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Post by David on Sept 22, 2020 1:08:43 GMT
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
If you had to choose, would you rather be shirty or blousy? I’m not talking about your clothing preferences for your upper body.
Whichever way you go, it’s not looking good. To be shirty is to be bad-tempered or irritable and to be blousy is to be disheveled. Though, to be clear, the word blousy has nothing to do with the blouse (it’s from a dialectal word blowze, meaning wench).
The English language has many idioms involving clothing. To keep one’s shirt on is to refrain from losing one’s temper, while to lose one’s shirt is to lose everything. Language is not always logical.
How about pants? To wear the pants in a relationship is to be the dominant partner. To catch someone with their pants down is to catch them in an embarrassing or unprepared state.
This week we’ll see five terms related to pants and shirts. Whatever you choose to wear (or not wear), keep your mask on.
Fancy-Pants
MEANING:
noun: Someone attractive, silly, or pretentious.
adjective: Snobbish; pretentious; newfangled; overly complicated.
ETYMOLOGY:
From fancy, a contraction of fantasy, from Old French fantasie, from Latin phantasia, from Greek phantasia (imagination, appearance), from phantazein (to make visible) + pants, short for pantaloons, plural of pantaloon. St. Pantaleone/Pantalone was a popular saint in Venice. As a result, it was also a common name among the Venetians. As a result, a comic character in the Italian commedia dell’arte was named Pantalone. The leggings this character wore became known as pantalone (plural pantaloni). And that became pantaloons in English. Earliest documented use: 1870. A related word is smarty-pants.
USAGE:
“Let’s concentrate on the ones that make it, not waste space on some damn fancy-pants New Yorker who wants to make a big splash by dragging her old ideas to a new location.”
Lucy Burdette; Death with All the Trimmings; Obsidian; 2014.
“Well, it’s not as accurate as DNA testing, but hey, it’s what they used to use before all these fancy-pants tests.”
B.J. Daniels; A Woman with a Mystery; Harlequin; 2001. |
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Post by David on Sept 22, 2020 1:10:19 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Good books don't give up all their secrets at once.
-Stephen King, novelist (b. 21 Sep 1947)
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Post by David on Sept 22, 2020 21:08:51 GMT
shirtsleeve
MEANING: adjective: 1. Relating to pleasant warm weather. 2. Informal; direct. 3. Hardworking; having a can-do attitude. ETYMOLOGY: From the idea of rolling up the sleeves of one’s shirt in warm weather, in an informal setting, or in preparation to get down to work. Could also be from the idea of simply wearing a shirt, without a formal coat. From shirt, from Old English scyrte + sleeve, from Old English sliefe. Earliest documented use: 1567. USAGE: “On a shirtsleeves October evening, it was possibly written in the stars.” Chris Irvine; Grand Finale for Wane; Sunday Times (London, UK); Oct 14, 2018. “This shirtsleeve diplomacy seems to work.” The Election: 100% United; The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Apr 8, 2005. See more usage examples of shirtsleeve in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. |
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Post by David on Sept 22, 2020 21:11:17 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket,
and do not pull it out and strike it merely to show you have one.
If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it, but do not proclaim it hourly
and unasked, like the watchman.
-Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (22 Sep 1694-1773)
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Post by David on Sept 24, 2020 22:15:45 GMT
trouser role
MEANING:
noun:
In opera, drama, film, etc.:
1. A role in which a female character pretends to be a male.
2. A male part played by a female actor.
Also known as a breeches role or a pants role.
ETYMOLOGY:
From the traditional view of trousers as male clothing.
From an alteration of earlier trouse, from Scottish Gaelic triubhas, influenced by drawers.
Earliest documented use: 1955.
USAGE:
“‘Ms. Sonnier will be singing the part of Romeo.’ I paused, playing back the sentence in my mind.
‘Romeo?’
‘That’s correct, sir. It’s a trouser role.’”
Reed Arvin; The Last Goodbye; HarperCollins; 2009.
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Post by David on Sept 24, 2020 22:16:22 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief ...
that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.
-Walter Lippmann, journalist (23 Sep 1889-1974)
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Post by David on Sept 24, 2020 23:01:47 GMT
brownshirt
MEANING:
noun: A member of police or military trained for carrying out a sudden assault,
especially one marked by brutality and violence.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Nazi storm troopers, from the color of their shirts. Earliest documented use: 1932.
USAGE:
“All the windows had already been smashed, and a brownshirt with a sledgehammer was
dementedly swinging it against the heavy doors. All this was lit by the bonfire in front of the building,
which other storm troopers kept refueling with stuff brought out from within.”
David Downing; Diary of a Dead Man on Leave; Soho Press; 2019.
See more usage examples of brownshirt in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Sept 24, 2020 23:02:32 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In my youth I thought of writing a satire on mankind;
but now in my age I think I should write an apology for them.
-Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (24 Sep 1717-1797)
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Post by David on Sept 25, 2020 13:33:18 GMT
seat-of-the-pants
MEANING:
adjective:
1. Using experience, instinct, or guesswork as opposed to methodical planning.
2. Done without instruments.
ETYMOLOGY:
The term has its origin in aviation. Before modern instruments, a pilot flew a plane based on how it felt
. For example, in fog or clouds, in the absence of instrumentation one could tell whether the plane was
climbing or diving by how heavy one feels in the seat. Seat of the pants is the area where one sits, i.e. the buttocks.
Earliest documented use: 1929.
USAGE:
“In a sprint race, he likely wouldn’t do all that well against seat-of-the-pants racers. But make it a test of endurance,
which 500 miles most definitely is, and a calm/steady approach could prove to be the right way.”
Norris McDonald; Methodical Racer Kellett Takes Aim at Indy 500; Toronto Star (Canada); Aug 22, 2020.
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Post by David on Sept 25, 2020 13:34:18 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I will not play at tug o' war. /
I'd rather play at hug o' war, /
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs.
-Shel Silverstein, writer (25 Sep 1930-1999)
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Post by David on Sept 26, 2020 9:49:44 GMT
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
In Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, Portia’s suitors get to pick one of three caskets: gold, silver, and lead. Each casket has a scroll that informs the suitor if he has won her hand. A prince picks a gold casket and when he opens it, a scroll inside it says:
All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold (Many have sold their lives/souls)
But my outside to behold. (To see my shiny surface)
Gilded tombs do worms enfold. (But gilded tombs actually hold worms)
All that glitters is not gold. Shakespeare said it 500 years ago, but many still haven’t learned it. Take elections, for example, when voters sometimes go for a gilded casket, instead of a solid, not-so-flashy candidate.
Of course, writers before and after Shakespeare have been warning us of fool’s gold and even gold:
“Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision.”
-Hsi-Tang
“How can you sing if your mouth be filled with food? How shall your hand be raised in blessing if it is filled with gold?”
-Kahlil Gibran
“Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn.”
-John Updike
Also see Midas touch, goldbrick, and more.
This week we’ll see five words derived from gold and other metals. Last week we told you how to start a rock band and this week we might even introduce you to heavy metal.
golden calf
PRONUNCIATION:
(GOL-den KAHF)
MEANING:
noun: Someone or something unworthy that is excessively esteemed.
ETYMOLOGY:
In the biblical story Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying stone tablets with the Ten Commandments only to find Israelites worshiping a calf made of gold. Earliest documented use: 1575.
USAGE:
“[Conservatives] are about to elect a golden calf as their next leader and, by default, their prime minister.”
George Pitcher; It’s Time for Christians to Speak Out Against Boris Johnson; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 18, 2019.
See more usage examples of golden calf in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Sept 26, 2020 9:51:39 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
This book (All Quiet on the Western Front) is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure,
for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who,
even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.
-Erich Maria Remarque, novelist (22 Jun 1898-1970) |
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Post by David on Sept 26, 2020 9:53:09 GMT
silver spoon
MEANING:
noun: Inherited wealth.
ETYMOLOGY:
The phrase is often used in the construction “to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth”
meaning one’s born in privilege and wealth.
The association of silver with riches is obvious, so why not a gold spoon? Nobody knows,
though it may have something to do with silver’s biocidal properties. Earliest documented use: 1719.
USAGE:
“’We started this with a base of knowledge on the wine business, not with a silver spoon or a bunch of money that we made in Silicon Valley,’ she said.”
Bill Swindell; North Coast Wineries Fight for Survival Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic; The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California); May 31, 2020.
See more usage examples of silver spoon in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Sept 26, 2020 9:53:52 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It's like, at the end, there's this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person
I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?
-Richard Bach, writer (b. 23 Jun 1936)
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Post by David on Sept 26, 2020 9:55:31 GMT
tinhorn MEANING: noun: Someone who pretends to have money, skill, influence, etc. adjective: Inferior or insignificant, while pretending to be otherwise.
ETYMOLOGY: The word has its origin in gambling, from the use of a cone-shaped container used to shake the dice. A tinhorn gambler was someone who pretended to be a big player, but actually played for small stakes. Earliest documented use: 1885.
USAGE: “I’m a veteran, and toted an assault rifle for a couple of years in a war. was a useful and necessary tool of military combat, but I haven’t needed or wanted one since I left the military 50 years ago. “I was a hunter before I went in the service, and enjoyed it thoroughly, except for maybe eating what I shot. It was always a little tougher and gamier than the same stuff in the supermarket. After the service, I stopped hunting, because I didn’t want to shoot at anything if it wasn’t shooting at me, and gunfire made me jumpy. “Today, I don’t want to be anywhere near a woods full of tinhorn troopers with their military toys.” Mike Pfrang; Your Views; Wisconsin State Journal (Madison); Aug 5, 2018.
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