Otiose (OH-shee-ohs) – from the Latin for “leisure” – means ineffective; lazy; of no use. Example (as used by Tim Ashley in The Guardian): “Although the wild outer movements and the angular Minuet can take such clockwork precision, the Andante, with it’s obsessive, claustrophobic dialogues between strings and bassoons, seemed sluggish and otiose.”
By Andrew Gordon | Thu, Apr 7, 2011
Disasters have a way of creating big investment opportunities in their wake. It happened last April after the massive Gulf oil spill. And now it’s happening again in Japan. Following the Macondo Gulf blowout in 2010, the main concern was how to make the production of offshore oil less dangerous. I knew this would mean big profits [...]
By Early To Rise | Thu, Apr 7, 2011
Disasters have a way of creating big investment opportunities in their wake. It happened last April after the massive Gulf oil spill. And now it's happening again in Japan.
By Early To Rise | Wed, Apr 6, 2011
Something that’s salacious (suh-LAY-shus) – from the Latin for “lustful” – appeals to or stimulates sexual desire. Example (as used by Frank Bruni in a NYT review of Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton): “Readers with limited appetites for food porn, beware. This is one salacious expedition into [...]
By Jason Holland | Wed, Apr 6, 2011
Say what you will about theme parks. (Too expensive! Too cheesy and artificial!) But they do get at least one thing right. They bend over backward to make the customer experience as good as it can possibly be. Take visitors with young kids, for example. Here are a few conveniences I noticed on a recent trip to [...]
By Early To Rise | Wed, Apr 6, 2011
Say what you will about theme parks. (Too expensive! Too cheesy and artificial!) But they do get at least one thing right. They bend over backward to make the customer experience as good as it can possibly be.
By Daniel Levis | Tue, Apr 5, 2011
I was sitting around socializing with some friends the other day when one of my guests told a story about how an acquaintance had driven off the highway and into a farmer’s field… She followed the tractor path four and half kilometers into a wooded bog and eventually buried her car up to the axles in [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, Apr 5, 2011
Impecunious (im-pih-KYOO-nee-us) – from the Latin for “wealth” – is another way of saying penniless. Example (as used by Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist): “When you are young and impecunious, society conditions you to exchange time for money, and this is quite as it should be. Very few people are hurt by having to work [...]
By Early To Rise | Tue, Apr 5, 2011
I was sitting around socializing with some friends the other day when one of my guests told a story about how an acquaintance had driven off the highway and into a farmer's field...
By Early To Rise | Mon, Apr 4, 2011
Asperity (uh-SPER-ih-tee) – from the Latin for “rough” – is severity; harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner. Example (as used by Francois de la Rochefoucauld): “It is only persons of firmness that can have real gentleness. Those who appear gentle are, in general, only a weak character, which easily changes into asperity.”
By Early To Rise | Thu, Apr 7, 2011
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