Wednesday 16 December 2015

A word a day- Antediluvian

I have subscribed to a daily mail from dictionary.com which basically sends me one new word in my inbox to know of. I have made this subscription with the intent to improve my vocabulary; and, because I have very low -- I honestly mean really low -- memory retention capacity, all I do is get to know the word and soon I have forgotten the meaning of this word. I have been unable to digest this daily staple or knowledge. Maybe, what I should do is blame my current surroundings and environment where I cannot retain the word like 'Antediluvian' because it has no real use or is a redundant word here in my climate zone; but then, if the word such as Antediluvian is useful to me perhaps in future, at least for the sake of improved literary capacities I must probably resort to internet, and make use of things like emails, chats, blogs, facebook or all. Ah! another idea- I can have some quality conversation with my wife, or I can make a random phone call to people who love or like literature; at least one conversation a day with someone known, unknown or bygone. ByGoid I wouldn't have got this idea had I not started writing this- blog. Man, I love writing!!
So, today, the word I got in my inbox is antediluvian
( Audio Pronunciation )
\an-tee-di-LOO-vee-uhn\
, is an
adjective,
and means:
1. Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood.
2. very old, old-fashioned, or out of date; antiquated; primitive: antediluvian

And, dissect the word Antediluvian,
- Ante is Latin for something before or something preceding,
- ian is like a suffix giving a time, event or a person a general larger identity,

hence, 'Ante .... ian', which isunt a complete word unless there is something between. The closest word I am getting from my plenty of education and experience, that is why some memory is there, is 'deluge' which I can put in between. So, let us go to old times and instead of calling the word 'deluge' call it 'diluv' instead.
Hence,
Ante + diluvee + ian
or,
Antediluvian

Remember, there are three words to be kept in mind and in an arranged manner now. Also remember, an additional adjective is always worth if it is handy in your ready to use vocabulary arsenal. I hope this has blog has helped the reader, and ironically I am still just too distracted. After all this dissecting and exploring, and repeated writing of the word 'antediluvian', I still wonder the word will stay in my memory for good enough long time.

***
p.s. after all these edits, spell-checks and revisions, an example on how to use Antediluvian comes to my mind- It seems India's policy makers are making their decisions based on an Antediluvian mind set.

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