2019 - Day 25/340 - Friday...Collude...

Today was a really interesting day. Traffic didn't TOTALLY suck, and I made it in the office without any real issues. Then, off to a meeting at the board, our Texas Legislative Preview: 86th Texas Legislative Session. The legislature has been in session for about two weeks, and already there have been over 1,600 bills introduced. The Texas Association of REALTORS® is following a few over 600 of those bills, following those bills closely to make sure no harm comes to property owners or REALTORS® during this session. It doesn't take much, and there are plenty of issues to be addressed and cultivated before sine die (the end of the session) about four months from now. Stay tuned. But today was a great day at the board, two of my good friends a local legislators Celia Israel (also a REALTOR® colleague) and Donna Howard were speakers at the preview. Great information shared from these two as well as the Governmental Affairs staff at the Texas Association of REALTORS®. I am very proud (can you tell) to be a Texas REALTOR®, and the combined efforts of all my friends and colleagues today just reinforced that pride.

NOTE: Yesterday's word was hummock. The book I am reading (listening to) used the word in a narrative today, and I actually knew the meaning! Who could have expected that? Not me!

Collude -- Verb: conspire, plot (sound familiar?). It was alleged that the two agriculture companies colluded for more than a decade to control the price of wheat and corn. (How about now?).

Did You Know? Our English "-lude" words (allude, collude, delude, elude, and prelude) are based on the Latin verb ludere, meaning "to play." Collude dates back to the 16th century and combines ludere and the prefix col-, meaning "with" or "together." The verb is younger than the related noun collusion, which appeared sometime in the 14th century with the specific meaning "secret agreement or cooperation." Despite their playful history, collude and collusion have always suggested deceit or trickery rather than good-natured fun. And topical too, I might add.