Glossary

20 terms

• Bacchae /ˈbæk.iː/

  Dionysiac avengers invoked as the classical analogue of the approaching vigilante mob. Euripides, with gimpsuits.

• Banlieu (n.) /bɑːnˈljuː/

  Suburb, with connotations of the slums. [French: ‘banlieue’].

  • French

• Baroque prose /bəˈrɒk ˈprəʊz/

  Elaborate, overfurnished prose in which clauses, references and ornaments accumulate until syntax itself appears upholstered.

• Batiment (n.) /ˌbætɪˈmɑ̃/

  Building [French].

  • French

• Bear (n.) /bɛər/

  Hirsute middle-aged or elderly pederast.

• Beard (n.) /bɪərd/

  A lady married to an Abba fan who chooses not to be forthcoming about his proclivities.

• Beesom cushie (n.) /ˈbiːsəm ˈkʊʃi/

  Female pigeon [Scots/Doric].

  • Scots

• Bildungsroman (n.) /ˈbɪl.dʊŋs.roʊˌmɑːn/

  Literary genre focussing on the protagonist’s moral development from childhood to maturity [German].

  • German

• Biodynamic Trustafarian (n.) /ˌbaɪ.oʊ.daɪˈnæmɪk ˈsɪkəfænt/

  A New Age adjunct to the Cause. Combines trustafarian aesthetics with boutique addiction. Tends to speak highly of Guatemalan shamans and Steiner schooling.

• Blart (n.) /blɑːt/

  Spend. Colloquial, with the implication of excess.

• Blood & Soil Association /ˈblʌd ən ˈsɔɪl əˌsəʊ.siˈeɪ.ʃən/

  Aristocratic postfascist fellowship. Sir Gerald presides over the association; Minerva Ledwitch manages the Bristol, Bath and North Somerset branch. Blood, soil and committee structure.

• Boafervem (n.) /ˌbɔːfəˈvɛm/

  Both of them. Estuarine contraction.

• Bolivaristos Collectivos de Caracas /bo.li.βaˈɾis.tos ko.lek.ˈti.βos de kaˈɾa.kas/

  Supposed Venezuelan source of Quicksotte and Ledwitch’s organic gluten-free molasses. Revolution, imported by the spoonful.

• Boner’s Palsy /ˈbəʊ.nəz ˈpɔːl.zi/

  Affliction of the Honourable Member involving loss of function, sensation or credibility. Herod has the primary case; Emanuel Künt claims secondary exposure.

• Bordel /bɔʁ.dɛl/

  Brothel [French]. In Gamina’s domestic lexicon, a practical destination for obtaining rubbeeng.

• Bowffin (adj.) /ˈboʊfɪn/

  Smelling strongly, with the intimation of unpleasantness [Scots/Doric].

  • Scots

• Bristolian Chronicles /brɪˈstəʊ.li.ən ˈkrɒn.ɪ.kəlz/

  Bibliographic designation for Craven’s Bristol sequence. In Helix it appears as apparatus, not as a diegetic institution.

• Brown study /ˌbraʊn ˈstʌd.i/

  State of gloomy abstraction. The mental bath into which the Luncheon household periodically lowers itself.

• Brown Windsor Soup (n. phrase) /braʊn ˈwɪnzər suːp/

  Betimes a mousse, betimes a Wurst, ever the savour of the Copraphage.

• budgie /ˈbʌd͡ʒi/

  Budgerigar. Small psittaciform domestic bird; Arabella Melopsittaca is the principal specimen.