PoochyB’s Wordstock

It helped that Christian Bale, a reluctant smiler whose sharply planed face looks as if it had been carved with a chisel, slid into Bruce Wayne’s insouciance as easily as he did Batman’s suit.

in·sou·ci·ance
n.   Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance.

The authorities have noted an increase in suicide bombings carried out by women – the American military reports that 18 women have conducted suicide missions in Iraq so far this year, compared with 8 all of last year – but they say there is also a less violent yet potentially more insidious army of women organizers, proselytizers, teachers, translators and fund-raisers, who either join their husbands in the fight or step into the breach as men are jailed or killed.

Charitable impulse of the Taiwanese is often channelled into Buddhist philanthropy, which troubles receiving countries less than the proselytizing zeal that comes attached to some brands of Christian charity.

pros·e·ly·tize
v.   pros·e·ly·tized, pros·e·ly·tiz·ing, pros·e·ly·tiz·es

v.   intr.

1. To induce someone to convert to one’s own religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one’s own political party or to espouse one’s doctrine.

v.   tr.
To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another.

pros’e·ly·ti·za’tion (-tĭ-zā’shən) n., pros’e·ly·tiz’er n.

Kailey, who has served time in prison, is a card shark and pool hustler who lives by her wits and exists in a state of such high anxiety that stress makes her retch.

retch
v.   retched, retch·ing, retch·es

v.   intr.
To try to vomit.

v.   tr.
To vomit

If she were as bright as she is supposed to be, she wouldn’t tolerate his churlish treatment of other women.

churl·ish
adj.  

1. Of, like, or befitting a churl; boorish or vulgar.
2. Having a bad disposition; surly: “as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear” (Shakespeare).
3. Difficult to work with, such as soil; intractable.

Hannah returns from Scotland aglow over her engagement to Colin, a rich, handsome aristocrat with a brogue who galloped to her rescue when he spied her stranded in her car at a cattle crossing.

brogue 
n.  

1. A heavy shoe of untanned leather, formerly worn in Scotland and Ireland.
2. A strong oxford shoe, usually with ornamental perforations and wing tips.
3. An Irish accent.

Patrick Dempsey plays the putative Mr. Right in this taming-of-the-rogue fable.

pu·ta·tive
adj.   Generally regarded as such; supposed. See Synonyms at supposed.