Doyen is today's word of the day.

QUANDARY

I am having a Facebook quandary: to accept or not accept the friendship request of someone I know but don't much care for and am no longer in contact with. Facebook can easily facilitate connections between people -- good AND bad.

DEF:

noun
1.	a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one; "finds himself in a most awkward predicament"; "the woeful plight of homeless people" [syn: predicament]
2.	state of uncertainty or perplexity especially as requiring a choice between equally unfavorable options [syn: dilemma]

(WordNet)

1579, "state of perplexity," of unknown origin, perhaps a quasi-Latinism based on L. quando "when."

(Online Etymology Dictionary)

QUAFF

At Joaquin's birthday party there was little quaffing. It is clear that age reduces quaff-age. Also, for my part, the traumatization from viewing older middle-aged drunkenness has greatly reduced my desire to quaff with gusto. DEF:

–verb (used without object)

1.	to drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to drink (a beverage) copiously and heartily: We spent the whole evening quaffing ale.

–noun

3.	an act or instance of quaffing.

4.	a beverage quaffed.

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Origin:
1515–25; orig. uncert.

Related forms:

quaffer, noun

Synonyms: 1. swallow, gulp, swig, guzzle. PS: Quaff-age is not a real word.

PELLUCID

The pellucid atmosphere is one of the things I enjoy about Tucson, but due to the windiness this afternoon there is a serious lack of pellucidity. The Tucson mountains are looking very hazy from my office window.

DEF:
adj.

1. Admitting the passage of light; transparent or translucent. See Synonyms at clear.
2. Transparently clear in style or meaning: pellucid prose.

[Latin pellūcidus, from pellūcēre, to shine through : per-, through; see per- + lūcēre, to shine; see leuk- in Indo-European roots.]
pel·lu·cid'i·ty, pel·lu'cid·ness n., pel·lu'cid·ly adv.
(American Heritage)

TWEE

During my late, great return to youthfulness, I saw a rather twee singer whose music I liked but whose personality not so much.

DEF:

–adjective Chiefly British.

affectedly dainty or quaint: twee writing about furry little creatures.

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Origin:
1900–05; appar. reduced from tweet (perh. via pron. twiʔ), mimicking child's pron. of sweet

Dictionary.com Unabridged

QUISLING

After being invited to serve on a committee, Joe Schmoe wondered whether others would consider him to be a quisling or a stooge to the administration if he did serve on the committee.

DEF:
n. A traitor who serves as the puppet of the enemy occupying his or her country.

[After Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), head of Norway's government during the Nazi occupation (1940-1945).]

DROSS

Due to the materialistic insecurity these days everyone is desperate for free stuff. You think you are accumulating booty, but once the free frenzy has subsided you realize that you have just accumulated dross. I say, "Let us embrace our materialistic insecurity and lead dross-free lives."

DEF:
n.

1. Waste or impure matter: discarded the dross after recycling the wood pulp.
2. The scum that forms on the surface of molten metal as a result of oxidation.
3. Worthless, commonplace, or trivial matter: "He was wide-awake and his mind worked clearly, purged of all dross" (Vladimir Nabokov).

[Middle English dros, from Old English drōs, dregs.]
dross'y adj.