1 July 2015

• Trailblazer: A person who blazes a trail for others to follow through unsettled country or wilderness; pathfinder
• The danger now is that, just as Greece was once a trailblazer in linking a democratic transition to the European project, so it may become an emblem of a new and dangerous process: the disintegration of the EU. (Gideon Rachman-FT)
• Ex officio: By virtue of office, or official position
• Finally, they want the answer ex officio. (William J. Farrell) 
• Smother: To extinguish and deaden (fire, coal, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air; to suppress or repress.
• Researching through newspapers and speeches from the 1980s and 1990s in the Arab region, I've uncovered a world of almost inexpressible anger-yes, and talk of revenge-despite the Arab dictators who worked for us at the time and tried to smother this frustration, even when Iraqis were dying by the thousandfold.  (Robert Fisk-Independent)
• Bum Rap: An unjust accusation, verdict, or punishment; an adverse opinion or judgment considered unjust or undeserved
• Corinne Bendersky on why neurotics get a Bum Rap. (Laura W. Geller)