Dimidiated Turkey

Yesterday I read a few short descriptive pieces in a food publication and encountered the following words: dimidiate, ludibrious, archetype, proclivity and quintessential. Hm....not exactly the kind of vocabulary food writers use; in the the case of the first two, rarely seen anywhere.

What was the erudite publication? Trader Joe's Food Pilgrimager - the Thanksgiving edition. I quote:

• "We start with fresh, whole turkeys and dimidiate them." 
• "to preserve freshness, this turkey hemisphere is ready to heat and eat - "
• Speaking of sparkling apple cider, they write, "Naturally non-alcoholic, this bubbly brew leads the way to ludibrious legends. "
• Describing a floral bouquet - "Named for an archetype of Thansgiving cookery-Pumpkin Pie - this bouquet fits the holiday."
• Speaking of canned pumpkin: "Our proclivity is to keep it pure".
• "Crackers are quintessential cheese-delivering devices."

The typical TJ consumer must lean to the literati and lean quite considerably. 

Dimidiate means to cleave in half; ludibrious I found on a list of 20 obsolete English words which the list maker feels should make a come-back. It means the butt of jokes. Other words on his list I personally found more appealing and useful than than ludibrious are:

• Jollux - fat person
• Brabble - to argue loudly about something that doesn't matter
• Quagswagging - swaying to and fro

Happy Thanksgiving.