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Word of the Week – WOW

Heena Rathore hosts a WOW post each week as a way to improve one’s vocabulary.

The summers in Australia are so intense, for four months of the year, one feels a certain lassitude that overcomes any urge to be productive!

Moffat Beach

WOW-2lassitude
ˈlasɪtjuːd/
noun
noun: lassitude
  1. a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.
    “she was overcome by lassitude and retired to bed”
    synonyms: lethargy, listlessness, weariness, languor, sluggishness, enervation, tiredness, exhaustion, fatigue, sleepiness, drowsiness, torpor, torpidity, ennui, lifelessness, sloth, apathy

    “prolonged periods of lassitude which she ascribed to the heat”
    Lassitude is Something to Ponder About.

31 thoughts on “Word of the Week – WOW”

  1. Lassitude is a great word Amanda, oddly enough it’s like a few of it’s synonyms, it sounds like it’s meaning. Torpor, lethargic, languor, sluggishness – to me these all sound like their meaning 🙂

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    1. They absolutely do, Andy! Isn’t onomatopoeia the word to describe those sorts of words? ( If I remember my Grade 9 English lessons??) And that is generally the way I feel now that summer is here! Bring on the winter please!!!

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      1. I love that word too Amanda 🙂 I’ve no idea how you pronounce onomatopoeia, but it sounds very impressive! 🙂
        You would be enjoying our weather in the run up to Christmas Day, it’s about 7° C here today, with occasional showers.

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      2. Perfect weather for me Andy but as often is the case, our weather is diametrically opposed to yours. That is, when yours is warm ours is cooler. Then when yours is really cold ours is a lot warmer so this Christmas is pretty cool in comparison to normal years. Interesting isn’t it?

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      3. That is fascinating Amanda, I must look that up and see if there is a scientific reason for that, or whether its just, as humans, we tend to notice something when it fits in with a certain theory, and not notice when it doesn’t. A wee bit like how gamblers only remember when they win! But they always seem to forget the countless losses leading up to that win! LOL! 🙂

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      4. Perhaps you are correct, Andy. We only notice extremes and only when it supports our theory. I have a friend in Iceland and we have been comparing weather for a few years now and I don’t need to ask her how the weather is if we have had a really hot spell. I know there will be a patch of super cold weather in Iceland. However, I can’t say or make any prediction on the inbetween seasons which seems to support your analogy on the gambler who ‘always’ wins! Yet it is strange how coincidental it is. We have had a really unusual Christmas this year in that it has been cool and overcast. It is usually unbearably hot, humid and sunny on xmas day with the exception of one year(within living memory), where it rained. New York apparently had the warmest Christmas this year. But again, perhaps I am looking for connections. Was it warmer than usual throughout xmas for you in Scotland?

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      5. Your theory looks like it may well be true Amanda, we had an average temperature Christmas, between 4°C and 8°C, with no sign of any snow 😦
        Unfortunately for you, I’m now hoping you get some really hot weather, so that we might get some snow! LOL! 🙂

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      6. LOL!!! 🙂
        I wouldn’t do that to you Amanda – it makes getting no snow this year much better, if I know you won’t have to put up with all that horrendous heat and humidity!! It’s through chatting with you Amanda, that I’ve really come to appreciate some of the grey cool days we get sometimes 🙂

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      7. Oh that is sweet, Andy and I am glad you can feel a bit better about the winter weather. I must not complain too much about the sun either!!! Usually by the end of summer I am accustomed to feeling sweaty and uncomfortable and even slothful (!)…. it is the beginning of summer that is hardest to adjust to. But we can adapt to most conditions I guess!!!

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      8. That’s very true about adapting to our conditions Amanda 🙂
        But I also realise how lucky we are in the UK, it never really gets either too hot or too cold, but we have a good mix of temps and weather in general. Going back to your original word, I’m sure I would feel a certain lassitude during your summer!!!

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      9. Oh I am sure you would feel a certain degree of lassitude and that is also my excuse for a slothful summer! From an Australian point of view, it is very unusual to hear an Englishman thinking he is lucky with the weather in the UK! That is not something heard said of the UK, in these realms. If I was to believe those naysayers, one would get the impression that blue sky is never seen in England! Well done for contemplating the advantages rather than the disadvantages. Recently I heard there was some terrible flooding in parts of your country, but am ashamed to say I don’t know in which part. Hope all your loved ones are ok.

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      10. Sounds like a perfect excuse to me Amanda! 🙂
        Just a wee point to pick you up on though Amanda, which may explain why I’m not constantly complaining about the weather, I’m NOT English, I’m a Cornishman!!!! LOL!! 🙂
        Us Cornish can get quite proud about our non-English heritage 🙂
        Back to the weather, it has been a rather grey and wet winter for many parts of the UK, we are due to play catchup with all the rain tomorrow 😦
        But Glenrothes itself wont flood, but some parts of Fife may be susceptible to some floods. But compared to the west coast of the UK, we’ve had it very dry up until now 🙂
        Thank you Amanda for your thoughts about all our loved ones, thankfully I’m not aware of any one that we know having been affected by all this rain!
        There you go, my English side is showing through (my Mum is English, even though she has lived in Cornwall for the last 65 years!), I’ve just spent most of this comment moaning about the weather!! LOL!! 🙂

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      11. It was a good discussion about the weather Andy. I heard no moaning! And I’ll have to remember you are not English!! I guess it is like calling a New Zealander an Aussie, but they are different countries, at least. I have a Danish friend and they get very pedantic about the separate island names and woe betide anyone who refers to them as coming from ‘Zealand’ (the larger island in the group)!!! Same sort of thing, I think. But not something that happens here….lol.
        When you write “wee point,” I tend to think of scottish people and bagpipes!!!!! As an aside,I have a great grandmother who was Cornish!!!

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      12. It’s okay Amanda, my wife often winds me up about being English, rather than Cornish! LOL! 🙂 And many people up here, and back down in Cornwall, think I’m English, because I don’t have a Cornish accent 😦
        I love the idea that you think of bagpipes whenever I say wee, I should find a photo of myself wearing a kilt, I wore one at our wedding 🙂
        It’s surprising (well not that surprising actually) how many Australians have Cornish ancestors somewhere back along their line – in Western Australia there is a large ex Cornish population, from where the tin miners emigrated to Aus a hundred or so years ago 🙂

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      13. I guess the Cornish miners did used to be fairly stocky, if their houses are anything to go by – I had to duck to go in and out of my old house in St Just! And they definitely would have been sturdy, tin mining is a very physical job! But alas, I’m certainly not stocky, I’m tall and fairly thin (6’4″)! Obviously not from mining stock! LOL! 🙂

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  2. What a lovely surprise to see this post! It’s wonderful that you’ve decided to take up this challenge, Amanda. Other than me, I can only think of one other person who has taken it on. I love writing about interesting words and have done this challenge since last February, I think. At the moment, however, it’s in danger of becoming ‘Word of the Month’ (WOM!?) with me.
    Lassitude is a great word, and so meaningful – so fitting for describing the weather in Australia, and its effects on people there. Your sentence describes that really well! 🙂

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      1. I know how you feel. But I like doing it, as long as I have time, whether there is a ‘community’ or not. There’s just something about WOS and WOM that doesn’t sound quite right. Word of the Semester is a hoot! 🙂

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  3. Hi Amanda. Thanks for participating in WOW.
    Your choice of word is great. Lassitude is a really great word and I think even I did this word for WOW long time back 🙂
    Thanks again.
    Have a great day! And belated Merry Christmas! 🙂

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