Taciturn

[Dr. Goodword]

• taciturn •

Pronunciation: tæ-sê-têrn • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Quiet, abstaining from talk or conversation, saying little to nothing in the company of others.

Notes: Today's word is a member of a happy family that includes the noun, taciturnity, and an adverb, taciturnly. The adjectives reticent and laconic are similar in meaning but not synonyms. Reticent implies a reluctance to express yourself for some reason, usually fear, holding back something known. (It does NOT mean "hesitant"!) A laconic person speaks clearly but tersely, in short, precise phrases that do not waste words.

In Play: Taciturnity is a shortage of speech that borders on the unsociable, a reluctance to speak even when necessary: "Mr. Rhee has been taciturn all week; they say he is sulking over Hetty's rejection of his proposal." It can also simply be a rather appealing personality trait, "Miss Teak is a bright though taciturn woman, who expresses herself better in writing than in conversation."

Word History: Today's word is another one we slipped out of Latin when it wasn't looking. Latin taciturnus comes from the noun tacitus "silent", the past participle of tacere "to be silent". A related word is tacit "unspoken but implied", which we also use freely. Few other words seem related to this stem. However, one famous name is Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 55-120) who, despite being named Silence, was one of the most elegant orators and historians of his day. (We are, of course, most grateful that Luis Alejandro Apiolaza is not taciturn when he thinks of very Good Words like this one, which he suggested for today.)

[Brazilian dude]

Today's word is another one we slipped out of Latin when it wasn't looking.

Brazilian dude

[Apoclima]

Not much to say about it, really!

Apo

[tcward]

I can't hear taciturn without thinking of Choose Something Like a Star by Robert Frost.

O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud-
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to the wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says, 'I burn.'

Click the quote to see the complete poem.

-Tim

[M. Henri Day]

...

However, one famous name is Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 55-120) who, despite being named Silence, was one of the most elegant orators and historians of his day. ...

Yes, indeed ! Here are the words he puts into the mouth of the German Galgacus, who was fighting against the empire of his day (Agricola, 30) :

Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominis imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant.

As true today as it was then, even if it is in the name of other noble ends that these horrors are now committed....

Henri

[Apoclima]

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

John Stuart Mill

"Oh, you Muslims everywhere, sever the ties of their nation, tear them apart, ruin their economy, instigate against their corporations, destroy their embassies, attack their interests, sink their ships, and shoot down their airplanes. Kill them in land, at sea, and in the air, kill them wherever you find them."

Sheikh Abdel Rahman from a US prison

"Muslims everywhere should at least pray during the blessed nights of Ramadan for your brothers the mujahideen and those on the frontlines, to strengthen them and to spite their enemies. May these prayers lead to the killing of the infidels."

The Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Holy War) group led by Zarqawi

Apo

[Stargzer]

ZINNNNGGGGGGG!

[M. Henri Day]

A miserable creature like myself should probably not have the temerity to wonder if John Stuart Mill ever went to war himself to defend all those spendid values. If I don't misremember, Bertolt Brecht was nearly expelled from Gymnasium for daring to point out, in an essay on a theme set by his patriotic teacher, «Dolce et decorum est, pro patria mori», that dear old Quintus Horatius Flaccus himself had never been in battle (if you are reminded here of more recent figures, you may certainly blame me !). But we know how Brecht ended up, so instead of going into exile, perhaps he should have been a good boy and joined the Wehrmacht (or why not the Waffen-SS) ?...

Trams är trams, även om det kläs i fagra ord !...

Henri

[Apoclima]

I guess only veterans who have fought in battles are allowed to have opinions on war and patriotism. Interesting!

And what battles did Bertolt Brecht fight in?

Anyway, I don't think that John Stuart Mill was quite the flowery romantic that "Horace" was.

"For those that will fight for it....Freedom...has a flavor the protected shall never know". - L/Cpl Edwin L. Craft, B Co. 3rd AT's, Khe Sahn Combat Base, February 1968

War is indeed evil, but sometimes it is the lesser of two evils. To not have attacked Iraq would have left Saddam in power to continue to terrorize and butcher his own people. Stopping or preventing this nightmare is an objective worthy of a great nation, which is why the United States did not hesitate to act in Iraq while others lacked that resolve.

In short, they are things worth fighting for.

* * *

Captain Andrew DeKever is a native of Mishawaka, Indiana. He holds a master's degree in Peace Studies from Trinity College, Dublin. He and his wife, Mary Goldthrite-DeKever, live in Liverpool, New York.

A revolution is not a bed of roses.-F. Castro

Fidel Castro: Can A Leopard Change Its Spots?

Under the direction of brother Fidel, Raul began a systematic search for Batistianos. The henchmen of the former president were accused of torturing and killing members of the revolutionary forces. Even before Fidel formally took his command, Raul and Guevara had been executing those they believed were not sympathetic to the revolution. The foreign press was saying that there was a blood bath going on in Cuba. One of Raul’s first acts, as the provinces’ chief military officer, was ordering the arrest and trial of seventy soldiers who were in service to Batista. The trials and the executions took place in the same day. Justice was expedient to say the least.

"Calunnia, calunnia, che a tirar dell'aqua,
al muro sempre se n'attacca."

Apo

[M. Henri Day]

I guess only veterans who have fought in battles are allowed to have opinions on war and patriotism. Interesting!

And what battles did Bertolt Brecht fight in?

No, indeed, the matter is of such great moment that it must be discussed by all - veterans and non-veterans like Apo and myself alike (and let us hope that war has not been so frequent that the former are in the majority) ! But those who have not themselves experienced these horrors, yet are so keen to see others exhibit the martial virtues are, in my opinion, to be regarded with some suspicion. That is the difference between Bertolt Brecht, who, as I indicated, went into exile rather than fight for the Nazis, and Horatius and others, who, safe themselves, tell us how sweet and seemly it is to die for the fatherland. The goal remains that proclaimed outside the UN building in New York, to find a world order in which

... they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more

Henri

[Apoclima]

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Alright, Henri, you go work on Al-Caida and I'll leave for Paris tomorrow to work on the French!

Those words from the Bible are talking about a time when evil has been vanquished, and human beings accept the authority of God.

Yes, it is a beautiful vision of humanity, but not one that will be reached by the human will.

And, yes, we should do our best to keep the peace, but not at the expense of our freedom, and the safety of our freedom.

If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. -- Winston Churchill

Apo

[Stargzer]

. . . Alright, Henri, you go work on Al-Caida and I'll leave for Paris tomorrow to work on the French!
. . .
Apo

I don't know which of you will have the more difficult task, but Apo will probably have the more pleasant environment.

Just remember that there are two sides to this coin:

The Roman poet Horace's:

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori

"It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country".

as told by the poetWilfred Owen:

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

and Gen. George S. Patton's:

Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

[Apoclima]

Nice finds, Larry!

Thanks,

Apo

[M. Henri Day]

...

Dulce Et Decorum Est

...

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Yes, Larry, Owen got it right - unlike Horatius, he knew what he was talking about....

Henri

[Stargzer]

...

Dulce Et Decorum Est

...
. . . My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Yes, Larry, Owen got it right - unlike Horatius, he knew what he was talking about....

Henri

Conversely, one could say that Patton got it right:

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria miles alius mori

It is sweet and fitting for the other soldier to die for his country.

[Stargzer waits for BD to correct his Latin ]