Wartime

captious [kapshuhs]

noun:
1 apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please
2 proceeding from a faultfinding or caviling disposition
3 apt or designed to ensnare or perplex, especially in argument

adjective:

During the past 15 years Mr Maxwell has established himself as one of the few sui generis voices in experimental theater, and like all truly original talents, he has been subject to varied and captious interpretations. (Ben Brantley, Small-Town Americans, Street by Street to Eternity, The New York Times, October 2012)

Speaking for the poets, as if sizing up the discussion, was William Carlos Williams: 'Minds like beds always made up...' And for the philosophers, captious and ornery, was the great modern American logician Yogi Berra: 'The future ain’t what it used to be.' (Ian Crouch, An Evening of Examined Life, The New Yorker, February 2011)

But when the two reconvene, there is no talk of favors or captious admonishments, only the authentic joy of seeing a friend’s familiar face after so long. (Coleman Spilde, 'Black Doves' has all the delightful messiness of any true best friendship, Salon, December 2024)

I want my cousin Ada to understand that I am not captious, fickle, and wilful about John Jarndyce, but that I have this purpose and reason at my back. (Charles Dickens, Bleak House)

Georgiana, who had a spoiled temper, a very acrid spite, a captious and insolent carriage, was universally indulged. Her beauty, her pink cheeks and golden curls, seemed to give delight to all who looked at her, and to purchase indemnity for every fault. (Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre)

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lollygagging [lol-ee-gag-ging]

present participle of verb:
1 spending time idly; fooling around and wasting time

Examples:

I can’t just be out there and just lollygagging around. I’ve got to be focused. (Percy Allen, Victoria Vivians might be missing piece in Storm’s championship pursuit, The Seattle Times, May 2024)

On Monday evening, a Times reporter spotted the otter lollygagging along the coast between the lighthouse and the nearby surfer statue. (Susanne Rust, A renegade sea otter is terrorizing California surfers: 'It’s a little scary’, The Los Angeles Times, July 2023)

An illustrative moment - Mitch Marner passing the puck out of his own end to a Florida player in the neutral zone, then lollygagging back to guard the weak side of his own net. Panther Jesper Boqvist was not lollygagging. (Cathal Kelly, Maple Leafs can win this series, but the problem is nobody actually believes it, The Globe and Mail, May 2025)

Virginia drivers caught lollygagging in the left lane are paying a high price for that slow ride. Thousands of drivers have been fined since July, when Virginia began issuing $100 tickets for driving too slow in the left lane or committing similar violations such as failing to stay in the right lane except when passing. (John Bacon, Driving too slow on Virginia highways can cost you $100, USA Today, April 2018)

So the great physicist, the hope of the civilized world, ultimate founder of the galactic empire, is found lollygagging with a broad. (George O Smith, The World-Mover)

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