Mole Hills or Mountains? Words relating to Problems, Puzzlements, and Disasters

ADVERSITY N. Great trouble or difficulty

ANIMAL ADVERSITY!

PAST ADVERSITY:

FUTURE ADVERSITY!

ADVERSITY The book tells how she overcame the ADVERSITY of an impoverished childhood. The hero faced four years of ADVERSITY trying to survive on a desert island.

CONFLAGRATION N. a huge fire; an inferno Flames from the CONFLAGRATON lit up the sky for miles around.

CONFLAGRATION The burning of Atlanta in Gone With the Wind is one of the great CONFLAGRATION scenes in movie history.

CONFOUNDING Adj. puzzling, baffling

CONFOUNDING The world was fascinated by the CONFOUNDING disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

CONFOUNDED!

CRYPTIC Adj. hidden, hard to understand, mysterious, obscure THE ROSETTA STONE

CRYPTIC We found a CRYPTIC message scrawled on the blackboard. No one could figure out its meaning. The twins used a CRYPTIC, incomprehensible language to talk to each other.

DEBACLE N. A failure or breakdown; a collapse that is often nonsensical

OBLIVIOUS PILOTS = IMMINENT DEBACLE…

VORACIOUS SHARK = IMMINENT DEBACLE!

DEFINITE DEBACLE!

DEBACLE For me, physics class was a DEBACLE. I understood none of it, failed every test, and finally dropped the course. The performance was a DEBACLE. Actors forgot their lines, the set fell down, and the lights blew halfway through the first act.

ENIGMA N. a riddle or mystery; a puzzling or baffling matter or person

Enigma Machine

ENIGMA Isabelle is an ENIGMA. I can’t figure her out. Her moods change with the wind. The ENIGMATIC carvings on the ancient Egyptian tomb have never been fully interpreted.

ENIGMA or … DEBACLE … or BOTH?

LABYRINTH N. a maze from which it is very hard to extricate (free) oneself

LABYRINTH The basement of our school is a LABYRINTH of tunnels and passageways. It’s easy to get lost. Applying to college often seems like trying to find your way through a complicated maze or LABYRINTH.

ART Imitates life.

Cutting the GORDIAN KNOT! Animal ingenuity triumphs!

PRECARIOUS Adj. dangerous or risky; uncertain

PRECARIOUS POSITION

POSITION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING PRECARIOUS POSITION

PRECARIOUS Because Finny’s foothold on the tree limb was PRECARIOUS, he fell and broke his leg. It’s PRECARIOUS to apply to only one college because you may not be accepted. Then what?

ELOQUENT QUANDARY N. A dilemma; a confusing or puzzling situation

QUANDARY

Walter faced the enviable QUANDARY of deciding which of three hot colleges he should attend. Safe Rides has taken the QUANDARY out of whether to accept a ride with a driver who’s been drinking.

TURBULENCE N. Great unrest; turmoil or disorder

TURBULENCE In September Mac and Meg were a happy couple. But since Mary came along, their relationship has experienced some TURBULENCE. “Buckle your seat belt,” said the flight attendant. “We are experiencing some TURBULENCE.”

TURMOIL N. A very puzzling scenario or situation; tumult

TURMOIL There was TURMOIL in the room because the teacher had lost control of the class. Gretchen’s emotions were in TURMOIL after Jerry unexpectedly broke up with her.

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS dropped down in Yugoslavia as soon as he heard the news that Croatia had declared their independence. Even though he was experienced in frontline photography, he soon came to realize that "the situation in Yugoslavia was more dangerous than anything I had ever gotten myself into." ONE NIGHT WHILE driving through Serbian territory after dark, Morris was shadowed by a black Mercedes: "When we got to a wooded area - where a camera crew had disappeared two weeks earlier - the Mercedes cut us off." THREE MEN WITH AK-47s pulled Morris out of his car and threw him to the ground. "They cocked their guns, pointed them to our heads, and accused us of being Croatian spies." They ripped through his passport and bags for evidence. "LUCKILY, we had rejected the Croation press cards that had been issued to many photojournalists," remembers Morris uneasily, "One wrong turn could put you where you did not want to be."