I cannot find the definition of this other than as name of an element. Just now I encountered
the phrase: 'the palladium of the club'. Dear UK friends, please enlighten me.
'the palladium of the club'Bill, I'd been aware that there was a theatre in London called the Palladium
http://www.britannia.com/travel/top/palladium.htmlbut was unaware it was also the name of an element!
However, it turns out (M-W again) that a Palladium is "a statue of Pallas whose preservation was believed to ensure the safety of Troy" (one for a certain Board member, perhaps
)
And in the plural it means
safeguard.
This would suggest that either the Palladium theatre has a statue of Pallas (or a Palladium) in it, or it is considered a safe haven in some way. Though I suppose it may just be a pretentious way of specifying itself as the heart of London.
Dear Fishonabike: In the phrase "palladium of the club" I wondered if it meant an inner room to which only
members were allowed. Palladium equalling the self appointed cream of the crap.
a Palladium is "a statue of Pallas whose preservation was believed to
ensure the safety of Troy"
Or, perhaps, the preservation of Edgar Allen Poe? "...the pallid bust of Pallas..." in The Raven. There was also an Italian architect, Palladio, in whose honour the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins wrote the eponymous musical work which has recently been used by the deBeers Company in their diamond commercials.
"Palladium \Pal*la"di*um\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, fr. ?, ?, Pallas.]
1. (Gr. Antiq.) Any statue of the goddess Pallas; esp., the
famous statue on the preservation of which depended the
safety of ancient Troy.
2. Hence: That which affords effectual protection or
security; a sateguard; as, the trial by jury is the
palladium of our civil rights. --Blackstone.
In definition 2, "palladium" = security so the phrase meant "in the security of the club".
And Pallas was, if memory serves, the Trojan equivalent of Athene - when it was stolen from Troy by ?Odysseus, Athene herself led him - thus making it very clear that she had abandoned the Trojans. I'd never heard it used in your sense, Bill - given what happened to the original, I'm surprised people use it!
Dear Alexis: that quote was from a very old "dictionary of phrase and fable". I gave URL to it
at beginning of "Surprise" thead, and have been just taking the items I think of interest from it.
shucks - here was me thinking this might be a juicy science thread - only to find out it was all about theatres! Stage and screen are two of the numerous arts subjects that I pass the baton on during quiz nights.
OK, OK - for those that also opened this up with science in mind, without googling, who can name more than two of the six platinum group metals? And here's a tip - all were giving an airing here previously (I think when we were on about SGs).
stales
I'm not sure about the 'platinum group of metals' but have a fair knowledge of the Periodic Table (rote memorization in high school).
Re(agan)(d)O(e)s Ir(rational) (s)P(it)t(ing)in his A(wf)u(l) speeches. This was 75-79 (we memorized in groups of 5).
Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum and Gold. I know Mercury comes after Gold, so have I come close to the correct six?
> Rhenium, Osmium, Iridium, Platinum and Gold
Close Chemeng, but no seegar. You got two so far.
The title of this thread is a gimme....
stales
to rsvp to myself.....
The platinum group metals are platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, ruthenium & iridium.
Whilst this may sound like pure periodic table chat, these are all important elements whose strong relationship with each other is of some importance to the geologists and geochemists that search for them. Rarely does one find deposits of just one of these elements, they are inevitably bundled together in the ground. As a consequence, assay results of samples taken to find these metals are often given as the total concentration of PGMs.
Just in case you were wondering.
stales
"palladium" = security so the phrase meant "in the security of the club".
This sounds about right, Bill. It does assume that the club is the palladium, mind. If not, the palladium is a special room in the club, a kind of inner sanctum.
Not to be confused with pallium, a not often used word, but one that fascinates me so I'll intentionally digress here from the discussion:
PALLIUM (plural: pallia)
"Inflected forms: pl. pal·li·ums or pal·li·a ( pl-)
1. A cloak or mantle worn by the ancient Greeks and Romans. 2. Ecclesiastical A vestment worn by the pope and conferred by him on archbishops and sometimes on bishops. Also called pall1. 3a. The mantle of gray matter forming the cerebral cortex. b. The mantle of a mollusk, brachiopod, or bird.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin. "