Apostasy
Posted on | May 13, 2009 | No Comments
Initial impressions… sounds like a curse…
Root: Greek, apostasis, defection, literally away from, standing.
Definition: In a religious or political context, to abandon belief.
Examples:
- Apostasy of the Muslim religion carries a sentence of death.
- The sexual and physical abuses of the Catholic clergy during the last half-century have done more to promote apostasy than evolutionists could ever do with their erudite arguments.
twj says:
I like the prefix Apo-. It’s a common prefix, and it always indicates from, away, quite, un-. It prefixes such words as apo-strophe (away + turn), apo-crypha (away + hidden), apo-calypse (un- + cover). I get great pleasure deconstructing words and then seeing where the journey takes me. We’ve just looked at apo-calypse, and calypse is quite close to Calypso, the nymph who kept Odysseus hidden in a cave on Malta for seven years. Is it any surprise that calypso literally means she who conceals?
Recidivism
Posted on | May 12, 2009 | No Comments
Root: Latin, re + cadere, meaning back + to fall.
Definition: To reoffend, particularly used of a convicted criminal.
Examples:
- We call prisons ‘correctional facilities’. That’s a misnomer. The worth of the ‘correctional institute’ should be measured by the rate of recidivism.
- His was a recidivistic character, immune to reform.
twj says:
Although dry and technical, the root of the word is cool. To fall back. Although it’s normally confined to the realm of criminal behaviour, I wonder if it could share the burden carried by the word relapse, and be used to describe falling off the wagon, or repeatedly breaking a diet….
I also have an image in my mind of a chair with a wonky leg. That damn recidivistic chair.
Tryst
Posted on | May 12, 2009 | No Comments
Root: Latin, tristia, meaning an appointed hunting place.
Definition: A poetic word implying a rendezvous between two lovers.
Examples:
- Their tryst this night, as on many others, was at the entrance to the apple orchard.
twj says:
The fun is, of course, not in using the word for lovers, but applied to innocent parties to imply that something more might be going on, or that there’s a secretive aspect to the rendezvous.
I do like the hunting root. The word has retained a sense of the hunting/chasing/danger in pronounciation. Short, sharp, succinct.
Calliope
Posted on | May 11, 2009 | No Comments
Root: Greek, Kalliopē, literally having a beautiful voice.
Definition: Name given to a keyboard operated steam-whistle organ, mostly found on old steam-ships.
Examples:
- As she forged through the waters, her calliope could be heard whistling away.
twj says:
This is another example of language being used for hollow showmanship. Calling a steam-whistle organ Calliope is a travesty of lingual heritage. It’s like calling the diggeri-doo celestial, no offense implied to diggeri-doo aficionados.
Calliope was chief of the nine Muses of ancient Greece, the muse of singing. The word should be kept in a velvet-lined, gold-plated box, and carefully removed and pronounced only when absolutely necessary.
Phlegmatic
Posted on | May 11, 2009 | No Comments
Phlegm, or “flem”. Gives me the shivers cos I immediately see a dodering old fool showering me with spittle as they ed-jew-mi-kate me on some arcane social grace that I’ve never heard of, growing ever more angry until they work themselves into a coughing or whooping fit. But it doesn’t mean that at all! It means someone unemotional, calm, unrilable. Someone you can’t work up into a passion. Someone who just sits there coolly in the heat of an argument, unbothered, apathetic, even.
Root: Greek, phlegmatikos, meaning inflammation, which is from phegein, meaning to burn.
Definition: A calm or apathetic temperament/calmness of temperament.
Examples:
- His phlegmatic temperament enabled him to endure many a cold, lonely, difficult night.
- The noise of the siren would rile even the most phlegmatic of characters.
twj says:
To truly understand phlegmatic, you have to look at the medical science of the middle ages, wherein they would diagnose the health of the patient in terms of the four cardinal humours: the blood (sanguine), the phlegm (phlegmatic), the yellow bile (choler, or anger), and the black bile (melancholy). These terms are still in heavy use today as a way of describing our humour/humor, which has as it’s root the meaning fluid.
Although it is regarded as barbaric and hopelessly out-of-date for medical science, the subject of the four humours, or temperaments, is fascinating and merges with the cardinal elements of the astrological science. (Yes, I just said “astrological science” to see how phlegmatic my rational readers are). Read more on the Wiki:
Anyway, I have to imprint the meaning of Phegmatic, and I’m going to do it by thinking of someone who’s got a cold, is all phlegmed up, and has no real enthusiasm for anything. Hope it works for you as well.
Why English Spelling is Dum(b)
Posted on | April 28, 2009 | No Comments
At the spritely age of 102, Ed Rondthaler, founder of Photo Lettering, Inc, demonstrates visually why English language spelling is dum(b). It’s a humourous introduction to the whole debate about English spelling reform and well worth watching.
Update: Mr Rondthaler passed away August 19th, 2009. RIP.
Inexorable
Posted on | April 27, 2009 | No Comments
Root: Latin, in-exorabilis, meaning not and entreat.
Definition: Impossible to stop or prevent.
Examples:
- After the death of his wife and child in such tragic circumstances, his already fragile state of mind inexorably deteriorated.
- The ever-curious nature of the human spirit leads inexorably to new discovery and technological advances.
- The lawyer was inexorable, there was nothing that could be done to prevent the lawsuit.
twj says:
I always associate the word inexorable with a sense of inevitable creeping. It has a fatalistic and irrevocable tone to it, and can’t be used lightly. You can use it to describe a person’s state—if they can’t be persuaded or influenced, but it’s one of those words that you really have to mean.
It also reminds me of a nightmare I had where I was paralysed and lying in the path of a runaway steamroller. I woke up from ennui waiting for the inexorably creeping steamroller.
Perdition
Posted on | April 27, 2009 | No Comments
Root: Latin, per-dare, meaning to destruction and put.
Definition: A state of eternal punishment and damnation in the after-life.
Examples:
- He was sure that his sinful ways had paved his path to perdition.
- The willful raping of Earth’s resources and our negligent pollution are creating a future perdition for the human race.
twj says:
A cheeky word this. Powerful. Of course, a word like this is going to be appropriated by the Abrahamic religions. A nice twist is to use the word to describe a current state of affairs, suggesting the damnation is wrought on ourselves through our actions or inactions.
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