Posted on 10/18/2002 4:53:56 AM PDT by RikaStrom
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”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of 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....
vulgar \vul-ger\, adjective:
vulgarly; adverb
vulgarness; noun
vulgarity;
vulgate; noun (Bonus Information!)
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar
--Shakespeare, Hamlet. Act 1, Scene 3
Word History: The word vulgar now brings to mind off-color jokes and offensive epithets, but it once had more neutral meanings. Vulgar is an example of pejoration, the process by which a word develops negative meanings over time. The ancestor of vulgar, the Latin word vulg ris (from vulgus, “the common people”), meant “of or belonging to the common people, everyday,” as well as “belonging to or associated with the lower orders.” Vulg ris also meant “ordinary,” “common (of vocabulary, for example),” and “shared by all.” An extension of this meaning was “sexually promiscuous,” a sense that could have led to the English sense of “indecent.” Our word, first recorded in a work composed in 1391, entered English during the Middle English period, and in Middle English and later English we find not only the senses of the Latin word mentioned above but also related senses. What is common may be seen as debased, and in the 17th century we begin to find instances of vulgar that make explicit what had been implicit. Vulgar then came to mean “deficient in taste, delicacy, or refinement.” From such uses vulgar has continued to go downhill, and at present “crudely indecent” is among the commonest senses of the word.
Note: The Vulgate was made by Jerome at the close of the 4th century. The Old Testament he translated mostly from the Hebrew and Chaldaic, and the New Testament he revised from an older Latin version. The Douay version, so called, is an English translation from the Vulgate.
As an interesting side note, the original Bibles with their Latin words were not understood by the layman, so images in the margins were drawn depicting what the words meant. These marginalia (notes/drawings in the margin) were usually …. Um… ehrrr.. graphic in their explanations of certain sins and wrong doings. That is also where the meaning of vulgar stems from.
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin vulgaris of the mob, vulgar, from volgus, vulgus mob, common people. Date: 14th century
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Thanx Rikateacha
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Ok kiddies, I am going back to work, I am swamped!
Hey bud, come on down! Seriously, lemme know when you're in town and I'll get ya hooked up with some geek action... Of some type or nother... Do ya run? Or would ya drink with runners? We got a great running/drinking club here in the Burg. And it's got some hot babe action goin' on. Where exactly are ya movin to? Well the radio stations I listen to around here are 97.3 and 105.1, I think, the Hampton-Beach country stations... XL102.1 Richmond Rock on occasion...
Okay back to the chain gang, sweatin' like a French manwhore at a Richard Simmons lookalike contest...
THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR AT A TATTOO PARLOR
"Eagle? I thought you said BEAGLE."
"We're all out of red, so I used pink."
"There are 2 Os in Bob, right?"
"Gosh, I hate it when I get the hiccups."
"Anything else you want to say? You've got plenty of room back here."
"I'll bet you can't tell I've never done this before."
"The flag's all done and, you know, the folds of fat make a nice waving effect."
"Oops...."
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
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