QUOTIDIAN SISTER SITE UNDER DEVELOPMENT
It's been a good seven or eight months since I last posted news on the development of a new sister site for Quotidian.
The good news is that it's under development and is nearing completion, and I hope to have it launched within the next 3-4 weeks.
Why a new site? Quite simply, because this one is outdated and too difficult to update. Web technology has come a long way in the past few years, as has my knowledge of how to use it. The new site will be faster, more content-rich, and more fresh. You'll also be able to leave your comments and more easily suggest new articles.
Check back within the next few weeks for the link. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and thank you for your continued support.
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD QUOTIDIAN?
I've noticed a great number of searches done on this site that reference the word quotidian, and until now there has been no reference on this site as to what the word means or where it comes from.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (the most venerable of all dictionaries), the word was first used around 1340. It comes to us from the Latin quotidianus, meaning "daily", and this in turn from the Latin quotus (however many occur, every) + dies (day). The word therefore literally means "every day," though today we use it to mean "daily" or "occurring on a daily basis." It can also connote something rather mundane that occurs regularly; e.g., "Most of Elvie's blog entries were nothing more than trivial ramblings on her quotidian existence."
The word is used in medicine to refer to an illness that has regularly recurring symptoms (a quotidian fever).
Also of interest: The French word for "daily" is quotidien (also a daily newspaper).
QUOTES OF THE MOMENT
“Acquaintance,
n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.”
—
Ambrose Bierce“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday—but never jam today.”
—
Lewis CarrollWORDS OF THE MOMENT
The English language is full of great words that just sound...
funny. Here are two of my longstanding favorites.
flabbergast (FLA-bur-gast) [
verb] : to put to confusion or embarrassment; to astonish utterly, confound
Etymologists are unsure as to the exact origins of
flabbergast. It first appeared in the 1772
Annual Register in an essay entitled
On New Words. The author, using the pseudonym Observator, appealed to the editor to discourage the wanton use of "fashionable" words, citing flabbergast as an example (“Now we are
flabbergasted and
bored from morning to night…”).
Flabbergast is widely assumed to be an arbitrary combination of the words
flabber and
aghast. The first part may come from
flab, perhaps because one who is flabbergasted shakes like jelly when he is aghast… Then again, some believe it may have already been in use in certain dialects, namely Sussex, in Southern England.
Ex. Ms. Tippet was so
flabbergasted by the appearance of her son at the wedding that she fainted, and not even the strongest smelling salts could avail her.
tomfoolery (tom-FOO-luh-ree, -FOOL-ree) [
noun] : the action or behavior of a tomfool; playful or foolish behavior; silly trifling
What is a tomfool? Today, it's simply someone who acts like a fool, but in the Middle Ages it was a nickname for any half-witted man, a
Thom Foole.
The name
Tom (short for Thomas), was "often a generic name for any male representative of the common people" (OED), so any fool walking down the street was labeled a
Tom fool. We still use Tom to refer to a random man in the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry."
Ex. Mother got so fed up with the neighbors'
tomfoolery that she up and moved.
[
Top]
Those of you browsing this site with Internet Explorer will receive a popup warning you about ActiveX controls. I encourage you to switch to Firefox and save yourself the hassle. If you must know, this thing pops up because my navigation uses JavaScript to power the subtle hover effects, and not because I'm trying to install spyware on your hard drive.
