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Todays Thought

A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. 

-H.G. Wells, writer (21 Sep 1866-1946)

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)