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parishioner:

(plural: ‘parishioners‘)

a member of a parish,

(a ‘parish’ = a local church community)

e.g.

All the parishioners are asked to contribute not only their money but also their time in rebuilding the church.

The padre listens to the confessions of the parishioners of his parish and advise them what they should do and what they should not do.

{Note: ‘Parish clerk’ is a church official in a parish is a clergy man who performs various duties in/for the church.}

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old maid:

(plural: ‘old maids‘)

an elderly unmarried woman (a woman who has not married beyond the conventional age for marrying); a spinster;

any person (man or woman) who is very careful about everything and is very difficult to please or satisfy;

a player in a card game who is a loser,

e.g.

They engaged an old maid to look after their teenage daughters.

My wife’s uncle is such an old maid that we find it difficult to make him happy.

{Note: ‘Old maid’ is also used to refer to a kind of card game and a kind of flowering plant, also called ‘old maid flower’, found in America.}

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nibs:

(plural in form but singular in usage; often used with “his/her“)

a person in charge of something or someone or a person who has a little authority, usually not very important but feels himself/herself very important;

said mockingly as a title used of someone in charge of someone or something,

e.g.

His nibs says we must get up at 5 in the morning.

Ask her nibs what we should with the unopened boxes.

{Note: “Nibs” with singular ‘nib’ is more commonly used to refer to the writing pointed part of an ink pen/fountain pen.}

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mammy:

(plural: ‘mammies‘)

(in Ireland and America) an affectionate word for ‘mother’  mostly used by children;

(an informal word, so not to be used in formal situations) an Afro-American (Black) woman whose job is to care for the white (Caucasian) children in the southern USA,

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incumbent:

(the letter ‘i’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “ink”, the ‘c’ with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”, and the letter ‘u’ rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

(in British English) a priest in the Church of England;

Nambaryn Enkhboyar, incumbent president of Mongolia (as of 01-02-2010)

(in general) any person who holds a position or office, especially an important political office, such as a mayor, a party president, etc. ;

Edmund Ho Hau Wah, incumbent Chief Executive of China’s Macao Special Administrative Region

a keeper of some important thing; custodian

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fuddy-duddy:

(plural: ‘fuddy-duddies’; pronunciation: the letter ‘u’ in both words rhymes with the letter ‘u’ in “but”)

a person who does not understand, approve of or accept modern ideas;

a fuddy-duddy (Ken Russell, film director — called himself a fuddy-duddy)

an elderly person who is dull and old-fashioned

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fighter:

(pronunciation: the letters ‘fi’ rhyme with the letters ‘fi’ in “five”)

two stick fighter (fighters using sticks to hit each other)

a person who fights, for his/her safety, to gain control over others or for sport;

two fighters fighting (boxing — a blood sport)

a soldier; a boxer;

trained fighters ready for action (soldiers)

a person who has strong physical and mental power and stays strong in any difficult situation or against others by sticking to his/her ideas, morals and principles

Gloria Allred, a fighter fought against injustice in the society (strong-willed person)

{to fight = (verb) to hit, beat, punch and kick (either with one’s body parts or using any weapon, such as a stick, knife, or gun) others in order to give them pain; to try to cause pain, difficulties or loss to others; to use force in order to get power over others; ‘a fight’ (noun) the act of fighting; as a strong word for a quarrel or argument}

[a jet fighter (a fast flying fighting aeroplane)]

['Fighter' is also used for a small fast flying jet/aeroplane with missiles and bombs on it, used in fighting with enemies from air in a battle.]

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field marshal:

Tantawi, Field Marshal, Egyptian Armed Forces, Egypt

an officer of the highest rank in the British army (military)

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epicure/epicurean:

(equivalent to ‘gourmet’)

{the letter ‘c’ in this word is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound as in “king”}

two epicures enjoying their dinner

“epicure” — a person who takes great interest, often too much care, in the pleasure of food and drink, and regards cooking as an art;

a person who spends a lot of time in sensuous pleasures and luxurious life

“epicurean” — a person who likes to have refined food and drink, and likes to live luxurious life;

a connoisseur

Greek philosopher Epicurus

[‘Epicurean’, with a capital ‘E’, is a person who follows the philosophy of Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, which advocated that pleasure is the highest point in one’s life!]

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disparate  –  desperate:

[different pronunciation: the letters 'di' in 'disparate' rhyme with the letters 'di' in "dig", and the letters 'de' in 'desperate' rhyme with the letters 'de' in "depth"]

“Disparate” means ‘entirely differently; no comparison can be made between two or more things or activities because of the striking difference’,

e.g.

‘Sky-diving’ and ‘skin diving’ are two disparate sport skills.   [because ‘sky-diving’ is jumping from an aircraft and ‘skin diving’ is swimming under water]

__________

“Desperate” means ‘ready to do any wild or senseless or risky act, regardless of possible danger, due to loss of hope or as a last attempt’,

e.g.

The football player was so desperate to make a goal that he played a foul shot and was sent out of field with a red card.

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