A.W.A.D. - Miscellaneous Words

I'm back home from India. Back to the snow and sub-freezing temperatures of Seattle. A few random observations from my three weeks in Mumbai...

There appears to be some law there that everyone has to have at least one cellphone. And you're required to answer the phone when it rings, even if it's in the middle of your own wedding.

In the absence of a cellphone, any small portable electronic device can satisfy the regulation. I swear I saw a beggar on the sidewalk with the wires of an mp3 player hanging out of his ears.

You have a higher chance of dying in a traffic accident than in a terrorist attack, especially if you are a pedestrian. A rule of thumb: the bigger the vehicle, the greater the right of way it has.

Only in Mumbai: A shop selling $100,000 Porsches can be around the block to a shop selling bananas (with a total inventory of perhaps $100).

Only in Mumbai too: Space is at such a premium that in certain neighborhoods buying a parking spot for a Toyota in the parking lot of your building might cost you a Porsche.

Well, adjusting the clock on my laptop computer took only a few seconds, but my body clock is still getting used to the 13.5 hour time difference. Meantime in AWAD this week we'll see five miscellaneous words.

liminal
PRONUNCIATION: (LIM-uh-nl)
MEANING: adjective:
1. At an intermediate state
2. At the threshold of consciousness

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin limen (threshold)

avenaceous
PRONUNCIATION: (av-uh-NAY-shuhs)
MEANING: adjective: Relating to or like oats
ETYMOLOGY:From Latin avena (oats)

span-new
PRONUNCIATION: (span-noo, -nyoo)
MEANING: adjective: Brand-new

ETYMOLOGY:From Middle English spannewe, from Old Norse spannyr, from spann (chip of wood) + nyr (new). Ultimately from the Indo-European root newo- (new) that also gave us new, neo-, neon, novice, novel, novelty, innovate, and renovate.The same term appears in the phrase spick-and-span-new which was later shortened into spick-and-span. A spick is a spike; a spick-and-span-new ship referred to a brand new ship, one that is made up of new nails and new wood.

etesian
PRONUNCIATION: (i-TEE-zhuhn)
MEANING: adjective: Occurring annually

ETYMOLOGY: The word refers to the annual summer winds of the Mediterranean. It's derived from Latin etesius, from Greek etesios, from etos (year). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wet- (year) that is also the source of such words as veteran, veal (in the sense of yearling), and veterinary (relating to the beasts of burden, perhaps alluding to old cattle), inveterate, wether, and bellwether.

ecumenical
PRONUNCIATION: (ek-yoo-MEN-i-kuhl, ee-kyoo-)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Having a mix of diverse elements
2. Universal; general
3. Pertaining to the whole Christian church; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions

ETYMOLOGY:From Latin oecumenicus (general, universal), from Greek oikoumenikos, from oikein (to inhabit), from oikos (house). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weik- (clan) that is also the forebear of vicinity, village, villa, and villain (originally, a villain was a farm servant, one who lived in a villa or a country house).

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