51吃瓜 of the Day
paucity
noun
smallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness.
More about paucity
Paucity 鈥渟mallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness,鈥� comes via Old or Middle French 辫补耻肠颈迟茅 from Latin 辫补耻肠颈迟腻迟-, the inflectional stem of 辫补耻肠颈迟腻蝉 鈥渟mallness of quantity; scarcity; scantiness,鈥� a derivative of the adjective paucus 鈥渇ew鈥� (because of its intrinsic meaning, paucus is usually used in the plural). Paucus is also the source of Italian poco 鈥渁 little,鈥� i.e., the musical direction meaning 鈥渟omewhat, a little,鈥� and of poco a poco 鈥渓ittle by little, gradually.鈥� The Proto-Indo-European root underlying the Latin words is pau-, 辫艒耻-, 辫蓹耻-, pu– (with still more variants) 鈥渇ew, a few, little, low,鈥� which also usually is extended by consonant suffixes. Latin pau– with a suffixed –l forms the adjective paulus, paullus 鈥渓ittle, small,鈥� the Roman surname Paullus, and the English forename Paul. The variant root pu– with a suffixed –er forms the Latin noun puer 鈥渂oy, child鈥�; the diminutive of puer is puellus 鈥渁 young boy,鈥� and puella, the feminine of puellus, therefore means 鈥済irl.鈥� The root pau– becomes the Proto-Germanic root faw-; its derived adjective fawaz 鈥渇ew, a little,鈥� becomes 蹿脓补飞补, 蹿脓补 in Old English, and few in modern English. Paucity entered English in the first half of the 15th century.
how is paucity used?
Watching American films from the 1970s today, you may be struck by the paucity of music: filmmakers then did not want to depend on the emotional groundbase a continuous music track provides鈥攖hey wanted to focus your attention on their images.
Ambiguous references to what may have been hats of vegetable materials are to be found in the works of almost all ancient writers, but very little that is specific can be discovered. Perhaps one reason for the paucity of information on this subject may be that the homemade hats of plaited straws or rushes were probably worn only by the common people.
paucity
More about neophyte
Neophyte “a beginner or novice” ultimately comes from Greek 苍别贸辫丑测迟辞蝉 鈥渘ewly planted鈥� (grains, vines), a compound of neo-, a combining form of the adjective 苍茅辞蝉 鈥渘ew,鈥� and –辫丑测迟贸蝉 鈥減lanted,鈥� a derivative of 辫丑媒别颈苍 鈥渢o make grow, bring forth, beget.鈥� 狈别贸辫丑测迟辞蝉 first appears in the works of the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes (died ca. 385 b.c.), and it keeps its literal, agricultural sense down to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was completed by the 1st century b.c. 狈别贸辫丑测迟辞蝉 in the sense 鈥渘ew convert鈥� (to Christianity) first appears in I Timothy, one of the Pastoral Epistles traditionally ascribed to St. Paul. 狈别贸辫丑测迟辞蝉 in its new sense was adopted by Christian Latin authors as neophytus; neophytus was sufficiently established for St. Jerome to use it in his Latin translation from the Greek I Timothy. The general, modern sense 鈥渂eginner鈥� first appears in Ben Jonson鈥檚 play Every Man out of His Humor (1600). Neophyte entered English in the 15th century.
how is neophyte used?
Maybe it takes a ruthless, calculating egoist to transform pain into product. Or maybe all the attention that the neophyte clamors for feels suffocating to the full-grown artist.
Macron, who exit polls聽project聽as the winner of Sunday鈥檚 first round presidential election in France, is a political neophyte.
neophyte
non sequitur
noun
something said or written that is unrelated to what immediately precedes.
More about non sequitur
The Latin sentence non sequitur, 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 follow鈥� in English is used as a noun whose original meaning was 鈥渁n inference or a conclusion that does not follow from the premises,鈥� i.e., a logical fallacy, a usage established by Cicero in the 1st century b.c. A typical example of such a fallacy is: 鈥淚f X is true, then Y is true. But Y is true. Therefore, X is true.鈥� Nowadays non sequitur mostly means 鈥渁 statement containing an illogical conclusion,鈥� especially a conclusion that is amusing, whether intentional or not, or “something said or written that is unrelated to what immediately precedes.”
how is non sequitur used?
And who would want to forget, say, 鈥淢r. F鈥檚 Aunt,鈥� whose outbursts of demented rage at poor Arthur Clennam in 鈥淟ittle Dorrit鈥� make no sense at all. 鈥淭here鈥檚 milestones on the Dover Road!鈥� 鈥淲hen we lived at Henley, Barnes鈥檚 gander was stole by tinkers.鈥� … Mr. F鈥檚 Aunt鈥檚 malign non sequiturs would be immortal in whatever book Dickens had chosen to insert them.
But every day many people find themselves sitting across the table from a negotiation partner they can鈥檛 abandon or replace: their kids. How might parents manage these often fraught, exasperating conversations in which their counterpart, lacking self-awareness, sometimes seems to think it strategic to聽respond with complete non sequiturs?
non sequitur