23 July 2007
Word of the Day
1 *a : to destroy completely : wipe out b : to pull up by the root
2 : to cut out by surgery
Example sentence: By insisting that he has a plan to extirpate crime and corruption in our cities, the governor might have bitten off more than he can chew.
Did you know? If we do a little digging, we discover that "extirpate" finds its roots in, well, roots (and stumps). Early English uses of the word in the 16th century carried the meaning of "to clear of stumps" or "to pull something up by the root." "Extirpate" grew out of a combination of the Latin prefix "ex-" and the Latin noun "stirps," meaning "trunk" or "root." The word "stirp" itself remains rooted in our own language as a term meaning "a line descending from a common ancestor."
18 July 2007
Word of the Day
1 : a wardrobe or its contents
2 : a private room : bedroom
*3 : privy, toilet
Example sentence: "On our tour of Castle Rushen, begun in 1200 and enhanced over the years, [caretaker Ian] McKinlay made sure to point out the garderobe -- because nature calls, even in a castle...." (Gemma Tarlach, _Milwaukee Journal Sentinel_, July 25, 2004)
Did you know? "Garderobe" entered the English language in the 15th century and continues in use to this day, though its frequency has diminished significantly since the 19th century. Originally, its primary duty was to provide English speakers with a word for a room or closet in which to store clothing. Later, by extension, it was used for private bedrooms and bathrooms. Today you are most likely to encounter the word in a description of an old castle, such as our example sentence. "Garder," the French word for "guard" on which "garderobe" is based, has also served English well by directly contributing to the formation of such words as "award," "guard," "regard," and, yes, "wardrobe."
17 July 2007
FEMA Ice: You Can’t Even Give The Stuff Away
(Photo: Tomasz Tulik/iStockphoto)There were better symbols of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mismanagement of the response to Hurricane Katrina than the over-ordering of ice. ‘’FEMA. can’t win right now,'’ one ice merchant told The New York Times back then. ‘’Can you imagine what people would say if they’d run out of ice?'’
But those other symbols weren’t kept around in freezers across the country. Hence the latest round of FEMA/Katrina headlines: Against the advice of its contracted purveyors of “disaster ice,” the agency kept the stuff past its three-month expiration date, for use in the following hurricane season. Thankfully, that season was light on wind and rain but heavy on the taxpayer’s wallet: $12.5 million for ice storage, The A.P. said.
Now, the ice is being drained, The Associated Press reported, but not before the agency tried to donate it to charity. “No takers,” a spokeswoman said.
Wise choice, at least according to the trade group that represents American ice vendors, which has been warning anyone who will listen that “ice can go bad.” From its Web site:
Because it is a food, ice can become contaminated with bacteria and/or viruses that can cause illness. Many people believe mistakenly that because ice is a frozen food product, that it can not harbor bacteria. This is not true. Ice has been found to contain a wide spectrum of bacteria, from salmonella and e. coli to hepatitis A. Because most people do not think of ice as a source of bacteria contamination, upon illness from a food product, the ice is normally the last and ‘forgotten food’ considered.
That’s one of several worries voiced by the trade group, the International Packaged Ice Association, on Capitol Hill, where it is pushing for ice to be regulated as a food, Roll Call reported last month. And the association is using the string of food-contamination scares over spinach, peanut butter and pet food as ballast for their argument. Lobbyists at Ogilvy Government Relations were hired, too.
Aside from saving the world from bad ice, the association appears to be trying to solidify its role as a clearing house for high-quality ice, complete with a seal of approval.
Meanwhile, the group has also been working hard to improve the speed of its nationwide ice network with the Electronic Emergency Ice System, unveiled in 2006. If FEMA couldn’t keep up last time, wait until they have to deal with E-ICE, as the ice pros call it.
16 July 2007
Stevens: Smoking pot akin to drinking during prohibition
by Nick Juliano
In his dissent on a recent free-speech case, Justice John Paul Stevens wades into the war-on-drugs debate, comparing modern-day pot smokers with "otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies," during the prohibition era.
Stevens, who the Washington Post notes turned 87 on April 20, said the current climate surrounding the war on drugs "is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student."
The Supreme Court this week ruled against an Alaska student who displayed a "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" sign at an event outside his high school, and Stevens wrote the dissent for the four justices who believed the student's free-speech rights should be protected.
"Today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana, and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product, lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority in silencing opponents of the war on drugs," Stevens wrote.
Most debate over the efficacy of the war on drugs focuses on government crackdowns on users of medical marijuana, for whom the drug eases chronic pain. But in comparing pot smoking to social drinking, Stevens suggests that the drug could be legalized in all cases.
In his opinion, Stevens insists "no one seriously maintains that drug advocacy ... can be prohibited because of its feared consequences." Later, Stevens observes the shift in Americans' views on alcohol since the 1920s and 30s.
"While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs," Stevens writes.
In a 2005 case, Stevens wrote for the court's 6-3 majority that upheld the federal government's right to prosecute medical marijuana patients in states that have legalized medical use of the drug.
But his opinion was based strictly on Congress's ability to regulate interstate commerce, and that opinion included mention that credible research showing marijuana could be medically effective would "cast serious doubt" on the government's classification of the drug as a Schedule I narcotic. And he all but encouraged the advocates to take their argument directly to Congress.
http://rawstory.com12 July 2007
Residents Return to Oil-Filled Homes
(COFFEYVILLE, Kan.) — Nearly two weeks after a flood forced residents from their homes, they returned Wednesday to find oil dripping from window screens and saturating carpets and furniture.
The oily gunk clung to nearly everything — coating walls up to 8 feet high — in buildings on the east side of this southeast Kansas town of 16,000.
Between 2,500 to 3,000 of the town's residents were displaced, and for many it was the first time they were allowed home since evacuations began June 30. The rain-swollen Verdigris River topped its banks and oil spilled from the Coffeyville Resources refinery, mixing with raw sewage and other waste to create a toxic soup.
"I cried. I cried like a baby," homeowner Cindy White said. "The whole inside of my house is covered in oil — anywhere you look."
The smell of rotting food combined with oil and chemical fumes, creating a nauseating odor.
"It has that death smell everywhere," Mike Manley told his brother over his cell phone as he took a break from hauling out the few salvageable items from his two-story home.
The stench in his house was so bad that Manley tossed his air mask and went to the refinery, where he had worked, to get a respirator.
He was among the luckier ones, because he had brought family pictures and papers to the second story before the levees were breached. Many of his neighbors did not stay long Wednesday; their belongings and furniture were reduced to trash.
Block after block, red placards on doors marked the fate of each house: "Unsafe. Enter at Your Own Risk! Do Not Occupy!"
The water ripped out entire landscapes and farm fields. In places, only the highest treetops were unscathed, the decaying brown leaves below still coated with mud.
Flies and mosquitoes swarmed in houses where emergency responders had left doors and windows open because of toxic mold, which depleted indoor oxygen levels. The mold was growing in thick layers on walls, furniture and other possessions strewn around floors by swirling floodwaters.
Most had no flood insurance, because the area was designated a flood zone and the levees had protected them for decades. The refinery, which has been sued by some property owners, has said it will help repair the damage but residents do not know how much assistance it will provide.
"My heart has been broken. ... We worked hard on our home. Nothing will ever stop the pain," White said.
She bought her house just a little over a year ago and had done extensive renovations. The last of the siding went up the day of the flood. The new carpet was a little over a month old. All her beloved rose bushes, and even the angel statues she had put up for each of her grandchildren, are gone.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of Carol Phelps as she stood outside her restaurant, the Cactus Grill, clutching a pair of yellow rubber boots. She has owned this restaurant since 1994 and about 20 people worked for her.
"What do you do with your life now? I am 62 years old. Who would want me to work for them?" Phelps said. "It's my life. And now my life is gone."
10 July 2007
Some Folks Lives Roll Easy
Drifting through a summer night
Heading for a sunny day
But most folks' lives, oh they stumble
Lord they fall
Through no fault of their own
Most folks never catch their stars
And here I am, Lord
I'm knocking at your place of business
I know I ain't got no business here
But you said if I ever got so low
I was busted,
You could be trusted
And here I am, Lord
I'm knocking at your place of business
I know I ain't got no business here
But you said if I ever got so low
I was busted,
You could be trusted
Some folks' lives roll easy
Some folks' lives
never roll at all
Oh, they just fall
They just fall
Some folks' lives
Artist: Paul Simon
Album: Still Crazy After All These Years
Year: 1975
Word of the Day
*1 : full of or accompanied by something specified -- used with with
2 : causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy
Example sentence: The doctor warned her patient that the experimental procedure was fraught with problems.
Did you know? "The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught." That verse, written in the 14th-century poem "Richard Coer de Lion," says that a large ship (a dromond) was so heavily loaded that it could barely sail. That's the first instance we have on record of the adjective "fraught." The word came to Middle English from the Middle Dutch or Middle Low German noun "vracht," which meant "load" and which is also the source of the word "freight." Middle English also possessed a noun "fraught" that meant "load" and a verb "fraughten" that meant "to load" (meanings still retained in Scottish English by "fraught," the verb and noun). For centuries, "fraught" continued to be used only of loaded ships, but its use was eventually broadened.
07 July 2007
07.07.07
Do you feel bored if you don't leave home all weekend? Must you spend money to be happy?
The Word of the Day
1 : constituting or marked by the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences
*2 : being in direct and unequivocal opposition
Example sentence: Your suggestion is completely antithetical to my morals and beliefs.
Did you know? "Antithetical" and "antithesis" entered English in the 16th century. Their etymological paths pass through Late Latin and ultimately lead to Greek (the Greek words "antitithenai" and "antithesis" mean "to oppose" and "opposition," respectively). The oldest sense of the English "antithesis" refers to a language pattern that contrasts parallel ideas, as in "action, not words" or "they promised freedom and provided slavery." "Antithetical" can mean "constituting or marked by such language patterns." For example, you could say "The phrase 'action, not words' is an antithetical construction." It is more common in current use, however, for "antithesis" to mean "the exact opposite" and for "antithetical" to mean "directly opposite."
04 July 2007
The Word(s) of the Day
1 : of, relating to, or having good digestion
*2 : cheerful, optimistic
Example sentence: "The generous outpouring of writings devoted to public libraries ... makes me positively eupeptic about the future of scholarship in this area." (E. A. Goedeken, _Libraries & Culture_, March 22, 2004)
Did you know? "Eupeptic" first appeared around 1700 and was probably created from "eupepsia," a word meaning "good digestion." ("Eupepsia" was cooked up from "eu-," meaning "good," and "-pepsia," meaning "digestion," ingredients that are ultimately of Greek origin.) It seems reasonable that good digestion might enhance one's outlook on life -- and indeed, "eupeptic" can suggest a happy frame of mind as well as a happy digestive system. Along similar lines, someone with poor digestion might be cranky, and the antonymous counterparts of "eupeptic" and "eupepsia" -- "dyspeptic" and "dyspepsia" -- can suggest either indigestion or ill humor.
sycophant \SIK-uh-funt\ noun : a servile self-seeking flatterer
Example sentence: "I can't stand sycophants," said Rosemary, "so if you want that promotion, do your best and let your work speak for itself."
Did you know? In ancient Greece, "sykophantes" meant "slanderer." It derives from two other Greek words, "sykon" (meaning "fig") and "phainein" (meaning "to show or reveal"). How did fig revealers become slanderers? One theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers -- fig revealers -- would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay. Another possible source is a sense of the word "fig" meaning "a gesture or sign of contempt (as thrusting a thumb between two fingers)." In any case, Latin retained the "swindler" sense when it borrowed a version of "sykophantes," but by the time English speakers in the 16th century borrowed it as "sycophant," the squealers had become flatterers.
01 July 2007
The Word(s) of the Day
Example sentence: At the ball, the snobbish debutante offended many would-be suitors by responding to their greetings in a pococurante manner.
Did you know? The French writer Voltaire carefully named his characters in _Candide_ (1759) to create allegories. He appended the prefix "pan-," meaning "all," to "glossa," the Greek word for "tongue," to name his optimistic tutor "Pangloss," a sobriquet suggesting glibness and talkativeness. Then there is the apathetic Venetian Senator Pococurante, whose name appropriately means "caring little" in Italian. Voltaire's characters did not go unnoticed by later writers. Laurence Sterne used "Pococurante" in part six of _Tristram Shandy_, published three years after _Candide_, to mean "a careless person," and Irish poet Thomas Moore first employed the word as an adjective when he described Dublin as a poco-curante place in his memoirs of 1815.
anchorite \ANG-kuh-ryte\ noun : a person who lives in seclusion usually for religious reasons
Example sentence: The anchorite spent most of his days in his small, bare cell, engaged in prayer and meditation.
Did you know? The term "anchor" was being used for religious hermits about 450 years before "anchorite" came into common use in our language. The reclusive "anchor" and "anchorite" are both derived from the Late Latin "anachoreta," which, in turn, can be traced to the Greek "anachorein," meaning "to withdraw." Are they etymologically related to the kind of anchors you find on ships? Not exactly. The Latin root of sea-going "anchor,"
"anchora," probably influenced the spelling and pronunciation of the words that led to "anchorite" and the reclusive "anchor," but it is not a direct ancestor.
