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Showing posts with the label Etymology

DOBBS V. JACKSON for Dummies (Part 3 of 5 : "Rights")

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Play it safe. A brief review --  Part 1. Conscience is annoying.  Jiminy Cricket represented that part of an incomplete persona, the part that relentlessly tweaks our moral compass. He irritates our inchoate spirits, urging us, never stopping until that moment you take a chance, opening your heart to being "real." Conscience is self-knowledge. With it, you objectify yourself, and you recognize the possibility that, " Hey, maybe I can expend some energy thinking a thought, maybe two, maybe more - discerning whether certain propositions, certain thoughts, words, and actions are inherently right - or wrong. " Part 2. Culture , on the other hand, is one of the primary exogenous forces that shapes the thoughts, feelings, and to be sure, significant opinions affecting humanity. It lends credence to the rules under which we choose to live.   To minimize the impact of art, music, literature, architecture, animation, language, sports, etc., on human experience, will lead i...

No Mercy

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Start here . Hello again, Boomers, Jonesers, and Non-Boomers alike. Nothing to talk about lately? What do we Americans do when the temperature starts climbing above 80, and the lawn needs mowing?  Well, for the last couple of centuries, there was this thing called Our National Pastime. Notice the word  "pastime" suggests an activity unabashedly and unequivocally meant to be an acceptable and civil  way to pass time . I would even go so far to say, pre-Internet distraction, there was a tapestry. a weaving of the fabric of your cultural character in sport, a mythos, conjured and nurtured for the benefit of inter-generational respect and  civility. Heck, even affection. Love you, dad. Alas, locusts and honey will have to suffice anymore "Oh, there you go again Roy, being literal, and trying to find out what words mean." I suppose so. Unfortunately, in my blogging experience, if you are a fan of scholarly etymology and  reasonable contextual usage, with a dash of tr...

Varieties of Durham (Part 1 of 2)

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We are All Boat People Start here . You could look it up, but I'm here so you don't have to.  The word "Durham" should invoke more than the surname of the DOJ Special Counsel whose work triggers both sides of the political echo chamber.   True, from a corporate mass media perspective, that's the first bell rung when you hear a reference to Durham.  Etymologically, the combination of Olde English " dun " (hill) and  Scandinavian " holmr " (city) was adopted by 1st century Normans.  City on a hill? Hmm. They eventually stopped adding the letter -r- because, the Anglo-French quite often lost or combined words containing the letters -l- , -n- , and -r- .  They just couldn't properly pronounce " dunholmr ." Geographically, there are two primary locations called Durham. One Durham is a city and county bordering the North Sea in England (pop. ~511,000). The other Durham is a city located northwest of Raleigh, North Carolina. Durham, NC ...