51吃瓜 of the Day
gravitas
noun
seriousness or sobriety, as of conduct or speech.
More about gravitas
Gravitas comes straight from the Latin noun 驳谤补惫颈迟腻蝉, which has many meanings: 鈥渟eriousness of conduct, temperament, or speech; solemnity or majesty (of a speaker or writer); authority, influence or importance (of a person or institution).鈥� (The inflectional stem of 驳谤补惫颈迟腻蝉 is 驳谤补惫颈迟腻迟-, which by regular phonetic change becomes 驳谤补惫颈迟茅 in French and gravity in English.) Gravitas became necessary in English because during the first half of the 17th century, gravity acquired its physical meanings 鈥渇orce of attraction, heaviness, gravitation,鈥� and a sentence like 鈥淭he Prime Minister displayed an unusual lack of gravity鈥� would be unintentionally humorous today. Gravitas entered English in the 1920s.
how is gravitas used?
Dad was gearing up to say something, a gradual process that involved shifting around in his chair, some throat-clearing, lifting his tea halfway to his mouth and putting it down again, so Paul and Grandma broke off their staring contest and waited for him to speak. Grief had lent him a certain gravitas.
… a growing number of independent research-oriented institutions like his own, Mr. Coogan said, have brought gravitas to a field that once seemed lighter than Spider-Man鈥檚 touch.
gravitas
scintillating
adjective
witty; brilliantly clever.
More about scintillating
Scintillating 鈥渨itty, brilliantly clever鈥� ultimately derives from the Latin noun scintilla 鈥済littering speck, spark.鈥� Scintilla and its few derivatives refer generally only to physical phenomena; the only metaphorical sense that scintilla has is of eyes flashing in anger or passion, not the sense of sparkling or flashing wit. Scintilla comes from the Proto-Indo-European root skai– (and its variants) 鈥渢o glow dully, reflect,鈥� as in Greek 蝉办颈腻虂 鈥渟hadow,鈥� Gothic skeinan 鈥渢o light, shine,鈥� and Old English 蝉肠墨苍补苍 (English shine). Finally, Tocharian B skiyo 鈥渟hadow, shade,鈥� is exactly equivalent to Greek 蝉办颈腻虂. Scintillating entered English in the second half of the 17th century in its literal sense; the sense 鈥渨itty, clever鈥� dates from the end of the 18th century.
how is scintillating used?
Across the crowded living room, where all the clever, scintillating talk and noise of a cocktail party seem nervous and inane, a boy and a girl suddenly see each other.
What had once seemed perhaps a bit flat next to the scintillating wit and effervescent sparkle of our mother came to seem the most valuable quality in the world one person could give another, infinite patience and attention ….
scintillating
plotz
verb (used without object)
to collapse or faint, as from surprise, excitement, or exhaustion.
More about plotz
Plotz 鈥渢o collapse or faint, as from surprise, excitement, or exhaustion,鈥� is one of those Yiddish words that make you smile just from its sound. Many Americans learned plotz in the early 1950s from Mad magazine (originally a comic book). Plotz is an American slang term that comes from Yiddish platsn 鈥渢o crack, split, burst,鈥� from Middle High German platzen 鈥渢o burst.鈥� Plotz entered English about 1920.
how is plotz used?
Simmel was worried about street lamps, murals, the occasional honk of a horn. Had he lived to see a smartphone, or modern Tokyo, he would have plotzed.
Make an effort to include your parents in this milestone, let them decide whether to take part somehow, and if they decline, then invite your mother-in-law to take a bigger role. If/when your mom plotzes …聽you can simply and kindly remind your mother that she was invited to take part and chose not to.
plotz