Otiose

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Dr. Goodword
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Otiose

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Nov 25, 2021 8:42 pm

• otiose •


Pronunciation: o-dee-os • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Lazy, indolent. 2. Useless, of no use, ineffective, unfruitful, futile.

Notes: The day after Thanksgiving is a good day for today's Good Word. It is a day off some companies give their employees, so that they can have a long weekend with their families. It is a day when we can be indolent if not totally useless—guilt-free. This word comes with an adverb, otiosely, and a noun, otiosity.

In Play: Let's play with the first meaning of this Good Word first: "Gladys Friday is one of the most otiose people I know." So why is Gladys otiose? She spends her time otiosely surfing the Web when the boss is not looking. Here is another example, using the second meaning: "Arguing that the earth is flat is completely otiose."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes to us ultimately from Latin otiosus "having leisure or ease, not busy" based on otium "leisure". We do not know the origin of this word, but we find it in an odd place: in negotiate. This word comes from negotiatus, the past participle of negotiari "conduct business", which comes from a noun, negotium "business". Apparently, the idea was that business was "non-leisure", for negotium is made up of the neg- in negative and negate + otium. (Well, Richard Schmeling certainly isn't otiose about words, for he suggested today's very mellow Good Word.)
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bnjtokyo
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Re: Otiose

Postby bnjtokyo » Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:30 am

Dr Goodword, having looked at some flat-earth videos on YouTube, I think you second example is not quite on point. I think a better example would be "Arguing with a flat-earther is completely otiose. No amount of evidence or legal judgments will suffice to change his or her mind."
I refer you to the bet between Alfred Russel Wallace and John Hampden in 1870 in which Wallace undertook to demonstrate that the earth is not flat.
The Bedford Level Experiment, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford_Level_experiment
The referee, John Henry Walsh, declared Wallace had won the bet but Mr. Hampden refused to accept that judgement and entered into protected legal proceedings to avoid paying. Ultimately the wager was declared to be invalid and Mr Hampden never paid.

David Myer
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Re: Otiose

Postby David Myer » Sat Dec 04, 2021 6:43 am

Splendid contribution bnjtokyo. Thank you. I much enjoyed the Wikipedia story of the bet. I love that Hampden was locked up for threatening to kill and for libel but was awarded his money back on a technicality.

I wonder if lived long enough to realise the error of his position.


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