51吃瓜 of the Day
specious
adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible.
More about specious
Specious, 鈥渁pparently good but lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible; pleasing to the eye but deceptive; pleasing to the eye, fair,鈥� comes from Latin 蝉辫别肠颈艒蝉耻蝉, which has the same ambivalent meanings. 厂辫别肠颈艒蝉耻蝉 is a derivative of the noun 蝉辫别肠颈脓蝉, which also has the same wide range of meaning, but even the literal meaning 鈥渟ight, view,鈥� as in the common Latin phrase pr墨m膩 speci膿 鈥渁t first sight,鈥� implies a 鈥渂ut.鈥� 厂辫别肠颈脓蝉 is a derivative of the verb specere 鈥渢o see, look at, observe,鈥� from the Proto-Indo-European root spek-, spok-, with the same meaning. The root appears in Sanskrit 蝉辫谩艣补迟颈 鈥渉e sees鈥� and Avestan spasyeiti 鈥渉e watches out (for), looks out (for).鈥� In the Germanic languages spek– appears as 蝉辫盲丑别苍 鈥渢o scout, look out鈥� in German, and in Old Norse as 蝉辫腻 鈥減rophecy鈥� (i.e., something that one has looked out for). Greek not infrequently goes its own way: it metathesizes (switches the positions of) the p and k, resulting in the Greek root skep-, skop-, as in 蝉办茅辫迟别蝉迟丑补颈 鈥渢o look around, survey, spy, contemplate鈥� (source of English skeptic and skeptical); skop– appears in Greek 蝉办辞辫贸蝉 鈥渟py, scout; target, goal, purpose鈥� (English scope). The Greek combining form –skopion, –skopeion 鈥渋nstrument for viewing鈥� appears in microscope and telescope. Specious entered English in the late 14th century.
how is specious used?
At the start of聽the pandemic, there were vague hopes of an artistic flourishing鈥攖hat hoary and ultimately specious 鈥淪hakespeare wrote 鈥楰ing Lear鈥� in quarantine!鈥� trope鈥攂ut for me, at least, it was difficult to focus on much more than the ways in which my friends and neighbors were suffering.
And his own reasoning in these pages tends to be specious or skewed. He sets up ridiculous paper tigers to knock down easily …
specious
pandiculation
noun
the act of stretching oneself, especially on waking.
More about pandiculation
Pandiculation, 鈥渟tretching鈥� (as when waking up),鈥� comes via French pandiculation from the Latin verb 辫补苍诲颈肠耻濒腻谤墨 鈥渢o stretch, grimace.鈥� 笔补苍诲颈肠耻濒腻谤墨 is a derivative of pandere 鈥渢o spread out, extend.鈥� In Latin 辫补苍诲颈肠耻濒腻谤墨 occurs only twice: the first time in a play by the Roman comic playwright Plautus (d. 184 b.c.), and the second time in the Epitoma Festi by the Benedictine monk Paulus Diaconus (Paul the deacon), who died about a.d. 799. Pandiculation entered English in the early 17th century.
how is pandiculation used?
There is a shared animal and human behaviour of “having a stretch” and yawning called pandiculation. It is often a combination of elongating, shortening and stiffening of muscles throughout the body.
I had hoped to deal, here, with two other minor emotional luxuries that have been hitherto hidden in obscurity. They are oscitation (yawning) and pandiculation (stretching) which may be practiced separately or together.
pandiculation
hydra
noun
a persistent or many-sided problem that presents new obstacles as soon as one aspect is solved.
More about hydra
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340-1400) was the first English writer to use ydre, the nine-headed serpent. Middle French ydre derives from Latin hydra, itself a borrowing of Greek 丑媒诲谤补 鈥渨补迟别谤-蝉别谤辫别苍迟.鈥� 贬媒诲谤补 is closely related to Greek 丑媒诲艒谤 鈥渨ater,鈥� and both words come from the Proto-Indo-European root wed-, wod-, ud– 鈥渨et, water.鈥� This same root is the source of wet, water, and wash in Germanic (English); of voda 鈥渨ater鈥� and vodka 鈥渧odka鈥� in Slavic (Czech), of Hittite 飞腻迟补谤 鈥渨补迟别谤.鈥� Ud– is the variant of the root for both Greek 丑媒诲艒谤 and Old Irish uisce 鈥渨ater鈥� (from unattested ud-skio-) and the immediate source of English whisky/whiskey.
how is hydra used?
At every turn, Lutie confronts that many-headed hydra of racism, sexism and classism.
Partially or fully wiping out federal student loan debt would be a godsend to many Americans but not be enough to slay the fund-eating dragon that has become a many-headed hydra.
hydra