nefarious

\nih-FAIR-ee-us\

adjective

: flagrantly wicked or impious : evil

in the etymology, mirriam goes on to specify that unlike synonyms "vicious" and "villainous" NEFARIOUS suggests "flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct." i have to admit that i then looked up the definition of "flagrant," which i only vaguely understood in this context. obvious. glaring. notorious.

so...intentionally breaking with tradition of conduct. this leads me to another term: the unspoken rule. not unlike the concept of common sense, the unspoken rule is extremely vague, seemingly universal, and in reality quite circumstantial. these are rules that don't need to necessarily be documented because everybody who's anybody knows that you just don't do it.

here is an example of a friend of mine NEFARIOUSLY breaking an unspoken rule:

there was this pair of sneakers that i really loved—little black vans with white shoelaces. unfortunately for me, i have extremely flat arches and wearing cute little vans for even a few hours would render me practically disabled with foot-pain. but i adored these sneakers. my friend julie and i used to see them all the time in various shoe shops and i would fawn over them, wishing that i was fated with a better arch. julie never cared much for that style. she usually bought the slip on vans. i wanted the laces. they reminded me of the lace-up keds i had during childhood summers.

one day julie showed up at my house wearing the little black vans with white laces.

when did you get those shoes? i was aghast.

oh, i just bought them yesterday. i was getting tired of my other ones. so casual.

i was too shocked to even say anything about it. i wasn't sure if my anger was totally irrational. after all, i could never actually buy or wear the shoes, but i couldn't help feeling like she broke some sort of unspoken rule. she knew how much i had wanted those sneakers, and how crappy i felt for not being able to wear them. and then she went and bought them, and casually showed up at my house wearing them, as if i hadn't been wanting them FOREVER.

this seems really trite now, considering that i no longer care about these sneakers and this situation didn't affect our friendship...but...it was just the only example i could think of. when your friend wants something that they can't have, do go buying it and rubbing it in their face.

julie, if you're reading this, don't take it personally. JUST BE THANKFUL I'M STILL YOUR FRIEND, YOU NEFARIOUS SNEAKER-STEALING BITCH!

that was totally a joke. seriously.