亚洲网紅露点 of the Day
sesquipedalian
adjective
given to using long words.
More about sesquipedalian
Sesquipedalian comes directly from the Latin adjective 蝉别蝉辩耻颈辫别诲腻濒颈蝉 鈥渉aving a (linear or square) measure of one and a half (Roman) feet.鈥� Unsurprisingly, 蝉别蝉辩耻颈辫别诲腻濒颈蝉 is used in farming, military fortifications, architecture, and construction. The poet Horace (65鈥�8 b.c.) uses the phrase 蝉别蝉辩耻颈辫别诲腻濒颈补 verba 鈥渨ords a foot and a half long鈥� in his Ars Poetica (c19鈥�18 b.c.), a poem in which Horace sets forth his ideas on 鈥減oetic art.鈥� It is from Horace鈥檚 phrase that English has its only meaning 鈥渉aving or using very long words.鈥� The first part of 蝉别蝉辩耻颈辫别诲腻濒颈蝉 is the adverb and prefix sesqui, sesque 鈥渙ne and a half times,鈥� from an earlier, unrecorded sem(i)que, a contraction of 蝉脓尘颈蝉 鈥渙ne half, a half more鈥� and the generalizing particle –que. 笔别诲腻濒颈蝉 is easy: it鈥檚 an adjective meaning 鈥渕easuring a foot, a foot long, wide, deep, etc.,鈥� a derivative of the noun 辫脓蝉 (inflectional stem ped-) 鈥渇oot鈥�; –腻濒颈蝉 is a very common adjective suffix in Latin, the source of the English adjective suffix –al. Sesquipedalian entered English in the 17th century.
how is sesquipedalian used?
Because my father was a professor, I early picked up a sesquipedalian way of speaking (which has been defined as a tendency to use words like “sesquipedalian“).
The Players’ was so successful that Moss Empires invited Sachs to undertake a long tour of major variety theatres, resulting in The Good Old Days, a music hall show which ran on BBC Television from 1953 to 1983 with Sachs as its sesquipedalian Chairman.
clown car
noun
a group whose size seems absurdly excessive for the purported function of the group, and whose effectiveness is therefore questionable: The planning committee has added yet another member to its clown car, almost guaranteeing further delays.
More about clown car
The term clown car in its original sense 鈥渁 very small car used in a circus comedy act, in which the normal passenger capacity is greatly exceeded by the numerous clowns who climb out from inside,鈥� dates from the early 1950s. The disparaging, usually political sense 鈥渁 group whose size seems excessive for the function of the group, and whose effectiveness is therefore questionable,鈥� dates from about 2013.
how is clown car used?
But I鈥檓 old enough to remember 2015, when there were so many Republicans vying for the nod of their party, the early intraparty debates needed to be divided into two to ensure everyone got airtime …. The clown car, people named it.
… as the clown-car of guest stars that Swift brought out in each city verged on the absurd …聽it started to feel like Taylor Swift was not interested in a collective, collaborative vision of feminism so much as one that proved the dominance of her own brand.
brainchild
noun
a product of one's creative work or thought.
More about brainchild
The noun brainchild is so common that we forget what a startling metaphor it is: one of the earliest citations for it reads, 鈥淎ll my braines Children fraile and mortall be.鈥� Brainchild entered English in the 17th century.
how is brainchild used?
Coney Island鈥檚 white-towered Freudian fairway had been the brainchild of a real-estate entrepreneur named William H. Reynolds … .
Google Art Project, the brainchild of a small group of art-happy Google employees, brings the Street View technology of Google Earth and Google Maps inside 17 museums around the world.