nefarious
seen today in a text file included in a software archive defined thus:ne-far-i-ous, adj. infamous by way of being extremely wicked. and
\ne*fa"ri*ous\, a. [l. nefarius, fr. nefas crime, wrong; ne not + fas divine law; akin to fari to speak. see no, adv., and fate.] wicked in the extreme; abominable; iniquitous; atrociously villainous; execrable; detestably vile.
you get the message, surely...
yet, my favourite ever ocurrence of this word is in emma thompson's golden globe award acceptance speech for her adaptation of sense and sensibility, which was indeed splendid. unlike almost every other ordinary, jaded and basically uncultured fellow winners that year, before and since, she thought she'd convey her messsage uniquely... she wondered what miss jane austen might have entered in her journal at four o'clock in the morning upon returning from an evening at the golden speheres awards...
[transcription of speech cometh]
