Pop lexicon and Zizek

(image from http://lrrc3.sas.upenn.edu/popcult/gifsjpgs/circles/

For you fellow amateur lexicographers out there, and all other poseurs, I've picked out several of my favorites from my 2006 Merriam-Webster's Word-A-Day calendar. And just for good measure, I've thrown in a provocative Times op-ed from everyone's favorite rogue thinker (not including Pat Robertson): Slavoj Zizek. So here goes:

Word 1: apple-polish, verb; to attempt to ingratiate oneself: toady; or, to curry favor with
(as by flattery)

Word 2: calumet, noun; a highly ornamented ceremonial pipe of the American
Indians

Word 3: florilegium, noun; a volume of writings: anthology

Word 4: inselberg, noun; an isolated mountain

Word 5: peregrination, noun; an excursion especially on foot or to a foreign country: journey


And there you have it. Other 2006 favorites; anyone? I hear the vote for the coined word of 2006 is imminent. Here's Merriam-Webster.com's poll results: http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm

And, for that good measure portion:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/opinion/05zizek.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Here's a short excerpt:

"This is the trick being attempted by those who claim today, “But the world is nonetheless better off without Saddam!” They forget to factor into the account the effects of the very military intervention against him. Yes, the world is better without Saddam Hussein — but is it better if we include into the overall picture the ideological and political effects of this very occupation?
The United States as a global policeman — why not? The post-cold-war situation effectively called for some global power to fill the void. The problem resides elsewhere: recall the common perception of the United States as a new Roman Empire. The problem with today’s America is not that it is a new global empire, but that it is not one. That is, while pretending to be an empire, it continues to act like a nation-state, ruthlessly pursuing its interests. It is as if the guiding vision of recent American politics is a weird reversal of the well-known motto of the ecologists — act globally, think locally."