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William Morris:
white imperialist?
vacuous
"One [politician] is even said to have described [William] Morris as 'just
a white imperialist', an astonishingly vacuous claim that could not be further
from the truth." Jonathan Glancey, Guardian April 17, 2007
vacuous "announced some vacuous new initiative"
vain "a monster of illogic and vanity
whose ghost still lurks among the smoke and mirrors of today's art world." Brian
Sewell on Roger Fry, Evening Standard February 3, 2007
vain Charles Pooter is vain, naive, prim, mean, pompous, gullible, snobbish, conceited and unbelievably gauche but at the same time hard-working, loyal, decent and honest (from the intro to the Penguin edition of The Diary of a Nobody)
vapid posturing
vaporous
"the ability to anticipate the future will continue to remain a vaporous
claim of astrologers and self-proclaimed seers" www.rwjf.org Robert
Johnson Wood Foundation, US health care charity
very reverent prices ie very high. Obit of Andrew Grima Guardian Jan
18 08
virtuosic
baggage Cantor Sam Weiss
vivid The vivid decor, including a Tiki bar and hammock, will have you wondering if
you've stepped out of Cincinnati and straight onto the beach. Web The vivid
decor is enjoyable as well; I really liked the hanging paper mache dragons...
vulgar The dozen or so performers wear
strategically ripped clothes, low-cut tribal get-ups mixed with vulgar
accessories... NYT March 2007
vulgar and
sentimental what Eustace’s mother thinks of performing animals in Dawn Treader.
She thinks the improved Eustace has become “commonplace”. She’s an academic and
lives in Cambridge.
vulgarly facetious
Matthew Sweet on 50s films like Genevieve.
weapons-grade Alison Moyet's weapons-grade blues-queen
voice [given] the inert, soulless and slightly leaden polish of a variety
show.
wearyingly His work on paper is wearingly of
its time and a not-much-acquired taste. Brian Sewell on Millais, September 28,
2007
wearily neutral BA-lounge sterility Matthew Norman Daily Telegraph Aug 2010
weedy
"The UK's wildlife laws are too weedy to cope with a Right to Roam"
Friends of the Earth website
well-meaning
reformers/local poets/amateurs
wet so many,
many things are
whimsical Jeunet’s fondness for the whimsical and slapstick has gone over the top. Though it
aspires to be like Chaplin or Tati, it's more like a bunch of terribly
earnest clowns from the Cirque du Soleil
performing a self-consciously cutesy,
politicised version of Mission Impossible. I shudder to think of what childish
Leftwing diatribe Jeunet may attempt to do
next. I fear it could be the Afghanistan war, performed entirely by Parisian
mime artists … unbearably twee.
Chris Tookey Daily Mail Feb 10 on Micmacs
whimsy leaden whimsy Will Self on French
films "Those wary of the cloying whimsy sometimes packaged now as magical
realism..." Guardian 18/01/03 "[Spielberg] tortures us with heart-warming
whimsy, maddeningly signalled in John Williams's score by pizzicato violins and
chirpy woodwind." Independent September 3, 2004
whiny
"he and whiny vegan girlfriend Alex spend a month living on the
breadline" Guardian, Tuesday April 4 2006 Sam Wollaston
whiteboy anono-rockers @Bobbi_Betamax
wild-eyed Hillary supporters etc
winsome March 22, 2007 Colin Covert
Beatrix Potter ... her winsomely illustrated little books about animals in
trousers ... Now she's the subject of a tiresome biography starring Renée Zellweger
... semi-faithful to the facts of Potter's outstandingly dull life ... Her
parents were wealthy, mummified Victorians
...
winsome goo French films
witless
"The accompanying captions combine witless editorialising with annoying
reductiveness." Guardians on the Chapmans at the Saatchi Gallery
woeful "the acting was uniformly woeful" Evening Standard
wordy,
contrived explanation
worthy synonym for earnest, plodding, serious and therefore dull. Applied to things
that are good for you and don't involve commerce or popular culture, like
museum craft days for kids. "Worthy but impractical?" Guardian on alternative
energy. "She took such a worthy stance at what is a bit of un-PC fun." "You must
be very good – meaning very worthy – to do this job, mustn't you?" "The space is
such good fun that you also forget it has worthy eco intentions." All from
the Guardian. " Are we being eco-friendly or are we being –
gulp – worthy?" "Tonight's annual pub quiz has got some rather unusual prizes
considering the Fabians' worthy Left-wing image." Evening
Standard Aug 3 06
wraparound
teeth
wretched "They have closed hundreds of
branches and force you to go through wretched call centres."
Observer, Sunday June 11 2006 Jill Insley
zingy "Vibrant contrasting colour belts in zingy
fruit colours can add a new interest." fashion-era.com | 
