Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Gerbils are the worst.

I'm a fan of ferrets, but be prepared to start having your stuff disappear.

socle: a low, plain part forming a base for a column, pedestal, or the like

The socle was investigated using an actinic process, but the results were inconclusive.

Little known fact: If you have three (or more) scheduled finals the same day, university policy allows for you to take one of them another day. Now I'm wondering if I knew that. I'm thinking I probably did, but I would rather take the finals than go through the process of rescheduling. Who knows wh...

I also did 19 and survived it (got all A's even, as long as I'm bragging). I'd say 15 is ideal, but 16 is definitely doable. The worst thing about a full course load is finals -- you may have to take three exams back to back to back beginning at 7AM. I am still recovering from that all these years l...

Under the current system, Student A remains at BYU anyways, just as a closet non-believer who will become an embittered alum. Either way, Student B isn't getting Student A's spot.

sudorific: causing sweat

The exposure to the sun produced a sudorific effect on the enemy as they attacked the ravelin.

ravelin: a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress

Although the strength of the enemy's ravelins had been bruited about for years, the commander opted to attack the fortress to the detriment of his brigade.

bruit: to voice abroad; rumor

The presidential candidate's chances of success were limited now that his recent cardiac embarrassment had been bruited about.

Well, there's one experience that is pretty well known: At the age of fifteen, Smith was called to go on his first LDS mission to the Sandwich Islands (designated the Hawaiian Islands after acquisition as a territory of the United States) under the direction of apostle Parley P. Pratt. Smith was ord...

The day before Christmas, that's my crowd ... go in and get whatever is left, limit your options, make your shopping easier.

oast: a building designed for kilning (drying) hops as part of the brewing process.

Visible on the palimpsest were depictions of oasts.

I don't want to go shopping with a horde of people. I wouldn't go in a Walmart on Black Friday if you paid me $20/hr, let alone spend my own money on the experience.

Does it make a difference if the engagement ring also ended up acting as the wedding ring?

My MTC district was saying a group prayer once and one missionary started giggling and it was infectious and by the end nobody could keep it together and finally the person saying the prayer broke up and giggled an Amen. We then opened our eyes and looked at one another like "what the heck was ...

"Thee" and "thou" were familiar terms, not formal ones. Which is why I now say "you" in prayers. I'd much rather have a familiar God than a distanced one (plus, I wasn't sure how to pluralize "thee" and "thou" when I started praying to both parents)...

One more trick for getting scholarships -- pick a major early so you can apply for departmental scholarships. Lots of donors set up scholarships for particular majors, and there's not always a lot of competition for them. Also, if you attend classes in the summer and have a decent GPA, you are very ...

"Mission mom" seems similar to "first lady" (which also sounds archaic to me ... what will we call Bill, first gentleman?). Yes, she's influential and very important, but there are some who do more than others and there is absolutely no obligation to do much of anything. While tr...

I know that as a Scottish American I'm not exactly a cultural/oppressed minority - I do wonder if just randomly wearing a kilt is a form of cultural appropriation? I feel like wearing a lavalava would be kind of odd if you had no connection to the South Pacific. I saw an African man at the DMV wear...

Home birth is the default. It's been around longer than medicine has existed. All sorts of things can be done to make any activity safer, but there's a point at which you accept the risks in order to retain some of the particular benefits. I hate hospitals, the way they make me feel, I don't feel sa...

yonic
In the shape of a vulva or a vagina

(someone mentioned this as the opposite of 'phallic' -- perhaps it is.)

Demisexuals don't seek out pornography of either a phallic or yonic nature.