51吃瓜 of the Day
dojo
noun
a school or practice hall where karate, judo, or other martial arts are taught.
More about dojo
Dojo 鈥渁 school or practice hall where martial arts are taught鈥� is a direct borrowing from Japanese 诲艒箩艒 鈥渄rill hall, Buddhist seminary.鈥� 顿艒箩艒, in turn, follows a familiar trajectory from Middle Chinese, which is the source of hundreds of words that were exported to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam; 诲艒箩艒 derives from a Middle Chinese compound literally translated as 鈥渨ay place鈥� or 鈥減lace of the ways鈥� (compare Mandarin 诲脿辞肠丑菐苍驳), which originated as a transliteration of Sanskrit 产辞诲丑颈-尘补峁囜笉补 鈥渟eat of wisdom.鈥� This Sanskrit term is one of numerous Buddhism-related words that traveled across Asia and became part of the Japanese language, as we learned in the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day podcast about satori. Dojo was first recorded in English in the early 1940s.
how is dojo used?
On Wednesday, as preparations continued for the start of the Olympic judo competition on Saturday, buses arrived at regular intervals to disgorge groups of competitors in front of a set of unremarkable doors. Once they removed their shoes and took a few steps inside, however, it quickly became clear that they were entering a special place. Soon they fanned out across several floors and limbered up inside spartan dojos infused with a fragrance emanating from the pinewood walls.
The four-time Venezuelan youth karate champion [Ricardo Perez] was upset when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of international tournaments in El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico that he had been preparing for. But his family quickly turned the home into a full-time karate gym, or 鈥�dojo鈥�, rearranging furniture to leave a tatami mat in the center of their living space where he works out and also leads classes via Zoom for children and other youth athletes.
dojo
curlicue
noun
an ornamental, fancy curl or twist, as in a signature.
More about curlicue
Curlicue 鈥渁n ornamental, fancy curl or twist鈥� is a compound of the adjective curly and the noun cue. Curly, from the verb curl, appears in Middle English as crulled 鈥渃urled鈥� and is either derived from or related to Middle Dutch crul 鈥渃url,鈥� of Germanic origin and related to the name of the rolled pastry cruller. The -ru- of crul became the -ur- of curl as the result of metathesis, a linguistic phenomenon in which sounds switch places. Metathesis is also responsible for creating third, thirteen, and thirty from Old English thridda, 迟丑谤脓辞迟脓苍别, and 迟丑谤墨迟颈驳. The cue part of curlicue is most likely from French queue 鈥渢ail,鈥� via Old French from Latin cauda or 肠艒诲补 鈥渢ail,鈥� which we discussed in the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day podcast about codicil. Alternatively, this cue could be in reference to the letter Q and its easily identifiable loops when written in cursive. Curlicue was first recorded in English circa 1840.
how is curlicue used?
Armenia is one of the few countries in the world with its own alphabet鈥攊nvented in the fifth century by St. Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist. The curved letters are full of loops and curlicues, reminiscent of Ethiopia’s Amharic, 鈥� although researchers say there is no connection.
The book is also very much a celebration of Cass [Elliott]鈥檚 beauty and her music, which often intertwine visually by way of [P茅n茅lope] Bagieu鈥檚 curlicue lines and handwritten text, as when the familiar lyrics 鈥淎llll the leaves are brown 鈥� 鈥� swirl together with cigarette smoke.
curlicue
crapulous
adjective
given to or characterized by gross excess in drinking or eating.
More about crapulous
Crapulous 鈥渃haracterized by gross excess in drinking or eating鈥� derives from Late Latin 肠谤腻辫耻濒艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渋nclined to drunkenness,鈥� from Latin 肠谤腻辫耻濒补 鈥渄runkenness,鈥� either derived from or related to Ancient Greek 办谤补颈辫谩濒脓 鈥渄runkenness, hangover.鈥� A common misconception is that crapulous is connected to a certain word for 鈥渆xcrement,鈥� but the resemblance between these two words is a happy coincidence. While crapulous has a clear history, the more colorful term crap is in fact of uncertain origin鈥攑erhaps from Middle Dutch krappe 鈥渟omething cut off or separated,鈥� perhaps via Old French from a Frankish cognate of English scrape, perhaps from Medieval Latin crappa 鈥渃haff,鈥� or perhaps related to English crop. Crapulous was first recorded in English in the 1530s.
how is crapulous used?
Much wine was drunk and all pretenses of table manners were soon discarded. Leon and [Vivian] planted their elbows on the table and slurped the chicken from the bones with noisy, lustful abandon 鈥�. refilling one another鈥檚 wineglasses with increasing frequency throughout the meal, uncorking one bottle of wine after another, often uncorking another bottle even before the previous had been depleted of its contents .鈥� Both of them ate and drank to bubbling crapulous excess.
Fettes was an old drunken Scotchman, a man of education obviously, and a man of some property, since he lived in idleness. He had come to Debenham years ago, while still young, and by a mere continuance of living had grown to be an adopted townsman 鈥�. His place in the parlour at the George, his absence from church, his old, crapulous, disreputable vices, were all things of course in Debenham.
crapulous