51吃瓜 of the Day
funemployed
adjective
without a paid job but enjoying the free time: Ask one of your funemployed friends to come along with you.
More about funemployed
Funemployed, an informal combination of fun and (un)employed, is a neologism dating to 1995.
how is funemployed used?
So far, at least, he seems like an excellent match for this slightly wilder, funemployed new version of Jess.
Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents, the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings.
vade mecum
noun
something a person carries about for frequent or regular use.
More about vade mecum
A vade mecum in English is something, especially a book or manual, that a person carries about for consulting. The English phrase comes from the Latin phrase 惫腻诲别 尘脓肠耻尘 鈥済o with me.鈥� The first word, 惫腻诲别, is the second person singular imperative of 惫腻诲别re 鈥渢o go, advance, proceed,鈥� from the same Proto-Indo-European root wadh– 鈥渢o go鈥� as the Germanic (English) wade. 惭脓肠耻尘 鈥漺ith me,鈥� and its kindred forms 迟脓肠耻尘 鈥渨ith thee,鈥� 苍艒产颈蝉肠耻尘 鈥渨ith us,鈥� and 惫艒产颈蝉肠耻尘 鈥渨ith you,鈥� are relics or fossils in Latin of an earlier stage in the language when 鈥減repositions鈥� (elements that precede the words governed) were 鈥減ostpositions鈥� (the elements followed the words governed). During imperial times, the anomalous 尘脓肠耻尘 and 迟脓肠耻尘 were strengthened, reinforced by the 鈥渞egular鈥� preposition cum, yielding cum 尘脓肠耻尘 and cum 迟脓肠耻尘, which persist in modern Spanish as conmigo and contigo. Vade mecum entered English in the 17th century.
how is vade mecum used?
… the complete poem, though subjected to repeated prosecutions, made its way in pirated editions and became a vade mecum among the radicals.
The travel guides we consult to find a trattoria near Piazza Navova may one day seem as foreign鈥攁nd as revealing of an era marked by overwhelming plenty鈥攁s these fictional vade mecums.
plasticity
noun
the capability of being molded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form: the plasticity of social institutions.
More about plasticity
Plasticity is made up of plastic and the noun suffix –ity. Plastic comes via Latin plasticus 鈥渇or molding or modeling,” from Greek 辫濒补蝉迟颈办贸蝉 with the same meanings. 笔濒补蝉迟颈办贸蝉 is a derivative of the verb 辫濒谩蝉蝉别颈苍, 辫濒谩迟迟别颈苍 鈥渢o mold, form.” Other derivatives from the Greek include plaster, from Medieval Latin plastrum 鈥減laster (both medical and building senses),鈥� ultimately an alteration of Greek 茅尘辫濒补蝉迟辞苍 鈥渕olded on, daubed鈥�; plastid 鈥渁n organelle of plant cells鈥�; plastique (as in the explosive); and plastron “a piece of armor; part of a turtle’s shell.鈥� Plasticity entered English in the 18th century.
how is plasticity used?
Studies reveal adolescence to be a period of heightened 鈥�plasticity鈥� during which the brain is highly influenced by experience.
Comic actors, like dramatic ones, have their comfortable niches, from Bill Murray’s sardonic schlubbism to Jim Carrey’s manic plasticity.