Word - 38

MAU-MAU \MOW-mow (the “ow” is as in “cow”)\ verb

*1 : to intimidate (as an official) by hostile confrontation or threats

2 : to engage in mau-mauing someone

Example sentence:

"Going downtown to mau-mau the bureaucrats got to be the routine practice in San Francisco." (Tom Wolfe, Radical Chic & Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers)

Did you know?

The Mau Mau was a militant secret society that operated in colonial Kenya during the 1950s. The ferocity with which Mau Mau terrorists rebelled against British rule was well-documented by national news sources, like Newsweek and Time, and by 1970 "Mau Mau" had become synonymous with "hostile intimidation," especially when used for social or political gain. Novelist Tom Wolfe was the first to use "mau-mau" in print as a word for "intimidate."

Word - 37

PLAUSIBLE \PLAW-zuh-bul\ adjective

1 : seemingly fair, reasonable, or valuable but often not so
2 : superficially pleasing or persuasive
*3 : appearing worthy of belief

Example sentence:
Her excuses for missing work were plausible at first, but soon became ridiculous.

Did you know?

Today the word "plausible" usually means "reasonable" or "believable," but it once held the meanings "worthy of being applauded" and "approving." It comes to us from the Latin adjective "plausibilis" ("worthy of applause"), which in turn derives from the verb "plaudere," meaning "to applaud or clap." Other "plaudere" descendants in English include "applaud," "plaudit" (the earliest meaning of which was "a round of applause"), and "explode" (from Latin "explodere," meaning "to drive off the stage by clapping").