Acerbic

As Buckley writes in The Lexicon, “ His only apparent extracurricular involvements were an occasional letter to the Yale Daily News , acerbic, polished and conclusive in the sense of unfailingly suggesting that any contrary opinion should not presume to expect from him any rebuttal.” Buckley defined acerbic as sharply or bitingly ironic. What did Buckley know? After all, he was a Yalie by blood. I teach pictures and for acerbic I want my student of vocabulary to see in their mind the meanest, orneriest, son of a bitch they can imagine. And then I would have them cluster the words contentious, abrasive and acidulous as their vocabulary grew. Are you getting the picture?