Glossary

19 terms

• Machiavelli’s sneering smile /ˌmæk.i.əˈvel.iz ˈsnɪə.rɪŋ ˈsmaɪl/

  The grin under which Squalor imagines the play to have been composed: policy, duplicity and theatrical malice reduced to facial expression.

• Maiouma /maɪˈuː.mə/

  Hot-tub rite of personal disintegration. Psorietes comes to slump and brood in it; management later contrives to turn the same maiouma into an event.

• Manus destris (n. phrase) /ˈmeɪ.nʊs ˈdɛs.trɪs/

  Right hand. [Latin]

  • Latin

• Maomentum /ˌmaʊ.əʊˈmen.təm/

  Nonbinary brown-shirted dignity squad and personal security arm of the acid-chucking left. Bicycle chains, billiard-ball socks and revolutionary crowd control by direct action.

• Mark Antony /ˌmɑːk ˈæn.tə.ni/

  Roman and Shakespearean lover summoned by the narrator only to be denied. Cheseham’s Charybdis courtship wants an Antony; it gets Crass.

• masque /mɑːsk/

  Masked dramatic entertainment, here weaponised by Chlamydia as an instrument of public unmasking. The Dogger's Dinner is revenge with stage directions.

• Meltemi (n.) /ˈmɛl.tə.miː/

  Strong, dry wind afflicting Greek summer.

• Membrum virile (n. phrase) /ˈmɛmbrəm vɪˈraɪli/

  A gentleman’s Honourable Member [Latin]. Todger. Willy. Thing. Einäugigenhosenschlange, as our Teutonic friends would not put it.

  • Latin

• Mésalliance (n.) /ˌmeɪ.zəˈlɑːns/

  Unstable alliance of non-converging interests [French].

  • French

• Mezzanine membership /ˈmez.ə.niːn ˈmem.bə.ʃɪp/

  Second-class gym salvation. Membership sufficient for the mezzanine, insufficient for the sacred waters.

• Minchia che segoiolo (n. phrase) /ˈmɪn.kiː.ə kɛ ˈsɛ.dʒoʊ.iː.loʊ/

  Christ what a wanker. [Italian]

  • Italian

• Molotov cocktails /ˈmɒl.ə.tɒf ˈkɒk.teɪlz/

  Petrol bomb. The preferred meeting paper of the more practical wing of the Cause.

• Monchild-Rothsanto project /ˈmɒn.tʃaɪld ˈrɒθ.sæn.təʊ ˈprɒdʒ.ekt/

  Redevelopment interest poised over Squattocrat Towers. A corporate proper noun carrying demolition in its briefcase.

• Montypee (n.) /ˈmɒn.taɪ.piː/

  Montpelier. Louche Bristolian suburb populated by Cliftonian failsons. Designated yobbery.

• Moriscos (n.) /mɒˈrɪs.kɒs/

  Andalusian Moors populating Iberia following its conquest by the Ummayad Caliphate in the early 8th century.

• Mouton noir (n. phrase) /muːtɔ̃ nwɑr/

  Black sheep [French]. Schwartze Schaffe is the Bosch term.

  • French

• Munter (n.) /ˈmʌn.tər/

  Idiot.

• Munter’s Blinding Cider /ˈmʌn.təz ˈblaɪn.dɪŋ ˈsaɪ.də/

  Fermented apple favoured by Solomon and the philosophical poor. Strong enough to illuminate only by extinguishing.

• Muttigeetin’ hazurrrds /ˈmʌt.i.ɡiː.tɪn ˈhæz.ədz/

  Ian Corby’s rendering of ‘mitigating hazards’. Risk management translated into broad Scots and municipal optimism.