The Primrose path of dalliance

 
To be "led down the primrose path" is an idiom suggesting that one is being deceived or led astray, often by a hypocrite. The primrose path also refers to someone living a life of luxury apparently linking primroses to libertine indulgence; a life of ease and pleasure; sometimes a deceptively easy course of action that can end in tragedy.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare refers to the 'primrose path of dalliance'. Dalliance is the deliberate act of delaying and playing instead of working; flirting; or playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest.
 

Carnet

 
A carnet is a customs document permitting the holder to carry or send merchandise temporarily into certain foreign countries (for display, demonstration or similar purposes) without paying duties or posting bonds. I9 assume it comes from the French and therefore I imagine it is pronounced car-nay.
 

Ubiquity

 
Ubiquity is the state of being everywhere at once (or seeming to be everywhere at once. It is synonymous with omnipresence.
 

Purdah

 
Purdah or Pardaa is sometimes used to mean solitude or a state of social isolation. More correctly it refers to the traditional Hindu or Muslim system of keeping women secluded; a screen used in India to separate women from men or strangers; the seclusion of women away from outside, public life; or the practice that secludes women from public observation by means of concealing clothing. The word comes from the Hindi word Parda — a screen or veil.
 

Quixotic

 
Quixotic (pronounced quick-sotic) means not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic; or absurdly chivalric, like Don Quixote in the book by Miguel Cervantes. Unlike the adjective, the Don himself is pronounced key-ho-tay.

"An insight into the beauty and excellence of this incomparable adjective is unhappily denied to him who has the misfortune to know that the gentleman's name is pronounced Ke-ho-tay." (Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary)
 

Distaff

 
A distaff was the staff on which wool or flax was wound before spinning. As spinning was women's work, the word came to mean the sphere of work by women; female: characteristic of or peculiar to a woman. It is nowadays sometimes used to refer to the distaff side of the family - meaning the line that comes down through (or goes back through) the women of the family.
 

Pastiche

A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a "hodge-podge" or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.

I guess this blog is a pastiche of sorts! It's certainly a hodge-podge which, by definition, is a jumble; a medley; a motley assortment of things.

Samite

Samite was a heavy silk fabric (often woven with silver or gold threads); used to make clothing in the Middle Ages.

Pooty

Pooty was (and may still be) a dialect term for a snail shell.

"... my botanizing & naturalizing excursions & you will laugh at my comencement for I have been seriously & busily employd this last 3 weeks hunting Pooty shells.." John Clare 1825

Lackadaisical

 

Lackadaisical means dreamy: lacking spirit or liveliness; idle or indolent especially in a dreamy way; showing no interest or enthusiasm.