word of the day giggle!

[erastes]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, January 12, 2011

mansuetude \MAN-swi-tood\, noun:

Mildness; gentleness.

For indeed, it is possible to attain a state of divine mansuetude that nothing dismays and nothing surprises, just as one in love might, after many years, arrive at a sublime tranquillity of the sentiments, sure of their force and durability, through constant experience of their pleasures and pains.
-- Honoré de Balzac, Jordan Stump, Adam Gopnik, The Wrong Side of Paris

You are safe, dear old man, you are safe, temporarily, in the mansuetude of our care, Julie said.
-- Donald Barthelme, Donald Antrim, The dead father

Mansuetude derives from the Latin mansuescere, literally "to tame by the hand."

-----------------------

I love it when I find a new word. But this one will FOREVER be MANSUETUDE

\man=SOO=tood\ noun

A state of Mary Sue-ism for male use. See also Gary Stu.

Comments

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Today's word-related highlight over here was my internal debate over whether a task was sysiphean or quixotic.

[ali-wilde.livejournal.com]

That's a perfect word for it. I'm reading a book right now that, while good, the characters are all becoming 'mansuetude'. It's the most recent in a series which, if I'm honest, probably looked like it was going this way from about book 3. That's not the only issue I have with these stories, though...