Friday, July 17, 2009

Word to the Wise

Word to the Wise: Obstreperous

Someone who's "obstreperous" (ob-STREP-ur-us) - from the Latin for "to make a noise against" - is noisily and stubbornly defiant.

Example (as used by Marilyn Stasio in a New York Times review of Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich): "Eye on the reward, Stephanie's obstreperous fat friend, Lula, decides to enter the cook-off, which she reckons will attract the killer."

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