Merry Christmas!This happened Monday...I was not a witness to it, but I was there shortly after it happened, and there were fireworks going off all over. It made the television news, too. I have seen stories on the news about it at least three times, which, all things considered, is probably a good thing. It means there have been no mass shootings lately, and there is nothing really to report on. This is the second 'firework incident' to happen out here since we have lived here. The first incident was when a warehouse type building caught fire, and the contents were all the makings for professional fireworks displays. That was a BIG deal, and the occupants of a few nearby houses were evacuated. That doesn't sound too big of a deal, but when you consider that the neighbors are a quarter-mile away, that kind of puts it in perspective. So, I guess we will have to go somewhere else this year to NOT by fireworks for the New Year!
Munificent -- Adjective. 1. very liberal in giving or bestowing. lavish. 2. characterized by great liberality or generosity. "Nurse, to whom I had slipped a munificent Christmas-box, immediately fell into raptures over the pretty dress." Charles Dickens, "Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy," 1864
Did You Know? Munificent was formed back in the late 1500s when English speakers perhaps inspired by similar words such as magnificent, altered the ending of munificence. Munificence in turn comes from munificus, the Latin word for "generous," which itself comes from munus, a Latin noun that is variously translated as "gift," "duty," or "service." Munus has done a fine service to English by giving us other terms related to service or compensation, including municipal and remunerate.
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