Here’s one for you. I bet it is not a household word:
A zeugma is a literary term for using one word to modify two other words, in two different ways. An example of a zeugma is, “She broke his car and his heart.”
I want to thank my friend Carol Halstead for confounding me. Cheers
I was thinking about the root word “sume” as in assume, consume, presume, resume, subsume and even, perhaps, exhume. Here is what it means:
sump, sume & sum
These ROOT-WORDS are SUME, SUMP & SUM meaning TAKE, USE & WASTE. They come from the Latin sumere & sumptus. It is interesting to notice how the idea of taking and using began to mean expensive, burdensome, and wasteful. The layman’s name for tuberculosis is conSUMPtion, a disease that causes the patient to WASTE away. In ancient Greece and Rome there was a SUMPtuary law which forbade lavish spending.
1. Assume : as SUME (a sume’) v. To take; to use; to suppose; as, I assume it is so
2. Assumption : as SUMP tion (a sump’ shun) n. The act of taking for granted; as, on the assumption that it is so
3. Assuming : as SUM ing (a sume’ ing) adj. Taking for granted; arrogant
4. Assumed : as SUM ed (a sumed’) adj. Taken; as, under an assumed name
5. Assumptive : as SUMP tive (a sump’ tiv) adj. Assuming; supposing
6. Consume : con SUME (kon sume’) v. To use up; as, Americans consume millions of cigarettes
7. Consumer : con SUME r (kon sue’ mer) n. One who consumes goods of some kind
8. Consumption : con SUMP tion (kon sump’ shun) n. Act of using up; wasting away
9. Consumptive : con SUMP tive (kon sump’ tiv) adj. Affected by consumption; a wasting away of the body
10. Consumable : con SUM able (kon sue’ ma b’l) adj. Can be used up
11. Consumedly : con SUME dly (kon sue’ med lee) adv. Excessively; as, he is consumedly proud of himself
12. Presume : pre SUME (pre zume’) v. To take upon oneself without leave; as, do not presume too much
13. Presumably : pre SUM ably (pre zue’ ma blee) adv. Supposedly
14. Presumption : pre SUMP tion (pre zump’ shun) n. Arrogance; audacity
15. Presumptuously : pre SUMP tuously (pre zump’ chu us lee) adv. Arrogantly; audaciously
16. Resume : re SUME (re zume’) v. Take up again; as, after intermission the play will resume
17. Sumpter : SUMP ter (sump’ ter) n. A beast of burden
18. Sumption : SUMP tion (sump’ shun) n. A major premise; an assumption
19. Sumptuosity : SUMP tuosity (sump tue os’ i ti) n. Lavish display
20. Sumptuously : SUMP tuously (sump’ chu us lee) adv Lavishly; expensively
British sailors in the era of sail, when Britain ruled the sea, were given a ration of rum, cut with water, every day. It was known as grog and is the basis of our word “groggy.”
Have you ever had a square meal? Here’s why:
Most origin stories of the phrase claim it came from British and American naval ships of the 1700 or 1800’s. There are two versions of this story. The most common claims that sailors aboard ship had their meals served to them on square wooden trays or plates, that they either carried back to their bunks, where the plates could be stored easily, or that were stored elsewhere. Since they only used these squares when they were getting a full meal, probably dinner, the phrase ‘a square meal’ came to be associated with a full and satisfying dinner.
David Gersh 