Word For The Day, Tuesday 11/12/02

The Verbivores | 11/12/02 | Mistress Bella

[Bella_Bru]

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....

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enervate \EN-ur-vayt\, verb:

To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to impair the moral powers of.

Etymology: Enervate is from Latin enervatus, from enervo, enervare, to to remove the sinews from, hence to weaken, from e-, ex-, from + nervus , sinew.

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Good Morning Class. Welcome to School!

[xsmommy]

and you did a handsome job of it too, ceej! any snowballs up your way?

[TheGrimReaper]

Just as I had mastered the slide rule (circa 1972), electronic calculators hit the market.
But, most college professors still forbade their use.

Today, most of the HS students I see can't divide 4 by 2 without a damn calculator.

[CholeraJoe]

I've been to that area. Rough country. Most of the natives don't even speak Spanish.

[TheGrimReaper]

I spent a considerable amount of time in Brazil in 1995-96....Sao Paolo, Rio, etc.
Islam is HUGE down there. That doesn't surprise me in the least.

[CholeraJoe]

any snowballs up your way?

Nope. Downright balmy this morning. 45 degrees on the river.

[CholeraJoe]

I bought my first calculator in 1974. It ran on four AA batteries and cost $300. It could do square roots and I needed that for some drug dosing formulas.

[xsmommy]

what do they speak there? There isn't a huge indigenous population down there. i know that paraguay and uruguay have some indian tribes. and that they were a haven for ex-nazis. i didn't know there were arabs there though.

[xsmommy]

i had NO IDEA islam was big down there. fascinating.

[xsmommy]

being considerably younger than you, i also bought my first calculator in 1974, with my graduation $. it was a bowmar brain, and it cost well over $200. my brother, the engineer, had an HP when he was a senior in HS, he is a year younger than i.

[TheGrimReaper]

Portuguese, the official language of Brazil (and Portugal, too, of course), has extensive roots in Arabic, as well as Spanish/Latin.

[TheGrimReaper]

considerably younger than you

You have an interesting interpretation of the word "considerably".....

[xsmommy]

yes grimmy, you too are considerably older than i am....; )

[CholeraJoe]

Most of the natives speak Native Indian dialects and barely enough Spanish to get by. My guide, who was a former Argentinian Army officer, needed an interpreter to speak to the natives.

[xsmommy]

that is very interesting. well, aren't you and grimmy the fascinating LA story tellers? i am totally enthralled with you two, being the Latin American Studies major undergrad. Please, continue to hold forth on the subject!

[TheGrimReaper]

While Argentina is principally founded on Western European culture (Spain, Italy, Britain), Brazil (in addition to its indiginous native population) is heavily influenced by African and Arab culture.
When the Portuguese discovered Rio de Janeiro (River of January), they actually misnamed it, thinking that the body of water running through the area was a river. It turned out to be a bay that cut into the coastline, but obviously they didn't bother to rename the city.

[xsmommy]

i was aware of the African influence, but not the Arab. When was there a migration of arabs to Brazil? during what time period? the Africans, obviously, were all part of the same slave trade. the europeans were after WW2. Obviously, Spain and Portugal were the original conquistadors. i forget what the treaty was that basically cut SA in half as between Spain and Portugal. i just had this last quarter with xsboy in his 5th grade social studies too!

[TheGrimReaper]

My knowledge of Brazilian history is somewhat lacking... I just know what I picked up while working down there. I noticed a substantial number of mosques as we drove around the cities, and one of my Brazilian co-workers indicated that Islam was one of the more common religions in the coastal cities - Catholicism being #1.
Arab cuisine is also common....several Egyptian and Persian restaurants.
Another interesting facet was the large number of Japanese folks who have migrated to Brazil. My first trip to Sao Paolo was on JAL, and the flight was loaded with Japanese... not just visiting - they live there!

[xsmommy]

i never learned Portuguese, but i think it is a beautiful language. and spanish is close enough that you can get by, in talking to brazilians. now the arab stuff is odd, but the JAPANESE? that is totally bizarre!

[TheGrimReaper]

Here's a random piece of Brazilian trivia...
The Estado do Sao Paolo generates more electricity than the entire countries of Argentina and Mexico combined.
Sao Paolo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, with a population of 15+ million.

[CholeraJoe]

Bear in mind that many of the African captives sold into slavery had converted to Islam in the 10th through 12th centuries. Portugal had many African colonies on both coasts of the continent to serve as sources for slaves for the new world.