A.Word.A.Day --barbatulous

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Today's Word

barbatulous

PRONUNCIATION:

(bar-BAT-yuh-luhs)

MEANING:

adjective: Having a small or sparse beard.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin barbatulus, diminutive of barbatus (bearded) + -ulus (diminutive suffix). Earliest documented use: 1600.

NOTES:

To call someone barbatulous is to say, “Nice try, but your beard (and your wisdom) are still in the stubble stage. In many cultures, a full beard was once a sign of age, wisdom, and authority. A scraggly one? More like a sign of youth. This view continues to hold sway among members of certain religious sects, such as the Amish, Hassidic Jews, some Muslims, and David Letterman fans.

USAGE:

“Paedio: But stay a while till your beard grow bigger; otherwise old men will be ashamed to be overcome in counsel and understanding by one that is barbatulous.”
William Shakespeare; Timon of Athens; 1632.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is frame-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. The Jews do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead to change the subject and straw man. -Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer and journalist (b. 30 Sep 1975)

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