Jordan
Basic Dwayne Composition
October 4, 2010
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Word: cognitive dissonance (261)
Original Sentence: If this sounds like a good recipe for cognitive dissonance (if not
indigestion), that was sort of the idea.
Dictionary Definitions: anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory
or otherwise incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like, as when one likes a person but
disapproves strongly of one of his or her habits.
Paraphrase: This is a good recipe for anxiety, which was the idea
Vocabulary Word: tantamount (261)
Original Sentence: Preposterous as it might seem, to supporters of animal rights, what I
was doing was tantamount to reading Uncle Toms Cabin on a plantation in the Deep
South in 1852.
Dictionary Definitions: equivalent, as in value, force, effect, or signification
Paraphrase: As ridiculous as it seems, animal rights supporters would think what I
was doing was equivalent to reading Uncle Toms cabin on a plantation in the deep
south
Vocabulary Word: neologism (261)
Original Sentence: a neologism I had encountered before only in jokesas a form of
discrimination as indefensible as racism or anti-Semitism.
Dictionary Definitions: a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase
Paraphrase: A new word that I only heard before in jokes as a form of
discrimination
Vocabulary Word: prologue (261)
Original Sentence: The recent civil rights past was prologue, as one liberation
movement followed on the heels of another.
Dictionary Definitions: an introductory scene in which a narrator summarizes the main
action of the word
Paraphrase: The Civil rights past was introduced as a movement on the heels of
another
Vocabulary Word: obliging (262)
Original Sentence: the words and animals were added to a provision obliging the state
to respect and protect the dignity of human beings.
Dictionary Definitions: willing or eager to do favors, offer one's services, etc.;
accommodating
Paraphrase: The word and animals were willingly added by the state to respect
and protect the dignity of humans
Vocabulary Word: agribusiness (262)
Original Sentence: Agribusiness and the cosmetics and apparel industries are all
struggling to defuse mounting public concerns over animal welfare.
Dictionary Definitions: the various businesses collectively that process, distribute, and
support farm products
Paraphrase: Business that have to do with the selling of farm products are
struggling to defuse public concerns about animal safety
Vocabulary Word: schizoid (262)
Original Sentence: Theres a schizoid quality to our relationship with animals, in which
sentiment and brutality exist side by side.
Dictionary Definitions: of or pertaining to a personality disorder marked by dissociation,
passivity, withdrawal, inability to form warm social relationships, and indifference to
praise or criticism
Paraphrase: Humans have a cold relationship with animals
Vocabulary Word: uncanny (263)
Original Sentence: That eye contact, always slightly uncanny, had provided a vivid daily
reminder that animals were at once crucially like and unlike us
Dictionary Definitions: having or seeming to have a supernatural or inexplicable basis;
beyond the ordinary or normal; extraordinary
Paraphrase: The eye contact, that was extraordinary, reminded me that animals are
like us
Vocabulary Word: nub (264)
Original Sentence: This is the nub of Singers argument, and right around here I began
scribbling objections in the margin
Dictionary Definitions: the point, gist, or heart of something
Paraphrase: This was the gist of Singers argument
Vocabulary Word: sentient (264)
Original Sentence And the one all-important interest that we share with pigs, as with all
sentient creatures, is an interest in avoiding pain.
Dictionary Definitions: having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.
Paraphrase: Pain is the one thing we share with all conscious creatures
Vocabulary Word: concede (265)
Original Sentence: If I believe in equality, and equality is based on interests rather than
characteristics, then either I have to take the interests of the steer Im eating into account
or concede I that am a speciesist.
Dictionary Definitions: to acknowledge as true, just, or proper; admit
Paraphrase: I believe in equality so either I steer that Im eating into account or
admit that I discriminate against other animals
Vocabulary Word: speciesist (265)
Original Sentence: This is where I put down my fork. If I believe in equality, and
equality is based on interests rather than characteristics, then either I have to take the
interests of the steer Im eating into account or concede that I am a speciesist.
Dictionary Definitions: discrimination in favor of one species, usually the human
species, over another, esp. in the exploitation or mistreatment of animals by humans
Paraphrase: I believe in equality so either I steer that Im eating into account or
admit that I discriminate against other animals
Vocabulary Word: stupefying (265)
Original Sentence: If animal rightists are right, a crime of stupefying proportions (in
Coetzees words) is going on all around us every day, just beneath our notice.
Dictionary Definitions: to put into a state of little or no sensibility; benumb the faculties
of; put into a stupor
Paraphrase: If animal activist are right, then stupid crimes are occurring everyday.
Vocabulary Word: marshaling (265)
Original Sentence: Its an idea almost impossible to entertain seriously, much less to
accept, and in the weeks following my restaurant face-off between Singer and the steak, I
found myself marshaling whatever mental power I could muster to try to refute it
Dictionary Definitions: to arrange in proper order; set out in an orderly manner; arrange
clearly
Paraphrase: I found myself trying to arrange any mental power that I had to try
and disprove his argument
Vocabulary Word: rationale (265)
Original Sentence: He admits, however, that the rationale didnt occur to him until the
fish were in the frying pan, smelling admirably well.
Dictionary Definitions: the fundamental reason or reasons serving to account for
something.
Paraphrase: He admits that the reason did not occur to him until after the fish were
in the frying pan
Vocabulary Word: natural order (265)
Original Sentence: To the they do it, too defense, the animal rightist has a devastating
reply: do you really want to base your morality on the natural order?
Dictionary Definitions: the physical universe considered as an orderly system subject to
natural (not human or supernatural) laws
Paraphrase: To that defense, activists ask do we really want to base our morality on
natural laws?
Vocabulary Word: unremitting (266)
Original Sentence: The measure of their suffering is not their prior experiences but the
unremitting daily frustration of their instincts.
Dictionary Definitions: not slackening or abating; incessant:
Paraphrase: There suffering is not their prior experiences, but their constant daily
frustrations
Vocabulary Word: argot (266)
Original Sentence: Such marginal cases, in the detestable argot of modern moral
philosophy, cannot participate in moral decision-making any more than a monkey can,
yet we nevertheless grant them rights.
Dictionary Definitions: the special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or
social group
Paraphrase: Marginal cases in the hateful name of modern philosophy, cant be
involved in decision making today more than an animal, or grant them rights
Vocabulary Word: vexed (267)
Original Sentence: Vexed, because it is impossible to know what really goes on in the
mind of a cow or a pig or even an ape
Dictionary Definitions: irritated; annoyed
Paraphrase: Annoyed because we will never know what is going on in the head of
animals
Vocabulary Word: writhings (268)
Original Sentence: The general consensus among scientists and philosophers is that
when it comes to pain, the higher animals are wired much like we are for the same
evolutionary reasons, so we should take the writhings of the kicked dog at face value
Dictionary Definitions: to twist the body about, or squirm, as in pain, violent effort, etc
Paraphrase: When it comes to pain, animals face the same amount as us, so we
should take the pain of a dog kicked in the face at value.