lose (Cartoon), Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth, The OC (TV), Short Term 12 (2013), Turtles All the Way Down (Movie 2024) )

( PH 12 - 10k - 鹿鼎記 - 金庸 | The Deer and the Cauldron - Louis Cha, 鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer (Hong Kong 1984), 老洞 | The Old Miao Myth (TV) )

( PH 16 - 3k - 阴阳师 | Yīn Yáng Shī | The Yin-yang Master (Movies - Guo Jingming), 陰陽師 | Onmyouji (Anime 2023), 밤에 피는 꽃 | Knight Flower (TV) )

( PH 18 - 7k - The Fixer Series - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Earth Girl Series - Janet Edwards, Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold, The Librarians (TV 2014), Crossover Fandom )

( PH 19 - 2k - Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Crossover Fandom )

( PH 20 - 10k - Wahkonda (Band), Wahkonda (Band), Wahkonda (Band), Springtime (Band), Mind Your Language (TV), Münchener Freiheit (Band), Wahkonda (Band), Springtime (Band), Men's Football RPF, Wahkonda (Band) )

( PH 22 - 7k - The Good Wife (TV), Fresh Meat (TV), Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater, Guardians of Time - Marianne Curley, Crossover Fandom, Crossover Fandom )

( PH 25 - 10k - Stargate - Live Action, Kolja | Kolya (1996), Cesta do pravěku | Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Crossover Fandom )

( PH 29 - 10k - 단금지교 | Dangeum and Jigyo (Webcomic), Star Control (Video Games), Chang Feng Juan | I Promise to Return (Webcomic), 고진감래 | Go Jin and Gam-rae (Webcomic) )

( PH 30 - 6k - Green Hornet (TV), Crossover Fandom, Ghost Whisperer )

( PH 39 - CLAIMED - Bleach (Anime & Manga), KPop Demon Hunters (2025), Naruto (Anime & Manga), 데뷔 못 하면 죽는 병 걸림 - 백덕수 | Debut or Die - Baek Deoksoo, 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game), 崩坏：星穹铁道 | Honkai: Star Rail (Video Game), 残疾暴君的掌心鱼宠[穿书] - 雪山肥狐 | The Disabled Tyrant's Pet Palm Fish [Transmigration] - Xuě Shān Féi Hú, DCU (Comics), Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, SK8 the Infinity (Anime) )
( PH 40 - CLAIMED - Original Work, Teen Titans (Animated Series), Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You (Video Games), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime 1997-2023), LOVE ME HARD - Jerry Heil (Music Video), ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Toonami Total Immersion Event Series, Initial D (Anime & Manga), Black Dynasty - Marilena Barbagallo )
~~( PH 41 - CLAIMED - Original Work, Horrible Histories, The Gilded Age (TV 2022) )~~
~~( PH 42 - CLAIMED - Alien (Original Movies 1979-1997), DCU (Comics), The Magnus Archives (Podcast), Marvel 616, Crossover Fandom )~~
~~( PH 43 - CLAIMED - Yellowjackets (TV), Dawson's Creek, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Once Upon a Time (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV), Gossip Girl (TV 2007) )~~
~~( PH 44 - CLAIMED - DCU (Comics), Original Work, Fevre Dream - George R. R. Martin, A Short Stay in Hell - Steven L. Peck, House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski )~~
( PH 45 - CLAIMED - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong (Novel), Crossover Fandom )
~~( PH 46 - CLAIMED - Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (TV 2022), Slow Horses (TV), Sanditon (TV 2019), Nancy Drew (TV 2019), The Gilded Age (TV 2022), Crossover Fandom )~~

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Sherlock Holmes Multiverse: Holmestice Winter 2025 Signups Are Open!

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