It was 75 degrees here in central Texas today, and just a little bit of sunshine. The newscasts are asking if the viewers are feeling particularly morose, and what to do about the lack of sunshine. I would certainly prefer the sun to be shining, but I will take the clouds over the 'arctic vortex ( on the right side) and/or the massive rains, floods and landslide events on the left side. All things taken into consideration, we are pretty darned lucky here where the sun don't shine. Coming Thursday to a farm near us, the threats of freezing temps, no sun and rain. Oh for Pete's sake!Gravamen -- Noun: the material or significant part of a grievance or complaint. "What mattered, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, was the core, or gravamen, of the lawsuit." Adam Liptak, The New York Times, December 2, 2015
Did You Know? Gravamen is not a word you hear every day, but it does show up occasionally in modern-day publications. It comes from the Latin verb gravare, meaning "to burden," and ultimately from the Latin adjective gravis, meaning "heavy." Fittingly, gravamen refers to the part of a grievance or complaint that gives it weight or substance. In legal contexts, gravamen is used, synonymously with gist, to refer to the grounds on which a legal action is sustainable. Gravis has given English several other weighty words, including gravity, grieve, and the adjective grave, meaning "important" or "serious."
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