While sitting at the table enjoying our 'lupper' this afternoon, I saw a house finch on the patio. I have never seen one out here. Tiny little thing, mostly brown with a red crown, breast and rump. That is pretty much a quote from the bird identifier thing we've got. It was not easy, but I did even less today than I did yesterday. It was a great day, indeed! I searched for the wasp nest that caused me to be stung yesterday, did not find it, but I will be vigilant. I did do a few measly things, but mostly I took naps. And had some chocolate. Okay, mostly I had some chocolate. When the sun came out this afternoon, I did lay out in the sun for about an hour. It was very nice. This picture is of the dirtiest fountain EVER on the Edge of Nowhere, but I like the colors it has developed. It reminds me of the Chinese glazes on the ancient ceramics. We own a couple copies, and we have seen the real thing, and this fountain is really nothing like those (either ones) but I like the look.Inroad -- Noun. 1. a sudden hostile incursion. raid. 2. an advance or penetration at the expense of another - usually used in plural. "That growth by its rivals put United on the defensive as they made inroads into its Middle America hubs." Bloomberg.com, January 29, 2018
Did You Know? Inroad is a combination of in and road (well, duh), both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first-and oldest-meaning of inroad hints at a meaning of road other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, road referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. (Raid comes from this use of road and also formerly specified incursions on horseback.) Road has lost all of its former violent connotations, and inroad is shedding these as well. While inroads are often made at the expense or someone or something, they are at times simply advances, as when an artist is said to be making inroads into a community.
No comments:
Post a Comment