Bill W

Yes, that law has created a lot of problems for gay couples and those that are only engaged. Maybe some day they'll change the law and get it right this time. Yes, you'll find out about how this is going to affect Devin's academic standing in the next chapter, once Mac has had a chance to contact Devin's professors. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Chapter 40 – How Will it Turn Out? I tailgated behind the ambulance all the way to the hospital and drew more than a few nasty stares and hand gestures from the other drivers as I passed by. I also heard a few people blast their horns at me along the way, but I didn’t let any of that bother me. I was worried about Devin and wanted to stay close to him, but as I pulled in behind the ambulance as the EMTs were getting ready to unload Devin’s gurney, I received a very gruff order. “

Ah, a word I know well and am very familiar with. It comes from the Latin word frustrare (disappoint) and frustratio (a deception). The word frustration came into use in English in the mid 16th century.

The adjective lackadaisical, “lacking interest or determination; listless; lazy; indolent,” comes from the interjection, adjective, and noun lackadaisy. Lackadaisy as an interjection expresses dismay, sorrow or disapproval; as an adjective it means “given to crying lackadaisy; and as a noun, “a person given to crying lackadaisy.” Lackadaisy is a variant of the archaic interjection lackaday, a shortened variant of alack the day. Middle English has the interjection alacke (also alagge), possibly related to the noun lak, lack(e) “a lack, fault, shortcoming,” and alack the day may have originally meant “shame on the day (for turning out like this),” like alas the day. Lackadaisical weakened in meaning from a person who cried lackadaisy to someone who complained about trivialities, then still further to someone who was sentimental, and finally to someone who was just lazy. Lackadaisical entered English in the second half of the 18th century.

The word "lackadaisical" comes from the interjection 'lackaday', which was a shortened version of the expression 'alack the day'. 'Alack' was an interjection used to express sorrow or regret. The word 'lackadaisical' was formed in the mid-1700s to describe people who were feeling miserable.

@wildone Those who choose to live in the far north must learn to live with the weather that comes with it. Snow in October might be rare, but not unheard of, so grin and bear it while getting out the snow shovel or the snowblower. Oh, and don't forget the longjohns too, if you don't want anything important to freeze.

Why were comments disabled for the weekly blog starting on 10/27/2024? Since I couldn't post there, I decided to ask the question here.

Notorious doesn't always have to be a bad quality. Did you forget that Don Juan was notorious for being a prolific lover? Or that Bella Lugosi was notorious for his portrayal of Dracula, the Wolfman, and other unusual characters on the movie screen?

An example of egocentric bias is when someone trips in a crowded place and the person immediately thinks everyone is watching and laughing at him, even though few people actually noticed.

I can't agree more, and the comment I'd like to make I can't, because it would be deemed political.

Yes, that would have been under J. Edgar Hoover. He was the director of the Bureau of Investigation from 1824-1935, and then Director of the newly named Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1935 until his death in 1972.

Those of us that are old enough to the use of the term high fidelity when referring to the quality of a record player, the term high fidelity means the reproduction of sound with little distortion, giving a result similar to the original.

Another word for fidelity would be fealty. Fealty used to refer to the allegiance that a tenant or vassal owed to a lord under feudal law. but it can also be defined as the allegiance that one owes to a country, especially when referring to the military. Fealty could also mean loyalty to a friend or comrade.

Fidelity come from the Latin words fides (faith), fidelis (faithful), and fidelitas (faithfulness or loyalty).

Synonyms for circumlocution are: diffuseness · euphemism · indirectness · periphrasis · roundabout · tautology · verbiage · wordiness · indirectness · repetitiveness · long-windedness.

Circumlocution comes from two Latin root words: circum (around) and locution (to speak or speech). It literally means: speaking in circles, going round and round in a wordy way without ever getting to the heart of the matter.

And @empath I second that comment. I wish you the very best!

Exactly, you never get too old to prevent you from slipping back into boy mode from time to time, and unfortunately this was one of those times for Devin and Mac. It's too bad that fate decided to intrude on their youthful activities.

The difference between urban and urbane is that urban refers to the areas within a city, while urbane means having refined and polite manners, which was originally beliefs to be a product of city life, rather than rural living.

From the Latin urbanus (derived from urbs, meaning city) and the French urbain to mid-16th century English word urban and into urbane (a modern sense of savoir faire - no doubt fostered by city dwellers at the time - believing that living in the city made one more suave than rural life).

Yes, there are a lot of unanswered questions, so we'll have to wait and see how many of those questions are answered in the next chapter. There are so many ways that this might go, so keep your fingers crossed until the next chapter is posted. 👨‍⚕️ 🤞

Then I guess you were thrown a curveball...

Good point, Al. If he'd read my Castaway series or A Tragic Love, @drpaladin wouldn't have made this comment: Some authors seem to derive fiendish pleasure from inflicting over the top pain, suffering, and mental hardship on their characters. It's not a trait I've observed with you. At least not yet. Thank you for pointing that out to him.

Possibly it's just in your head.