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WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
ifyoucantfixit:
brisance \bri-ZAHNS\, noun:
The shattering effect of a high explosive.
The 'There' turned out to be crucial for the sense of brisance and closure and resolving issues of impotent rage and powerless fear that like accrued in Lenz all day being trapped in the northeastern portions of a squalid halfway house all day fearing for his life, Lenz felt.
-- David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
But this was sustained explosion, reaching now and then a quite unendurable brisance. Yet he endured it, not so much because it was her will as, unbelievably, what had become her need.
-- Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day
Brisance is a relatively new English word. It started being used commonly in the 1910s, but it can be traced to the Celtic word brissim meaning "to break."
Mandy21:
Janice, hope it's okay if we post other interesting news about words here? I found this in a book about organizing all the stuff in our lives (What's a Disorganized Person To Do? by Stacey Platt, c 2010, p. 162), and I found it interesting/enlightening.
Overcoming Indecision:
Decide comes from the Latin occido, meaning "to kill." It is the same root found in homicide, suicide, and pesticide. De means "two." When we make a decision, we are cutting something in two and killing whatever we decide against. It's this idea (whether we are aware of it or not) of killing off other options that makes decision making difficult for some people. Sometimes simply recognizing this makes indecision easier to overcome.
ifyoucantfixit:
moschate \MOS-keyt\, adjective:
Having a musky smell.
Her familiar perfume and moschate odor was overwhelming within the confines of the car, especially with the windows rolled up.
-- Charles Ray Willeford, New Hope for the Dead
The plant of the Rio Grande is said by Mr. Schott to exhale a moschate odor.
-- William Hemsley Emory, Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Volume 2, Part 1
Though moschate has Latin roots, it was not used widely in English until the early 1800s. The word mosch meant "musky" in Latin and was used to describe the wine commonly known today at "muscat."
Of course it is fine, for you to place other information about words here. This is for everyone. i think words are who we are. How they are formed, and how they are used, is part of our soul...
ifyoucantfixit:
ruck \ruhk\, noun:
1. A large number or quantity; mass.
2. The great mass of undistinguished or inferior persons or things.
Innis steered Jessica through a ruck of large, bearded men in dungarees and greasy sweaters who looked at her like she might be the floor show.
-- Paul Bryers, The Prayer of the Bone
A ruck of charts, clipboards, cuttlefish-flavored peanut snacks, containers of the barley water and orange pop the enlisted brought on watch, binoculars, and struggling men stirred at the base of the cliff.
-- David Poyer, Korea Strait
The ruck of the men were lower down than our two heroes, and there were others far away to the left, and others, again, who had been at the end of the gorse, and were now behind.
-- Anthony Trollope, Phineas Finn
Ruck comes from an early Icelandic word ruka or ruke which meant "a heap or a stack."
ifyoucantfixit:
adroit \uh-DROIT\, adjective:
1. Cleverly skillful, resourceful, or ingenious.
2. Expert or nimble in the use of the hands or body.
He knows that Jory is handsome, talented, and most of all, adroit. Bart is not adroit at anything but pretending.
-- V.C. Andrews, If There Be Thorns
It requires finesse. She was very adroit — oh, very adroit — but Hercule Poirot, my good George, is of a cleverness quite exceptional.
-- Agatha Christie, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
Adroit is from the Old French meaning "elegant, skillful" from the roots a- meaning "increase" and droit meaning "correct."
editorial position...
I understand that on first appearance, some of these words are ones that most of us know. However I post them anyway, if they have what is unusual additional meanings that are not so readily apparent. Such as this one. A meaning such as elegant. I was not aware of that one, I don't think it is a common use for the word.
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