Resources for February 15, 2014

Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Day
crepitateAudio \KREP-uh-tayt\

DEFINITION

verb: to make a crackling sound : to make a series of short, sharp noises

EXAMPLES

Most of the tiny town's residents had something to contribute to the bonfire, and it burned brightly and crepitated loudly late into the night.

"A familiar synthetic beat starts the disc…. The band slowly fills in around the pulse, wind blowing through tunnels, factories moaning, yawning infrastructure, broken, creaking. Embers of some final blast crepitating." — From a music review by David King in Metroland, October 17, 2013

"Crepitate" comes from the Latin word "crepitare," meaning "to crackle." It has been used with this meaning since the late 1820s, but it had a previous life: about 200 years prior it was used to mean "to break wind." That meaning is now obsolete, and the word has no embarrassing remnants. In addition to its general use as a synonym of "crackle," "crepitate" also has a specific medical meaning—"to produce or experience crepitation." "Crepitation" here refers to a grating or crackling sound or sensation, such as that produced by the fractured ends of a bone moving against each other.


Ham, Julie. "Can Immigration Officers Predict Trafficking by Looking at Women’s Underwear?" Border Criminologies (September 12, 2013)

Democracy Now: "Debate: Was Snowden Justified? Former NSA Counsel Stewart Baker vs. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg."

Musgrave, Beth. "Council members want more details about financing for Rupp Arena renovation." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 14, 2014)

Three Oscar Nominated Documentaries:

Rowley, Rick and Jeremy Scahill. "Dirty Wars: Jeremy Scahill and Rick Rowley’s New Film Exposes Hidden Truths of Covert U.S. Warfare." Democracy Now (January 22, 2013)

Oppenheimer, Joshua. "The Act of Killing: New Film Shows U.S.-Backed Indonesian Death Squad Leaders Re-enacting Massacres." Democracy Now (July 19, 2013)

Noujaim, Jehane. "The Square: Jehane Noujaim’s New Film Captures Egypt’s Ongoing Revolution After Mubarak’s Fall." Democracy Now (January 25, 2014)

The Square (Egypt/USA: Jehane Noujaim, 2013) [Ongoing archive of resources on Dialogic Cinephilia)