Monday 2 May 2011

The word for the year:


(the 100th post on this blog!)

Life is sometimes confusing, or maybe I am being a bit daft - but the thing is there are times in life referred to as the 'aha' moments. The fish is dying... because the filter is clogged - aha (not based on real life); there is no hot water... because the taps are leaking - aha (based on a real life incident). Sometimes, it is like this - their dumplings do not open up in the pan of water while being boiled, because they use egg white to seal them! aha! (def. based on real life!)

And for some reason, while it hasn't been like that most of the time*, but the year has been marked with a sense of mis-identification or un-identification of causes leading to certain effects. The effects have been less than pleasurable most of the times, but even when they have been good - it has only intensified the feeling of random-ness, and lack of control of my experiences.

and so, a bit belated, here is a traditional word for the year:

PERPLEX
transitive verb
1: to make unable to grasp something clearly or to think logically and decisively about
2: to make intricate or involved : complicate

but to stop at that, would be aweful, so this year there is a bonus word for the year, which is actually the REAL word for the year:

DEVELOP
transitive verb
1a : to set forth or make clear by degrees or in detail : expound
b : to make visible or manifest
c : to treat (as in dyeing) with an agent to cause the appearance of color
d : to subject (exposed photograph material) especially to chemicals in
order to produce a visible image ; also : to make visible by such a method
e : to elaborate (a musical idea) by the working out of rhythmic and harmonic changes in the theme

2a : to work out the possibilities of
b : to create or produce especially by deliberate effort over time
3a : to make active or promote the growth of
b(1) : to make available or usable
(2) : to make suitable for commercial or residential purposes c : to move (as a chess piece) from the original position to one providing more opportunity for effective use
4a : to cause to unfold gradually b : to expand by a process of growth c : to cause to grow and differentiate along lines natural to its kind d : to become infected or affected by
5: to acquire gradually

intransitive verb
1a : to go through a process of natural growth, differentiation, or evolution by successive changes b : to acquire secondary sex characteristics
2: to become gradually manifest
3: to come into being gradually ; also : turn out 2a


Origin of DEVELOP
French développer, from Old French
desveloper, desvoluper to unwrap, expose, from des- de- + envoloper to
enclose —
more at envelop
First
Known Use: 1750

All definitions, as usual, from Merriam-Webster (http://www.m-w.com/).


*tho I do realise it has been an ongoing theme with me.

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