Favorite Word—from Not What They Seem

blandish

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This word is frequently misused to mean “somewhat bland”. An example is, “And the food is way expensive, and your standard blandish greasy US Chinese. Split some dishes if you're starving, but really, wouldn't you rather walk down to the grove?” Link

An undgrad and gender studies tyro’s abusage was an attempt to blandish me into giving him a perfect grade on his paper, but instead I corrected him by explaining it’s nauseated, not nauseous. Link

As in the Roman empire, institutions have become too large and impersonal, and traditional ideals of honor and duty have waned. Businesses today must blandish or brainwash their employees with PC myths of togetherness -- shattered, of course, when downsizing produces massive overnight layoffs, while grotesquely overpaid top executives float away on golden parachutes. Link

I blandish the proud, berate the humble,
Annotate the garrulous, hush the hermit, Give drink to the unsteady, stint the aesthete,
Inflate the rich to the popping point,
And crown peasant urges as though pearls of kingly wisdom. Link

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