51吃瓜 of the Day
brummagem
adjective
showy but inferior and worthless.
More about brummagem
Brummagem, an adjective and noun meaning 鈥渟howy but inferior and worthless; something of that kind,鈥� comes from the local Birmingham (England) pronunciation of Birmingham. The original (and standard) spelling and pronunciation of the city is bir-; the nonstandard or dialect spelling bru– is an example of metathesis, the transposition of sounds, a very common phenomenon. Compare Modern English bird with Middle English brid (brid was the dominant spelling until about 1475; the spelling bird is first recorded about 1419). The name Birmingham is first recorded as Bermingeham in William the Conqueror鈥檚 Domesday Book (1086); spelling variants with Br- first appear in 1198 as Brumingeham. In the mid-17th century Birmingham was renowned for its metalworking and notorious for counterfeit coins. Brummagem entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is brummagem used?
In an effort to brighten up austerity-ridden Britain, the Southern Region of the state-owned railway system devised a pub-on-wheels (bar car) which was supposed to be very quaint. The outside of the car features leaded windows, cream panels, false brickwork and fake timbers, and the motif of brummagem antiquity is carried on inside.
Anthony lay upon the lounge looking up One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street toward the river, near which he could just see a single patch of vivid green trees that guaranteed the brummagem umbrageousness of Riverside Drive.
brummagem
longanimity
noun
patient endurance of hardship, injuries, or offense; forbearance.
More about longanimity
Longanimity, 鈥減atient endurance of hardship or offense; forbearance,鈥� comes via Middle English and Old French longanimite from Late Latin 濒辞苍驳补苍颈尘颈迟腻迟-, the inflectional stem of the noun 濒辞苍驳补苍颈尘颈迟腻蝉 鈥渓ong-suffering, patience,鈥� a derivative of the adjective longanimis, which is a compound of the adjective longus 鈥渓ong鈥� and animus 鈥渟pirit, soul, mind.鈥� Latin longanimis and 濒辞苍驳补苍颈尘颈迟腻蝉 were coined by Christian Latin writers as calques or loan translations of Greek 尘补办谤贸迟丑测尘辞蝉 (adjective) and 尘补办谤辞迟丑测尘铆补 (noun) used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible completed sometime between the 3rd and 1st centuries b.c. Longanimity entered English in the early 15th century.
how is longanimity used?
… if your disdain is my humiliation, I shall ill be able, albeit I am well furnished with longanimity, to suffer a grief that is not merely intense but protracted.
“there’s very little we can do about Thomas.” … “Then do very little,” she says in the voice of one whose longanimity foreshortens like shadows cast by the poplars amid the blaze of noon.
longanimity
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