Todays Thought

You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. 

-Ken Kesey, novelist (17 Sep 1935-2001)

"Ghost in the Machine" traces the origins of "AI" and excavates the cultural, political, and philosophical drivers behind a worldwide "AI" boom.

 

Todays Word

villein

PRONUNCIATION:

(VIL-uhn) 

MEANING:

noun: A peasant legally bound to a feudal lord, owing labor or dues in return for the use of land.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French vilein (peasant), from Latin villanus (farm worker), from villa (country estate, farm). Earliest documented use: before 1325.

NOTES:

The villein worked a plot. The villain plotted. How did a farm worker become a villain? They were originally forms of the same word. The upper classes associated peasants with crude manners, and associated them with bad character. Over time, a word for a country dweller became a word for a scoundrel. By the end of this linguistic journey, the country bumpkin had become Dr. No.

USAGE:

“The landowners prosper across the cycles while the serfs and villeins do the work.”
Donald Coxe; George W., Villain; Maclean’s (Toronto, Canada); Apr 8, 2002.

See more usage examples of villein in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

Todays Thought

Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vices are delightful. 

-Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (15 Sep 1613-1680)

Todays Thought

Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. 

-Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (14 Sep 1917-1986)

Todays Thought

You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty. 

-Jessica Mitford, author, journalist, and civil rights activist (11 Sep 1917-1996)

From 1979 Kate Bush Christmas special