A.Word.A.Day --viscid

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Today's Word

viscid

PRONUNCIATION:

(VIS-id)

MEANING:

adjective: Sticky; glutinous; slimy.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin viscidus (sticky), from viscum (birdlime, mistletoe). Earliest documented use: 1635.

NOTES:

The etymology of viscid gums up the romance of mistletoe. The word comes from Latin viscum, which can mean mistletoe or birdlime. Birdlime is a sticky substance, sometimes made from mistletoe berries, and smeared on branches to trap birds. Next time someone tries to kiss you under mistletoe, you can point out that they’re standing beneath an ancient, slimy bird trap.

USAGE:

“Another scene in ‘Oldboy’ involves Oh eating a live octopus, tearing into the viscid, squelching tentacles with his teeth. (Choi Min-sik, the actor, ate four octopuses to get the shot; he is a Buddhist, and prayed in apology between takes.)”
Jia Tolentino; Mr. Vengeance; The New Yorker; Apr 15, 2024.

As someone who follows a plant-based diet, I prefer that no one eat an octopus, alive or dead. But if you do, don’t pretend that a postprandial prayer settles the account. As if it matters to the octopus, as you tear him apart arm by arm, whether afterward you pray or pleasure yourself.

If you really want to do something afterward, watch the documentary My Octopus Teacher.

Better yet, do it before.

-Anu Garg

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. -Paul McCartney, singer-songwriter, composer, poet, and activist (b. 18 Jun 1942)

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