Welcome

Welcome
John William Tuohy lives in Washington DC

But in reading great literature /Quite from C.S. Lewis


But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself.
                                                                                                                         C.S. Lewis





Word origins


The word Opusculum comes from Latin, where it serves as the diminutive form of the noun opus, meaning "work." In English, opus can refer to any literary or artistic work, though it often specifically refers to a musical piece. Being a diminutive of opus, opusculum logically refers to a short or minor work. Unlike its more famous relation, however, opusculum is most often used for literary works. The Latin plural of opus is opera, which gave us (via Italian) the word we know for a musical production consisting primarily of vocal pieces performed with orchestral accompaniment.

Despot: A ruler with absolute power and authority/one exercising power tyrannically: a person exercising absolute power in a brutal or oppressive way. In the past, the word was mainly used to identify some very specific rulers or religious officials, and the title was an honorable one: it comes from a Greek word meaning "lord" or "master" and was originally applied to deities. That situation changed toward the end of the century, perhaps because of French Revolutionists, who were said to have been "very liberal in conferring this title," considered all sovereigns to be tyrannical. When democracy became all the rage, despot came to be used most often for any ruler who wielded absolute and often contemptuous and oppressive power.

The word head is from Old English heafod (top of the body).

Jell-O: The word gelatin (a substance formed by boiling bones, skin, ligaments, etc.) is from Latin gelare (to freeze). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gel- (cold; to freeze), which also gave us jelly, chill, glacier, cold, and congeal. Earliest documented use: 1935.

Parthian. Relating to, or characteristic of ancient Parthia or its people./ Or having the effect of a shot fired while in real or feigned retreat.  The adjective Parthian, which often shows up in the phrase "Parthian shot," has its roots in the military strategies of the ancient Parthians. One of the fighting maneuvers of Parthian horsemen was to discharge arrows while in real or feigned retreat. The maneuver must have been memorable because "Parthian shot" continues to be used for a "parting shot," or a cutting remark made by a person who is leaving, many centuries after the dissolution of the Parthian empire.

Bone is from Old English ban (bone)




Good fiction creates empathy.



Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life. -Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, essayist, and poet.






Words origins

Sashay: From the French word chassé, meaning  "to chase." The word worked its way into English, badly mispronounced as Sashay.