51吃瓜 of the Day
obscurantism
noun
opposition to the increase and spread of knowledge.
More about obscurantism
English obscurantism ultimately comes via the French noun obscurantisme from Latin 辞产蝉肠奴谤补苍迟-, the stem of 辞产蝉肠奴谤腻苍蝉, present participle of 辞产蝉肠奴谤腻谤别 鈥渢o dim, cover in darkness,鈥� a derivative of the adjective 辞产蝉肠奴谤耻蝉 “dim, dark, dingy; insignificant, doubtful,” the obvious source of English obscure. 翱产蝉肠奴谤耻蝉 is a compound of the preposition and prefix ob, ob- 鈥渢o, toward, in front of鈥� (and in compounds usually having a sense of confrontation or opposition), and the unattested adjective 蝉肠奴谤耻蝉. 厂肠奴谤耻蝉 is a Latin development of the Proto-Indo-European root (s)keu-, (蝉)办奴- 鈥渢o hide, cover.鈥� The Germanic form of this root, skeu-, has a derivative noun skeujam 鈥渃loud, cloud cover鈥� that becomes 蝉办瘸 in Old Norse, adopted into English as sky. Obscurantism entered English in the 19th century.
how is obscurantism used?
New ideologies manipulate religions, push a contagious obscurantism.
There is the obscurantism of the politician and not always of the more ignorant sort, who would reject every idea which is not of immediate service to his cause.
bracketology
noun
Sports.
a system of diagrammatically predicting and tracking the process of elimination among sequentially paired opponents in a tournament, especially an NCAA basketball tournament.
More about bracketology
Bracketology combines bracket, in the sports sense of 鈥渁 diagram for tracking advancement in a tournament,鈥� and -ology, a word-forming element indicating 鈥渂ranch of knowledge, science.鈥� The term playfully elevates the sports pastime to a discipline or science. Stages of sports tournaments have been termed brackets since the early 1900s, from bracket as a 鈥済rouping鈥� in the late 1800s, a sense informed by pairs of typographical brackets for enclosing text or numbers. The tree-diagram structure of NCAA basketball tournament brackets indeed calls up such typographical brackets, named after the original architectural bracket, a type of L-shaped support projecting from a wall. Entering English in the 16th century, the word bracket may derive from a Romance word meaning 鈥渂reeches,鈥� the architectural devices perhaps resembling a pair of legs or the codpieces historically worn on breeches. That could make bracketology, with a liberal literalism, “the study of pants鈥� or 鈥渢he study of jockstraps.鈥�
how is bracketology used?
Bracketology鈥攖he scientific-sounding name聽for prognosticating tournament picks before the official committee reveals the bracket on Selection Sunday鈥攈as exploded among basketball fans in recent years ….
Bracketology is the practice of predicting the field and seeding for all 68 teams in the NCAA tournament and/or the outcomes for all games in the tournament. It is a made-up “-ology”, sadly, so don’t change your major just yet.
green-eyed
adjective
Informal.
jealous; envious; distrustful.
More about green-eyed
Green-eyed means “jealous” and is probably most familiar from Shakespeare鈥檚 phrase green-eyed monster (Othello, 1604). In the ancient and medieval humoral theory, an excess of yellow bile, which was thought to give the skin a greenish tint, was associated with the element fire and produced a violent, short-tempered, vengeful character. Green-eyed in its literal sense entered English in the 16th century.
how is green-eyed used?
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock / the meat it feeds on …
The protagonist, Ida, has a green-eyed prettiness …