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EXPATIATE

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:05 am
by Dr. Goodword
• expatiate •

Pronunciation: ek-spay-shee-ayt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: 1. (Rare) To wander freely at large. 2. To talk or write at length on, to expand (on a topic), go into great detail. 3. To expand.

Notes: Be careful not to confuse this word with expiate "atone for" or expatriate "to exile or exile oneself"; they look a lot alike. Today's Good Word comes with two adjectives, both of which are vastly underused: expatiative generally means "expanding, tending to grow larger" while expatiatory refers to the tendency to go on extensively on a topic: "I couldn't wait for the end of his expatiatory response."

In Play: Today's Good Word is an intransitive verb usually used with the preposition on: "Sal U. Torrey can expatiate on the health benefits of lentils for hours; he drives everyone crazy." But don't let this example persuade you that today's verb can be used only pejoratively; I'm positive it has a positive sense, too:: "Felix, could you expatiate a bit more on your idea of an electric fork and why you think it would enhance our product line?"

Word History: Today's Good Word started out as expatiatus, the past participle of the Latin verb expatiari "to expand, spread out", based on ex- "out, away" + spatiari "to spread". The verb comes from the noun spatium "space", a noun which seems to have dropped into Latin from space, itself. While no one has any idea what this word was before Latin, it has spread widely since the dissolution of Latin into the Romance languages: Italian spazio, French espace, Portuguese espaço, and Spanish espacio. Notice that the last three languages appended an initial E to these words. These languages do not like words beginning with S + a consonant. That is why Latin scola "school" became escuela in Spanish and école in French. French even went to far as to drop the S after prefixing the E, not only in école but in étoile "star" from Latin stella and état "state, nation" (as in coup d'état "coup, blow to the state"), to mention just three.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:00 pm
by Perry
It is pretty common to refer to transplanted managers (e.g. an American manager transfered to Paris) as expats.

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:41 pm
by Stargzer
It is pretty common to refer to transplanted managers (e.g. an American manager transfered to Paris) as expats.
I thought "expat" came from "expatriate:"
TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To send into exile. See synonyms at banish. 2. To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land.

INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To give up residence in one's homeland. 2. To renounce allegiance to one's homeland.

NOUN: 1. One who has taken up residence in a foreign country. 2. One who has renounced one's native land.

ADJECTIVE: Residing in a foreign country; expatriated: “She delighted in the bohemian freedom enjoyed by the expatriate artists, writers, and performers living in Rome” (Janet H. Murray, New York Times Book Review December 29, 1991).

ETYMOLOGY: Medieval Latin expatriāre, expatriāt- : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin patria, native land (from patrius, paternal, from pater, father; see pəter- in Appendix I).
For example, the Lost Generation in post-WWI Paris.

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:38 am
by Palewriter
Stargeezer has it right, as ever. I've been an ex-pat most of my life. I bless the day I left the Sceptered Isle. The trick is to avoid "British Pubs" like the plague. Almost every city in the world seems to have a "British Pub" filled with fake Oxford Street street signs, framed fox-hunting prints, and Union Jacks. The menus often feature Churchill quotes or jolly references to the Royal Family, Rudyard Kipling or Carnaby Street. I can deal with all that plastic crap. It's the gin-soaked, nostalgic Brits I can't handle.

"Shun nev'r shets on th' Brish M'pire."
"Thththird of the world was PINK."
"Blu'y forinahs...can't pull a real pint."

Generally, at this point, I start speaking Swedish.

-- PW

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:58 am
by skinem
Frankly, I'm not sure I care for gin-soaked anything...

PW speaking Swedish reminds me of a cousin's husband--a Swedish expat we call "Chef"--they only human I've personally known to get heatstroke in 73 degree weather...

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:32 am
by Bailey
Been dere done dat, gonna stay home from now on. Europe, SE Asia. *There's no place like home, Click-click, there's no place like home.*

mark home-sweet-home Bailey

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:18 pm
by Perry
Thanks Gzer. Looks like I lost a few grey cells going through customs when I repatriated. :oops:

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:30 pm
by Bailey
Perry, you must have been called "lightening" before then.

I had a friend who owned a service station, he was the absolutely the quickest wit I've ever known. One day he was under the car and, as we are wont to do had a moment's stupidity got caught by the shirt by a running drive shaft, he was black when his brother got him out, he got all fixed up in the hospital, but he never had any clever reparté after that.

mark missed-the-funny-banter Bailey