Word of the Day

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Today is Thursday, so you have two words to play with, and then you can post in the comments.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19

Celerity

[sə-LER-it-ee]Part of speech: noun

Origin: latin, 15th century

• Swiftness or rapid movement
• In oceanography, individual wave speed

Examples of Celerity in a sentence

• When the fire alarm went off, everyone headed to the exits with celerity.
• Judging the celerity of an incoming wave is crucial for surfers.

About Celerity

Celerity is a noun that means action is occurring at a rapid pace. It can be a literal quickness of the feet, or it can be a general sense of urgency. Use celerity when a quick response is important.

Did you Know?

French has a word, "célérité," which has essentially the same pronunciation and meaning as the English word. But "celerity" is actually traced back to Latin roots. "Celeritas" means quickness or haste.

BONUS

Flaneur

[fluh-nər]Part of speech: noun

Origin: french, 19th century

• One who rambles or travels aimlessly
• An idler or dawdler

Examples of Flaneur in a sentence

• He left his trip itinerary open so he could be a bit of a flaneur and do things on the fly.
• She always got in trouble for being a flaneur as she came back to class from a long break.

About Flaneur

A flaneur by another name could be called a slacker — someone who idles about, taking their time, not accomplishing much. But the French-inspired term sounds much nicer than "slacker."

Did you Know?

The two definitions of this word actually come from two different languages. In French, a "flâneur" is a loafer or a dawdler. But in Dutch, a "flaneur" is a person who roams the city on foot.

Comments

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Napoleon Solo stood at the helm of his 30 ft. sailboat the Pursang. He was enjoying a rare event, an entire week off. He decided to spend it alone on the Pursang enjoying the technical skills needed to sail. Navigation, wind speed, wave celerity. He was hoping to have a week of being a bit of a flaneur, no specific objective, no timetable, no communicators, nothing but sun, salt and wind.