51吃瓜 of the Day
More about jo
The common noun jo, 鈥渄arling, sweetheart,鈥� is Scots, a variant of joy. Jo occurs in many noted Scots authors, including Robert Burns鈥檚 鈥淛ohn Anderson my jo!,鈥� Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson鈥檚 鈥淛ust twa o’ my old joes, my hinny dear鈥� (鈥淛ust two of my old sweethearts, my honey dear鈥�). Jo entered English in the first half of the 16th century.
how is jo used?
… her ne’er-do-well jo had provided her with a rope-ladder during the forenoon service, by which she had descended into his arms when she believed the house to be all at rest …
John Anderson, my jo!
chocolate-box
adjective
excessively decorative and sentimental, as the pictures or designs on some boxes of chocolate candy; prettified: decorous, chocolate-box paintings of Victorian garden parties.
More about chocolate-box
The compound noun chocolate box dates from around 1865 and has the literal meaning 鈥渁 package, box, or tin filled with chocolates.鈥� Such packages or boxes are typically decorated in a showy, gaudy, sentimental style. By the end of the 19th century, the compound noun acquired the function of an attributive adjective, hyphenated as聽chocolate-box, meaning 鈥渆xcessively decorative and sentimental.鈥�
how is chocolate-box used?
It works best when everyone stops worrying about conjuring a chocolate-box version of the past and allows the duo’s raw talent to shine through.
But if it鈥檚 verdant folds, 颅chocolate-box villages and a taste of eternal England that you want, try East Kent ….
quiddity
noun
the quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing.
More about quiddity
Quiddity, with its conflicting senses, 鈥渢he essential nature of a thing鈥� and 鈥渁 trifling nicety of subtle distinction,鈥� ultimately comes from the Medieval Latin noun 辩耻颈诲诲颈迟腻蝉 (stem 辩耻颈诲诲颈迟腻迟-), literally 鈥渨hatness,鈥� formed from the Latin interrogative pronoun quid 鈥渨hat鈥� and the abstract noun suffix –颈迟腻蝉, the source via Old French –颈迟茅 of the English suffix –ity. Quiddity entered English at the end of the 14th century.
how is quiddity used?
… that gift for creating idioms may be a clue to the quiddity of his genius.
If, argues he, we could only find out exactly what humour is ‘in its quiddity,’ we could keep ourselves humorous, or at any rate bring up our children to be so.