SUPERCILIOUS

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SUPERCILIOUS

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:30 pm

• supercilious •

Pronunciation: su-pêr-si-li-ês • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Haughty, disdainful, snootily snobbish, totally enveloped in hauteur.

Notes: We may, of course, use this adjective as an adverb so long as we add the regular adverbial suffix, -ly (superciliously). The noun for this word is also the standard superciliousness; however, if you prefer to be a bit supercilious yourself, you may use superciliosity. That should stand some hair on end.

In Play: Supercilious people suffer from rampant hauteur and behave as super silly as 18th century European royalty: "Pierre is so supercilious that he won't dine in a restaurant whose waiters don't speak with a French accent." The supercilious person looks down his or her nose at people, places, and things they consider beneath their dignity: "Andre is either too supercilious to do menial tasks around the office or not smart enough to figure out how they are done."

Word History: Long ago it was noted that people who put on airs tend to raise their eyebrows a lot as part of the expression of condescension. It is this facial expression that led to the creation of today's Good Word. It was borrowed from Latin superciliosus "haughty, disdainful", a word borne supercilium "eyebrow, pride". Supercilium, in its turn, is made up of super "over, above" + cilium "eyelid", the "over-eyelid". Cilium (plural cilia) comes from the verb celare "to cover, hide" and shares its origin with Greek kaluptô "to cover". The [k] in the original root became [h], as expected, in the Germanic languages and the [l] metathesized (switched places) with the vowel, resulting in an Old Germanic word hlid "eyelid". With the disappearance of the initial H, English and German were left with lid, which means "eyelid" in German but any pot or jar covering in Englihs. (We are so happy that Kathleen McCune of Norway is not so supercilious as to ignore us when she happens across lovely Good Words like today's.)
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:11 am

Wasn't there a slang term "lid," for something or other in the drug culture?
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Postby Perry » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:52 pm

Yes. A lid was a unit of marijuana; the amount that could be measured by the lid of a coffee can. Any one (born in America) my age, or a bit older, would know that term.
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Slava
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Postby Slava » Sun Aug 09, 2009 4:09 am

Was that a one-pound or three-pound can? I do like coffee.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Postby Bailey » Sun Aug 09, 2009 3:09 pm

So, that's the origin of a "lid". and I'm sure I'm older than that Spring chicken-Perry. Maybe I was naive.

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Postby Perry » Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:44 am

I'm 55. Modern medicine has kept me alive. My three kids (currently 13, 12 & 8 ) keep me young. Cycling around the local mountains doesn't hurt either.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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Postby skinem » Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:39 pm

I'd always thought a lid of grass was an ounce...or so I've been told.

Is that how much would fit on a coffee can lid? Guess it would depend upon how high you piled it...

Back on topic, kinda, interesting where the term lid came from...easy to see how that morphed into slang for a hat.

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Thanks for the morning laugh.

Postby thejazzgirl » Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:33 am

Thanks for the morning laugh pertaining to the size of the can. I almost spit out my coffee...
Please don't put a lid on it!
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