I recently read that "levitate" was associated with "Levi" or "levites"--the Hebrew priestly tribe that carried the Ark of the Covenant. Any truth to this?

Re: piccare, the hypothetical latin verb from which picaresque descended--any chance that peccare (to make a mistake, to sin) is involved? Attacking with a barbed tongue is sure to be a sin.

I feel ashamed to add this, but it cries out to be heard: "My karma ran over your dogma."

Thanks--very interesting. You made me get out my OED, which had a very nice definition: "One of a succeeding generation. Chiefly in pl. the less distinguished successors of a distinguished generation." There is also an obscure second definition used in botany: "The membranous flask or...

I keep reading this word in The New Yorker, used in the sense of "inferior imitator". Of course, the writers in The New Yorker do like to obfuscate on occasion.

How are sloe, the fruit, and sloe-eyed conected?

This word and its forms are used extensively in surgery; e.g., "Mrs. Price's wound [surgical incision] has dehisced, so we'll have to take her back to the OR [operating room].[/b]