It’s St. Patrick’s Day! I’m completely sober and home. I’d much rather be out at bars and, you know, not sober. But COVID is still around, so that takes care of that. Apparently there are yet more waves of COVID outbreak in Europe, and I don’t want any part of that. Like, come on, people. Be smart.

Yesterday I missed CHOKE, COCK, COKE, HELLHOLE, HOCK, HOOK, LOLL,

Meatier Misses

HOKE: (of an actor) act (a part) in an insincere, sentimental, or melodramatic manner.

From etymonline:

hoke (v.)

“overact, act insincerely,” 1935, theatrical slang, probably back-formed from hokum. Often with up (adv.).

hokum (n.)

1917, theater slang, “melodramatic, exaggerated acting,” probably formed on model of bunkum (see bunk (n.2)), and perhaps also influenced by or based on hocus-pocus.

bunk (n.2)

“nonsense,” 1900, short for bunkum, phonetic spelling of Buncombe, a county in North Carolina. The usual story (attested by 1841) of its origin is this: At the close of the protracted Missouri statehood debates in the U.S. Congress, supposedly on Feb. 25, 1820, North Carolina Rep. Felix Walker (1753-1828) began what promised to be a “long, dull, irrelevant speech,” and he resisted calls to cut it short by saying he was bound to say something that could appear in the newspapers in the home district and prove he was on the job. “I shall not be speaking to the House,” he confessed, “but to Buncombe.” Thus Bunkum has been American English slang for “nonsense” since 1841 (it is attested from 1838 as generic for “a U.S. Representative’s home district”).

KOHL: A black powder, usually antimony sulfide or lead sulfide, used as eye makeup especially in Eastern countries.

Today’s summary

Final score: 20 words for 117 points.
Genius minimum: 115 points.
First word: DAUNTING.
Pangram: DAUNTING.