Mishap is a misfortune; an accident.

All such confrontations contain combustible mixes of the money, power and mishap that seem to bubble out of the ground whenever a huge supply of oil or gas is for sale. (The Economist)

The professional wrestler known as The Undertaker got minor burns on his chest and a scare during a pyrotechnics mishap. (LA Times)

Offhand can be used as an adverb, where it means unprepared or brusquely; and as an adjective, where it means casual.

President Clinton made an offhand confession on Tuesday night that he had raised taxes “too much” in his first budget in 1993, and the remark drew mockery from Congressional Republicans today. (NY Times)

While adults will approve of the scenery, offhand humor and mild attempts at cultural sensitivity, children will like the sword fights and Crusoe’s ingenuity. (USA Today)

Maim means to cripple someone. It can also be used generally, where it means to damage something, making it defective.

Workers at drilling sites are surrounded by heavy machinery that can kill or maim in an instant. (USA Today)

Automakers Say Cuts in Duties Would Maim Industry (NY Times)

Ludicrous is an adjective used to describe something so absurd that it provokes laughs and mockery. One synonym is ridiculous.

A San Diego stock adviser who is accused of bribing an F.B.I. agent to give him confidential government information may have had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal prosecutor said yesterday. But a judge disregarded that contention and the adviser’s lawyer called the allegation ludicrous. (NY Times)

Some attacks on health care reform are so ludicrous that you don’t think they need answering. A recent example invokes an evil plot to save money by knocking off the elderly. (Houston Chronicle)

Subliminal is an adjective used to describe things or stimuli that work below the threshold of consciousness, thus influencing the individual without being perceived as clear thoughts or ideas. For example you can have subliminal advertising.

There is, in fact, a subliminal seriousness: The quest for marketing buzz, the worldwide ambition to be more than a blip on the dot.com community’s radar screen. (USA Today)

On gut feeling, Riley gave the order to shoot down what turned out to be an enemy missile. After hours of analysis, the officer and a cognitive psychologist resolved that his feeling was a subliminal recognition that the missile entered his screen at a slightly different interval from the planes he was used to tracking. (LA Times)