Episode: Querulous
Tired of vocab podcasts that sound like a dictionary having a breakdown? We bring words to life with stories, scripts, and absurd tangents—because building your vocab shouldn’t be a snooze-fest.”
According to Merriam-Webster, “querulous” is an adjective that describes someone who is habitually complaining or expressing complaint in a whining manner. The term originates from the Latin verb “queri,” meaning “to complain.” Synonyms for “querulous” include crabby, cranky, fussy, grouchy, and grumpy. An example sentence using “querulous” is: “Car trips that were frequently spoiled by a couple of querulous passengers in the back.”
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An electron-induced, vocabulary, edutainment podcast for building your speech, confidence and brain-ceps. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdwordpodcast/support
Tired of vocab podcasts that sound like a dictionary having a breakdown? We bring words to life with stories, scripts, and absurd tangents—because building your vocab shouldn’t be a snooze-fest.”
Dentist: Mr. Wimbley, it’s been a while. How are you doing?
Wimbley: Oh, I’m on the up and up. How are you Dr. Wellings?
Dentist: Good, good. Kathy tells me you have a vexatious abscess on your 2nd bicuspid. – Kathy, number 20 please.
Wimbley: Is a vexatious abscess worse than a periapical tooth abscess?
Dentist: Haha. No, no. Just adding colorful context to an overwhelminly redundant job. The periapical tooth abscess is because you don’t visit me often enough. It being vexatious is just free marketing for my staff. Haha.
According to Merriam-Webster, “vexatious” is an adjective that describes something causing vexation or distress. It can refer to actions intended to harass, such as a vexatious lawsuit, or to situations full of disorder or stress, like a vexatious period in someone’s life.
Synonyms for “vexatious” include annoying, frustrating, irritating, disturbing, aggravating, irksome, exasperating, and maddening.
For example, one might say, “Those vexatious phone calls from telemarketers during the dinner hour.”
The term “vexatious” has been in use since 1534.
An electron-induced, vocabulary, eduTainment podcast for building your speech, confidence and brain-ceps.
For those of you that love learning…but only when it’s fun! These weirdos find a million ways to make vocab words stick to your brain like spaghetti on a wall. We’d love your support!
Elect in to donate monthly via Spotify or Patreon.
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Recalcitrant
rəˈkalsətrənt
Part of Speech:
- Adjective: Having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline.
- Noun: A person with an obstinately uncooperative attitude.
Example Sentence: The recalcitrant student refused to follow the classroom rules, much to the frustration of the teacher.
30,000 Feet Above Sea Level [script for "querulous"]
Pilot: Good afternoon, folks. This is your captain speaking, and welcome aboard Pan Am Flight 212, nonstop from Nashville to New York City—provided nothing unexpected happens. We’re cruising at 30,000 feet, where the air is thin, but thankfully, the cocktails aren’t.
If you glance out the left, you might see the Appalachian Mountains—unless, of course, you’re seated over the wing, in which case, congratulations, you’ve got a front-row seat to our fuel efficiency. Flight time is about an hour and forty-five minutes, just long enough for you to question whether that second martini was a good idea.
Thanks for flying Pan Am, the airline with style, sophistication, and just enough duct tape to keep things interesting. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride—or at least pretend to. This is your captain, signing off.
Girl: Are you going to eat those? I mean… you haven’t touched them, and they’re just going to throw them away if you don’t eat them.
Guy: Do you want em?
Girl: I’m just so hungry. Bachelorette party. You know?
Guy: Can’t say that I do. But yes, have my nuts.
Girl: Clever.
Guy: Just trying to be in theme with your weekend.
Girl: You think you’re funny?
Guy: I think I just gave up my in-flight snack, and the least you could do is provide a courtesy laugh?
Girl: Well, it was funny.
Guy: Now’s the part where we introduce ourselves, right?
Girl: And then talk about our jobs, where we’re from, talk about how annoying travel is, especially NY. Then you call me querulous, I call you a nit-whit, we laugh and then make-out.
Guy: Wow, fast talker, fast mover. It’s like you know what every guy wants.
Girl: Isn’t that the silliest part about love? How we suspend that obvious aspect of knowing what you want and what I want – and pretend that’s its something soo much deeper?
Guy: Already falling for me?
Girl: Maybe you deflate a second so we can have a conversation.?
Guy: So, what’s your name, where are you from, where do you work?
Girl: Are you really curious?
Guy: To be honest, I don’t like making out with strangers.
Here are some factoids about the word “querulous”:
Definition:
- Querulous means complaining in a petulant or whining manner.
- It describes someone who is fretful, irritable, or inclined to find fault.
Etymology:
- The word querulous comes from the Latin querulus, meaning full of complaints, which is derived from queri, meaning to complain.
- It first appeared in the English language in the 15th century.
Pronunciation:
- Phonetic: KWER-uh-lus or KWEH-ruh-lus
- It can also sometimes be pronounced KWIR-yuh-lus.
Part of Speech:
- It is an adjective.
Usage Examples:
- “The querulous tone of the customer made the manager sigh deeply.”
- “Her letters grew increasingly querulous as she described the injustices of the neighborhood.”
- “The old man’s querulous complaints about the weather were a daily occurrence.”
Synonyms:
- Complaining, whining, petulant, grumbling, fretful, peevish, irritable, crabby.
Antonyms:
- Cheerful, easygoing, uncomplaining, content, agreeable.
Related Words:
- Quarrel: A disagreement or argument, also derived from Latin queri.
- Querimony (rare): A formal complaint or grievance.
In Literature:
- The word is often found in classic literature to describe irritable or discontented characters. For example, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen used querulous to depict petty grievances or sour moods.
- Example: “A querulous cry arose, mingling with the rustle of paper and pen.”
Psychological Connotation:
- People described as querulous are often seen as tiresome or overly sensitive, particularly when their complaints seem trivial or habitual.
