Posted on 02/02/2007 6:21:08 AM PST by VRWCmember
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
glasnost • \GLAHZ-nohst\ • noun
a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political and social issues and freer dissemination of news and information
Example sentence:
Yuri welcomed glasnost because he could finally publish the article he had written about poverty in Moscow.
Did you know?
"Glasnost'" wasn't coined by former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, but he was responsible for catapulting the word into the international media and the English vocabulary. The term derives from the Russian adjective "glasnyi," which means "public" and which itself traces to "glas," a root meaning "voice." In Russian, "glasnost" was originally used (as long ago as the 18th century) in the general sense of "publicity," and the Oxford English Dictionary reports that V.I. Lenin used it in the context of freedom of information in the Soviet state. However, it wasn't until Gorbachev declared it a public policy in the mid-1980s that "glasnost" became widely known and used in English.
Bonus Friday Words:
lothario \loh-THAIR-ee-oh\ noun
a man whose chief interest is seducing women
The Story Behind the Word
"Lothario" comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718). In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but beneath his charming exterior a haughty and unfeeling scoundrel. He seduces Calista, an unfaithful wife and later the fair penitent of the title. After the play was published, the character of Lothario became a stock figure in English literature. For example, Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) specifically modeled the character of Lovelace on Lothario in his 1748 novel Clarissa. As the character became well-known, his name became progressively more generic, and since the 18th century the word "lothario" has been used for a foppish, unscrupulous rake.
osculate \AHSS-kyuh-layt\ verb
kiss
The Story Behind the Word
"Osculate" comes from the Latin noun "osculum," meaning "kiss" or "little mouth." It was included in a dictionary of "hard" words in 1656, but we have no evidence that anyone actually used it until the 19th century (except for scientists who used it differently as a word for "contact"). Would any modern writer use "osculate"? Ben Macintyre did. In a May 2003 (London) Times piece entitled "Yes, It's True, I Kissed the Prime Minister's Wife," Macintyre wrote, "Assuming this must be someone I knew really quite well, I screeched 'How are you,' . . . and leant forward preparatory to giving her a chummy double-smacker . . . Perhaps being osculated by lunatics you have never seen before is one of the trials of being a Prime Minister's wife. She took it very well."
roué \roo-AY\ noun
a man devoted to a life of sensual pleasure; RAKE
The Story Behind the Word
The word roué can be traced back to the Latin noun rota, meaning 'wheel.' From the noun the verb rotare, 'to rotate,' was derived, which in Medieval Latin took on the sense 'to break on the wheel.' The wheel in question was the instrument of torture designed to extract a confession of guilt by stretching, disjointing, or otherwise mutilating the victim. Rotare became rouer in French, and roué is the past participle of that verb, meaning 'broken on the wheel.' About the year 1720 Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans and Regent of France, who was himself a profligate, called his wantonly licentious companions "roués," by which he meant that they deserved to be broken on the wheel. It has also been suggested that the duke may have called his friends roués because their debauches so exhausted them that they felt as though they had been broken on the wheel. In any case, roué then came to be applied to other such rakes and profligates, and its first appearance in English was around the year 1800.
Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day.
The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Threads:
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!)
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
Review Thread Four: Word For the Day, Friday 7/25/03: Potation
Review Thread Five: Word For the Day, Monday 8/19/03: Stolid
Review Thread Six: Word for the Day, Tuesday 11/09/2004: Peripatetic (Post #125 may be my best anagram post ever)
i guess it's always a groundhogged theme party isn't it?? happy bday!
Shadow, smadow.
Didja eat the cake?
No glasnot here at the FReep -- just open, raunchy fun.
(& Happy B-day, Lunatic Fringe -- hope you're enjoying it.)
Weather here the pits (New York); guess the groundhog got up & left.
Have a nice weekend.
I like the one of them standing up barking in each other's face.
You can't beat the 1928 BCP. That's a nice prayer for him and his family.
The enraged husband said, "If I ever catch that Lothario osculating my wife again, he'll roué the day and get my fist right in that glasnost of his!"
Yes, that's a good one too. Gable is such a big goofy pup. He is a lot of fun. I'll really miss him when he gets adopted.
So will Robbie!
Happy Birthday you Lunatic!
you are so good!
Joy.
It is 46 here, but at least the wind is not blowing and the sun is shining for a change.
I got home later from work yesterday than I expected, had to rush to get dinner ready and was not able to get to class.
Hubby went to his office to finish some paperwork this morning, and has been working on making a new top for a neighbor's little occassional table-the original top got something spilled on it that made it de-laminate and get ruined, so this new top is being made with three solid oak planks.
I'm reading Bernard Cornwell's new book "Lords of the North", the third book in a series about Alfred of Wessex-aka Alfred the Great. The fictional Saxon nobleman who narrates the story is a really sour individual, even in his teen years, but he has a dry and incisive sense of humor and has me LMAO at some of his observations of the personalities and deeds of some the more famous historical characters of the time.
The next door neighbor and blondie the dyke are setting up a new gazing ball and pedestal that is even gaudier than the one destroyed by falling tree limbs was, and several atrocious whirligigs even as we speak-one is a 2 ft. tall woodpecker with wings that twirl around when the wind blows, and another one looks like some kind of little ferris wheel...
We have bright sunshine, but the windchill drops the temperature a lot. Bitter freezing cold with lots of wind - not so nice. Miss Ava comes for a visit tonight while mom and dad go out - that should warm up the day a little.
I just bought Lisa Gardner's new book, an easy reading thriller, I might get to read it after I finished studying. I finished my take home test, now I can study for the one Wed night. Monday the contractor starts my floors so I have to clear the rooms.......rme. That will be fun with a 17 month old.
It is 63 and beautiful here-hardly a cloud in the sky and just about everyone on the road is outdoors cleaning and lighting grills to cook outside because it is nice out for a change instead of gloomy and cold.
I saw my next door neighbor sweeping her deck earlier today when I was out with Husky girl, cleaning my grill so I can cook some spareribs for dinner, and of course she and the neighbor's Sheltie had to play chase running up and down their respective sides of the fence for awhile.
The neighbor told me that she and blondie were having a superbowl party for some friends, and sure enough, several lesbian couples arrived a few minutes ago. They have fired up the grill, turned up the stereo and are shouting at each other to ice down more beer, and of the four couples that arrived, all but two of the women I saw are dykes with a capital "D". Hubby asked me what all the commotion next door was, and I told him a superbowl party for dykes. He said are you sure, and I told him to go look for himself, so he went out on the deck-and came back in LHAO and shaking his head. With all the laughing and shrieking going on on their deck and yard, by the time the game starts our road will be known as the one that had a lesbian superbowl party-just f***ing great...
How many more classes and tests do you have left, ti?
I hate clearing rooms, too-but it is the beginning of new floors. How long will it be from start to finish of project new floors?
The problem is we are doing the kitchen, dining room, foyer, hallway and bathroom - the whole level of the house. It has a pantry and a coat closet to clear as well. (sigh) The more I get put upstairs for the duration, the less we will have to move around during the ordeal. I am hoping it's done by the weekend, but it is a single handyman/contractor friend who is doing the job - so it could take longer. He works efficiently and does not waste time. He has done excellent work for us in the past. Even my computer gets moved up to the living room tonight.
We have the first test of the new year this week, then we have a serious of tests going through the end of the year (May). It is a critcal care class (known as intermediate EMT nation-wide), but the take home test was definitely a paramedic level test. I know some of the stuff had not been covered in class. The whole series of lectures went bang, bang, bang, done. My head is spinning. I doubt that will change till the class ends. I am doing well with the tests though. I get to start hospital clinicals on top of everything else. I will be so glad when it is over. I do my best to enjoy it, but I am getting tired. I keep asking myself why I wanted to do this in my retirement. LOL
I stayed home from the Super Bowl party today to clear the house for Monday morning. It's getting lonely and empty around here.
It is 39 and supposed to be a beautiful day again, so I'm off to work cheerfully-I'll come to class later...
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