15 April 2016

Measly: Contemptibly small; meager or slight

• Is he seriously suggesting, all things being equal, Don Quixote's thousand-odd pages makes it simply better than Death in Venice's measly 72?  (Richard Lea) 

Bean Counting: Having to do with bureaucratic statistics and calculations. 

• I'm the first to acknowledge the special pleasures of long-form fiction, but isn't this kind of aesthetic bean counting a little one-dimensional.  (Richard Lea) 

Rambling: Aimlessly wandering; (of writing or speech) lengthy and confused or inconsequential.  

• The novella is "the perfect form of prose fiction...the beautiful daughter of a rambling, bloated ill-shaven giant."  (Richard Lea) 
• It was during these days that Khan's ramblings about a U.S. conspiracy against him and Pakistan took hold. (Maham Jawaid: 10 October 2022)