Friday, July 22, 2011

quiescent



quiescent [kwiˈɛsənt] a.

1.) Motionless, inactive, at rest.
2.) Of a letter: not sounded, silent; specifically in Hebrew grammar.
3.) Of a person: silent, not speaking. rare.
4.) Electronics. Corresponding to or characterized by an absence of an input to a device ready to receive one.

Etymology: Latin quiescens, present participle of quiescere, to rest, from quies, quiet.

"Luther's shoes on the floor beneath the chamber pot, placid, possibly made of wood, Luther's 16th-century shoes, awaiting epiphany. The mute quiescent suffering of generations of salesmen in the stalls of train-station johns, heads down, fingers laced, shined shoes inert, awaiting the acid gush" (Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace, 1996).

(東海道五十三次之内, 歌川広重, ~1832)
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On a personal note, I finished the first draft of my thesis today, which I'm pretty happy about. Time to party my face off...I think I'll watch Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut and drink every time there's a historical inaccuracy! Thanks for reading!

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting, I never knew there was an electronic definition

Once Upon A Time... said...

well done on your thesis...now you can party hard.

jos xx

Diego Sousa said...

interesting stuff!

Salted Plum said...

Another great word

Shaw said...

Thought it would mean something else

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Hey, congratulations! At what point in the movie do you think you'll be totally hammered?

Anonymous said...

You should watch titus and drink whenever theres a historical inacuracy instead! Or better yet, when nothing makes senses! You'd be gone in no time.

Unknown said...

I think I'm having a quiescent moment today. And congrats on the first draft of the thesis. I couldn't bring myself to watch Alexander - it just hurts.

issy!!!!! said...

can i just say how awsome i think u are!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Hmm I didn't know bout this word, now i know it means motionless "]. I love the pic!

D4 said...

Congrats on your thesis! And that's an amazing drinking game. Do that. Do it.

dwizzt said...

oh.. nice word of the day :)

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Well done, dude! Party 'til you're quiescent!

Pinecone Stew said...

Have a SUPER weekend, -E- !

Meri said...

Way to go! Let there be nothing quiescent about your celebration :)

Rachel Neilson said...

A great word! Hopefully it'll come up tomorrow :p

Astronomy Pirate said...

I know this word, but I hear it very rarely.

Jenny Woolf said...

Love the quote. And well done with the thesis!

shari said...

This is one I'm familiar with. Love the artwork you put with it...

p.s. I did not kill any hobos.

That Blond Guy said...

Good.

Dear Girl Wallflower said...

that's an interesting movie to watch too!
i was a quiescent when i was in h.s but today, i could not believe I was talking face to face to the Principal of Portland Fashion Week!=)

Bibi said...

Yay for the thesis thing! I'm so tired of mine already :p *sigh* I'm a bad student sometimes. But yay! Congrats! ^^

I've noticed lately you've been posting words that even exist in Dutch, so double yay! Or rather, that are "used in Dutch", because most of it is Latin. I still think being classically schooled helped me a lot the past couple of years. (Not sure about the term "classically schooled", it sounds wrong. How do you call it in English? I've been taught Latin for six years in highschool, then what am I? Help me out here)

---
As a reply to your comment: *mutters* fickle blogger... Guess you're right though, I haven't been a very good blogger lately. But don't you dare saying your posts take less time than mine! I imagine you have to spend quite some time doing research before you can post anything on your blog. Plus you're way more active commenting... I never seem to find the time to do that :(

Fang said...

It's a term used for electronics, too? Didn't know that, might be useful to know.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I like this one. It just sounds cute (and really, what more do you need in a word?).

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