Sarcasm [Noun.]

A sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt. Some authorities sharply distinguish sarcasm from irony, however others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony.

Fasces

A plural tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning bundle are a bundle of wooden sticks with an axe blade emerging from the centre, which is an image that traditionally symbolizes summary power and jurisdiction, and/or ‘strength through unity’. Fasces frequently occur as a charge in heraldry, and should not be confused with the related term, fess, which in French heraldry is called a fasce.

The traditional Roman fasces consisted of a bundle of white birch rods, tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder, and often including a bronze axe or sometimes two, amongst the rods, with the blade on the side, projecting from the bundle. It was used as a symbol of the Roman Republic in many circumstances, including being carried in processions, much the way a flag might be carried today.

Sardonicism [Noun.]

Sardonicism is the expression of derision, cynicism or sceptical humour variously through comment, gesture or writing.

Transliteration

Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way. An example of transliteration is typing an e-mail using a qwerty keyboard and sending it in a non-qwerty script. In a broader sense, the word transliteration may be used to include both transliteration in the narrow sense and transcription. Anglicizing is a transcription method. For instance; Romanization encompasses several transliteration and transcription methods. Some examples or partial transliterations are words like bishop from the Greek word ‘episkopoi’ and the word ‘deacon’ which is partially transliterated from the Greek word ‘diakonos’.

Schadenfreude [Noun.]

Malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else’s misfortune.

The Emerald Tablet

The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes, is a text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations.

It claims to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Greatest), a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. This short and cryptic text was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art, in particular of its Hermetic tradition.

Acrology [Noun.]

Arcology, a portmanteau of the words architecture and ecology, is a set of architectural design principles aimed toward the design of enormous habitats and hyper-structures of extremely high human population density. These largely hypothetical structures would contain a variety of residential, commercial, and agricultural facilities and minimize individual human environmental impact. They are often portrayed as self-contained or economically self-sufficient. The concept has been popularized in many science fiction novels.

Low-Ball

The low-ball is a persuasion and selling technique in which an item or service is offered at a lower price than is actually intended to be charged, after which the price is raised to increase profits.

An explanation for the effect is provided by cognitive dissonance theory. If a person is already enjoying the prospect of an excellent deal and the future benefits of the item or idea then backing out would create cognitive dissonance, which is prevented by playing down the negative effect of the extra costs.