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puerile: msg#00023

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Subject: puerile

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The Word of the Day for August 25 is:

puerile \PYUR-ul\ adjective
1 : juvenile
*2 : childish, silly

Example sentence:
Beths husband likes pulling puerile gags with handshake buzzers and
dribble glasses.

Did you know?
"Puerile" may call to mind qualities of youth and immaturity, but the term
itself is no spring chicken. On the contrary, it's been around for more than
three centuries, and its predecessors in French and Latin, the adjectives
"pueril" and "puerilis," respectively, are far older. Those two terms have the
same basic meaning as the English word "puerile," and they both trace to the
Latin noun "puer," meaning "boy" or "child." Nowadays, "puerile" can describe
the acts or utterances of an actual child, but it more often refers (usually
with marked disapproval) to occurrences of childishness where adult maturity
would be expected or preferred.







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