Thought for the day.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Truth, in matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900)


A WORD FOR THE DAY:
bien-pensant

PRONUNCIATION:
(bee-aN poN-saN [the last three syllables are nasal]) 

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Right-thinking; conservative; conformist.
2. Self-righteous.

noun:
1. A right-thinking person.
2. A self-righteous person.


ETYMOLOGY:
From French, literally well thinking, from bien (well), + penser (to think).


USAGE:
"But the problem is that one man's superstition is another man's religion, and vice versa. Many Protestants today still see Catholicism as being rife with superstition, ... while atheists and agnostics would see bien-pensant Protestants as worshiping an equally absurd form of the supernatural."
David Gibson; Is One Man's Faith Another's Superstition?; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Mar 27, 2009.

"We North London bien pensant types do our best, we really do."
Peter York; How to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 17, 2006.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. -John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873)


A WORD FOR TODAY:
pas de deux

PRONUNCIATION:
(pah duh DU)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A dance for two people.
2. A close relationship between two people or things involved in an activity.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French, literally step of two.

USAGE:
"This novel The Song Is You is a pas de deux between a young singer-songwriter and the much older man who actively, obsessively inspires her."
Kate Christensen; Always on My Mind; The New York Times; Apr 10, 2009.

"One of the many paradoxes of this place we call home is the pas de deux of life and death."
G. D. Maxwell; Screaming Into the Void; Pique Newsmagzaine (Whistler, Canada); Apr 8, 2009.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A man is respected not for how tall he stands but for how often he bends to help, comfort and teach...


A WORD FOR TODAY:

insolence

DEFINITION:    (noun) an attitude or behavior that is bold and disrespectful.

EXAMPLE:    Some feel that news reporters who shout their questions are behaving with insolence.

SYNONYMS:    boldness, audacity

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Between the greatest things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing...


A WORD FOR THE DAY:
emollient

DEFINITION:    (noun) something that softens or soothes.

EXAMPLE:    She used a hand cream as an emollient on her dry, work-roughened hands.

SYNONYMS:    balm, salve

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing...


There are two times in life when we are most likely to be lost for words: when we're happiest and when we're saddest. For other occasions, we can usually think of a word. With such a large wordstock in its coffers, the English language is at the ready to supply just the right word.

Stock up your verbal reserve with this week's words, words that may make you say, "I didn't know there was a word for it!"

A WORD FOR TODAY:

perendinate

PRONUNCIATION:
(puh-REN-di-nayt)

MEANING:
verb tr. : To put off until the day after tomorrow.
verb intr.: To stay at a college for an extended time.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin perendinare (to defer until the day after tomorrow), from perendie (on the day after tomorrow), from dies (day).

NOTES:
The word procrastinate is from Latin cras (tomorrow). So when you procrastinate, literally speaking, you are putting something off till tomorrow. Mark Twain once said, "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." In other words, why procrastinate when you can perendinate?

USAGE:
"In Peterhouse the Master and Fellows might not allow a stranger to perendinate for more than a fortnight unless they were certified of his moral character and of his ability and willingness to do the College some notable service."
Thomas Alfred Walker; Peterhouse; Hutchinson & Co.; 1906.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Oh, it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

A WORD FOR TODAY:
moirologist

PRONUNCIATION:
(moy-ROL-uh-jist)

MEANING:
noun: A hired mourner.

NOTES:
There are some things in life money can't buy, for everything else, there's Mastercard. With the right credit card you could even hire mourners for your funeral or find the right sentiment. While researching this word, I came across websites that offer "eulogy packs". One such site lists a "Mother's Eulogy pack" that includes "9 speeches, 3 poems, 3 free bonus". Only $25.95 -- have your credit card ready. Fathers go cheaper: $19.97.

Let's not be too smug and look down upon those who buy these packs. When we go to the neighborhood card store to buy a greeting card or a sympathy card, we're also hiring someone to package words to help us convey our feelings.

Professional mourners are not a new thing either -- there's a long tradition going back to ancient Greece and beyond. As late as 1908 a New York Times article reported on a professional mourners' strike in Paris.

Then there is claque, a group of people hired to applaud a performer at a show.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek moira (fate, death) + logos (word).

USAGE:
"There may be found traces, too, of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness in the death ballads sung by the hired mourners... The moirologists will sing of the loneliness of the living, of the horrors of death."
George Walter Prothero; The Quarterly Review; John Murray (London, UK); 1886.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
When a nation gives birth to a man who is able to produce a great thought, another is born who is able to understand and admire it. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

A WORD FOR TODAY:

prosopagnosia

PRONUNCIATION:
(pros-uh-pag-NO-see-uh)

MEANING:
noun: Inability to recognize familiar faces.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek prosopon (face, mask), from pros- (near) + opon (face), from ops (eye) + agnosia (ignorance). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know) that is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, and normal.

NOTES:
Prosopagnosia is also known as face blindness, usually a result of brain injury. People suffering from it cannot recognize familiar faces, even their own. A book on this and related topics is neurologist Oliver Sacks's "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
Prosopagnosiacs' motto: We don't take people at face value.

USAGE:
"Rob Cross, 25, acquired prosopagnosia four years ago when a virus attacked his brain. For years, he has hidden his condition by avoiding calling his co-workers at a Burnaby manufacturing company by name, or acting slightly aloof. 'Every morning people say, "Hi Rob," and the majority of the time I don't know who it is,' said Mr. Cross."
Hayley Mick; We Know Each Other, But Who Are You?; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jan 10, 2008.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Oh, how small a portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambitiously seek after the whole world while we are living! -Philip of Macedon, king, father of Alexander the Great (382-336 BCE)

A WORD FOR THE DAY:

xanthodontous


PRORONUNCIATION:
(zan-tho-DON-tuhs)

MEANING:
adjective: Having yellow teeth.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek xanthos (yellow) + -odon (toothed).

USAGE:
"That I am becoming, or have become, xanthodontous cannot be of interest to anybody."
Reginald Moore, Edward Lane; The Windmill (London, UK); 1946.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. -Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

A WORD FOR TODAY:
borborygmus

PRONUNCIATION:
(bor-buh-RIG-muhs) 

MEANING:
noun: A rumbling noise caused by the movement of gas through the intestines.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek borborygmos (intestinal rumbling), an onomatopoeiac word to describe the sound.


NOTES:
Borborygmi are usually harmless, they are simply a result of gas movement around the stomach. And the rumbling sound doesn't mean one is hungry either. We can't really do anything about the sound of a stomach growling, but we can take comfort in the fact that at least we know a fancy word to describe it.


USAGE:
"And the piece de resistance:
'He was woken early by borborygmus as his insides fermented and his intestines ballooned with gas beyond their capacity.'"
Ruth Dudley Edwards; Book Review / Straying Into A Dark, Ugly And Sick World; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 21, 1994.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind...

A WORD FOR TODAY:

lethargic

DEFINITION: (adjective) lacking energy; sluggish.

EXAMPLE: Visitors to the zoo are surprised that the lions appear so lethargic, but, in the wild, lions sleep up to 18 hours a day.

SYNONYMS: lazy, apathetic

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner...

Yesterday Scott.T used the word "derrier" in the Personal Milestones 500 thread when he said "I better watch my derrier".  Whilst the sentence eluded the meaning, just in case others are just as word challenged as I, it is the word of the day.

A WORD FOR TODAY:

derriere

PRONUNCIATION:
(der-ri-ere)

ETYMOLOGY:
French, behind, from old French, in back of.

MEANING:
Noun - the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on.

USAGE:
"He deserves a good kick in the butt; are you going to sit on your fanny and do nothing?"

SYNONYMS:
arse, ass, behind,buns,buttocks,hind end, hind quarters, keisler, nates, posterior, prat, fanny, rear end, tooshie, tush, seat, fundament, backside, bottom, rump, stem, tail end, rear, bum, can, butt.

[Scott]

Furlozza actually used it the first time, but it is a good candidate for Word of the Day :)

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum.

A WORD FOR TODAY:

maritorious

As we head towards equality of the sexes, the same word works fine for both. Today one who teaches is simply a teacher, compared to earlier days when we had teachers and teacheresses, depending on their anatomy. This is a good thing: why have two separate words when a person's gender has no bearing on the job? But sometimes separate words are necessary to convey a distinction. This week we'll feature five words that relate specifically to either men or women, and we'll also include words for him or for her.

PRONUNCIATION:
(ma-ri-TOR-ee-uhs) 

MEANING:
adjective: Excessively fond of one's husband.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin maritus (married, husband).


NOTES:
The word to describe a husband who is excessively fond of a wife is uxorious. The word maritorious is rare, while uxorious is fairly well known. What does that say about the relative fondness of husbands and wives to each other?


USAGE:
"Dames maritorious ne'er were meritorious."
George Chapman; The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois; 1607.

[Cruncher Pete]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves! -Andre Gide, author, Nobel laureate (1869-1951)


A WORD FOR TODAY:

patrocliny / patricliny

PRONUNCIATION:
(PA-truh-kli-nee) 

MEANING:
noun: Inheritance of traits primarily from the father.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek patro- (father) + klinein (to lean). Ultimately from the Indo-European root klei- (to lean) that is also the source of lean, incline, ladder, lid, client, climate, and climax.


NOTES:
The female counterpart of this term is matrocliny.


USAGE:
"Common to all was the early modern ideal of nobility that prized purity above antiquity; quarterings [joining different coats of arms to symbolize various ancestries] together above patrocliny, and virtue above ethnicity."
William D. Godsey; Nobles and Nation in Central Europe; Cambridge University Press; 2004.

[WikiWill]

This thread is always an thought-provoking place to start the day!