FATUOUS
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:29 pm
• fatuous •
Pronunciation: fæ-chu-wês • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: No, you don't get fatuous by overeating or stuffing yourself with carbs. This word means "smugly or unconsciously foolish, silly, stupid" (the way we feel when we overeat or stuff ourselves with carbs).
Notes: The original pronunciation of this word was [fæ-tyu-wês] but the combination [ty] slips to [ch] in unaccented English in syllables: picture and lecture are pronounced similarly. The adverb is fatuously and the noun, fatuity, pronounced [fê-tyu-ê-ti], without [ty] becoming [ch] because it is in an accented syllable. OK, if you want to keep the [ch], you can use fatuousness.
In Play: This Good Word refers to a kind of stupidity that is unaware of itself: "Art Major's fatuous comment that "The Thinker" was Michelangelo's best sculpture was bad enough, but he had to continue on about what a wonderful Greek sculptor Michelangelo was!" All hopes of Art learning to keep his sculptors and sculptures straight may be a fatuous dream, too.
Word History: Today's Good Word is Latin fatuus "foolish, silly" in scant disguise. The Latin root fat- derives from the Proto-European-Root root *bhat-, which may also be the source of Latin battuere "to beat", which is related to English beat and bat. If so, the original meaning might have been "struck in the head". We are sure, however, that fade also descended from a late variant of fatuus via Old French fader. And that is something that happens when we are battered about the head.
Pronunciation: fæ-chu-wês • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: No, you don't get fatuous by overeating or stuffing yourself with carbs. This word means "smugly or unconsciously foolish, silly, stupid" (the way we feel when we overeat or stuff ourselves with carbs).
Notes: The original pronunciation of this word was [fæ-tyu-wês] but the combination [ty] slips to [ch] in unaccented English in syllables: picture and lecture are pronounced similarly. The adverb is fatuously and the noun, fatuity, pronounced [fê-tyu-ê-ti], without [ty] becoming [ch] because it is in an accented syllable. OK, if you want to keep the [ch], you can use fatuousness.
In Play: This Good Word refers to a kind of stupidity that is unaware of itself: "Art Major's fatuous comment that "The Thinker" was Michelangelo's best sculpture was bad enough, but he had to continue on about what a wonderful Greek sculptor Michelangelo was!" All hopes of Art learning to keep his sculptors and sculptures straight may be a fatuous dream, too.
Word History: Today's Good Word is Latin fatuus "foolish, silly" in scant disguise. The Latin root fat- derives from the Proto-European-Root root *bhat-, which may also be the source of Latin battuere "to beat", which is related to English beat and bat. If so, the original meaning might have been "struck in the head". We are sure, however, that fade also descended from a late variant of fatuus via Old French fader. And that is something that happens when we are battered about the head.