{"id":42385,"date":"2013-09-10T00:09:31","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T07:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=42385"},"modified":"2013-09-10T00:09:31","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T07:09:31","slug":"potemkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/42385","title":{"rendered":"Potemkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTell me, have you ever been in this situation?<\/p>\n

There’s a car coming up the drive \u2026<\/p>\n

\"gleaming_word-potempkin1\"

Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid’s Garden by John William Waterhouse (1904) via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

A quick peek reveals a guest arriving,<\/p>\n

and your house is\u2014let’s be honest\u2014a mess.<\/p>\n

Dishes undone,<\/p>\n

socks on the stairway,<\/p>\n

ongoing projects\u00a0laid out hither and yon.<\/p>\n

\"gleaming_word-potempkin2\"

Photo by Luca Masters via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The scramble begins\u2014grab and stash! Spritz lavender in the air. Break out a box of biscotti.<\/p>\n

Within a minute and a half, your Potemkin village is perfect,<\/p>\n

well\u2014let’s be honest AGAIN\u2014as perfect as it’s going to get.<\/p>\n

Utter a hasty prayer that the closet door stays shut<\/p>\n

and then fling open the door and declare,<\/p>\n

“Welcome! You’re just in time for tea!”<\/p>\n

\n
<\/dt>\n
\"gleaming_word-potempkin3\"<\/a><\/dd>\n
Image courtesy of Reusableart.com<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Potemkin village?<\/p>\n

You caught that, didn’t you?<\/p>\n

Our word-of-the-week refers to a “pretentiously showy or imposing fa\u00e7ade intended to mask or divert attention from an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition,” says Dictionary.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The term took root, according to legend, when Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin erected fake settlements, full of fanfare, in order to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787.<\/p>\n

\"gleaming_word-potempkin4\"

Painting of fireworks during the visit of Catherine II of Russia in Crimea, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tell me, have you ever been in this situation? There’s a car coming up the drive \u2026 A quick peek reveals a guest arriving, and your house is\u2014let’s be honest\u2014a mess. Dishes undone, socks on the stairway, ongoing projects\u00a0laid out … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gleaming_word"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}