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The Random Text Says: "" Something Short July 24th, 2001 - 11:16 a.m. I'm Currently Avoiding:Yeah, do I have anything to say? Nope. But it's been two days since I did my last one, so I feel rather obligated. That and to inform you that I've had this 2-line snippet of song stuck in my head due to some commerical thing for some series that's coming on in the fall or something. Jordan's Crossing maybe? I don't know, something with Jordan and it's on NBC. You figure it out for yourself, I don't want to. So anyway, maybe this song is good, I haven't the slightest idea what it is. But the snippet is good enough to make it song snippet of the day. I only wish I knew more lines of it so that there could be more of it playing over and over in my head. Song Snippet of the Day: "I'm only happy when it's raining...I'm only happy if it's, complicated." Speaking of the day, today, July 24 is ........ Amelia Earhart Day (Yay? Why does she deserve a day? What'd she do that was so special, besides get lost irretreivably?) etiolate EE-tee-uh-layt (verb) 1 : to bleach and alter the natural development of (a green plant) by excluding sunlight 2 a : to make pale b : to deprive of natural vigor : make feeble
When we first started using etiolate in the late 1700s (borrowed from the French verb etioler), it was in reference to purposely depriving growing celery of light. (The resulting white vegetable was, and still is, considered a delicacy.) The word traces back to the Old French word for straw -- esteule -- and is related to the Latin word for straw or stalk, which is stipula. But the term for growing veggies as pale as straw is now more likely to be blanch, while etiolate is more apt to refer to depriving plants in general of light; when etiolated, they are sickly, pale, and spindly. The figurative sense of etiolate ("to make pallid or feeble") first appeared in the 1800s as a natural outgrowth of the original sense.
implacable im-PLAK-uh-bul or im-PLAY-kuh-bul (adjective) : not placable : not capable of being appeased, significantly changed, or mitigated
Implacable comes from the Latin word implacabilis, with which it shares the meaning not easily placated. Ultimately, it comes from the verb placare (meaning to calm or to soothe). Implacable adds the negative im- to the root to describe something that cannot be calmed or soothed or altered. The root placare also gave us placate. You may ask, what about similar-looking words placid and placebo? These words are related to implacable and placate, but not as closely as you might suspect. They come from the Latin verb placere, a relative of placare that means to please. burgle BUR-gul (verb) transitive senses 1 : to break into and steal from 2 : to commit burglary against intransitive sense : to commit burglary
Burglary, which means forcible entry into a building especially at night with the intent to commit a crime (as theft), and burglar (one who commits burglary) have been with us since the 16th century. Burgle and its synonym burglarize didn't break into the language until the 19th century, however, arriving almost simultaneously around 1870. Burgle is a back-formation (that is, a word formed by removing a suffix or prefix) from burglar. Burglarize comes from burglar as well, with addition of the familiar -ize ending. Both verbs were once disparaged by grammarians (burgle was considered to be facetious and burglarize was labeled colloquial), but they are now generally accepted. Burglarize is slightly more common in American English, whereas burgle seems to be preferred in British English. Oh, and since we were speaking of commercial-type things...that Taco Bell commercial with the Bonanza theme and that guy talking really fast just needs to go away as soon as possible.
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And I like it that way.
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