DEJA VU

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

DEJA VU

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:02 pm

• deja vu •

Pronunciation: day-zhah-vu Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: 1. The sense that you are seeing or otherwise experiencing something that has happened before. 2. The sense of boredom at having seen or experienced something too many times.

Notes: Since today's word is a recent borrowing from French—a phrase at that—it is a lexical orphan with no derivational family. Because it is a mass noun, it doesn't even have a plural form. Some people even prefer to keep the exact French spelling, which is déjà vu with the diacritics. They are not necessary, however.

In Play: The most famous use of today's word, of course, was the redundancy by New York Yankees baseball player and coach, Yogi Berra: "It's like deja vu all over again." In the US the word is currently taking on a new sense of "annoyance from repetition". Acceptance of this shift is up to you: "Your requests for advances on your allowance are becoming deja vu, son."

Word History: Today's Good Word is actually a French phrase borrowed intact into English. In French déjà vu means, unsurprisingly, "already seen". Vu is the past participle of French voir "to see", the natural descendant of Latin videre "to see" (whence English video, which means "I see" in Latin). In English, the same root that gave vid- in Latin, became wit and wise in English, you see. And if you go to see someone, you visit them, don't you? Visit is another relative. The root remained unchanged in Celtic, where vid meant "seer". So the compound dru-wid (druid) meant "strong seer". (We hope that Bonnie Sides let us experience déjà vu in the future by suggesting more Good Words like today's.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:18 am

The connection of the verb part of the phrase to visit is an interesting one. When one experiences deja vu as in the first definition, the feeling often is much more like revisiting an entire experience than like just seeing it again.

I have experienced deja vu an many occasions; where usually the first experience was in a dream and the second in waking life. Unfortunately, the prescient dreams never seem to contain any really useful information such as stock tips, lottery numbers or even how to avoid any negative events. Ah well, you only live once...or do you? :twisted: :?: :wink:
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Re: DEJA VU

Postby gailr » Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:58 pm


Meaning: 1. The sense that you are seeing or otherwise experiencing something that has happened before. 2. The sense of boredom at having seen or experienced something too many times. 3. A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something..
[I added the missing definiton...] :)
-gailr

scw1217
Lexiterian
Posts: 259
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:50 am
Location: Florida, USA
Contact:

Postby scw1217 » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:28 pm

I am having deja vu, having received this word again today, June 12, 2006. lol I see from this post it was originally sent June 4!

Huny
Lexiterian
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm
Location: Georgia

Postby Huny » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:28 pm

Well, now, I guess the Good Doctor dismissed his feeling of deja vu as being exactly that, then felt the need to send it anyway.(Haven't I already said this?) :wink:
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.

tcward
Wordmaster
Posts: 789
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:18 pm
Location: The Old North State

Postby tcward » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:09 pm

Like Perry, I experience this quite often, but never about anything really useful. I also have a feeling of déjà vu when I am composing music, sometimes... and then I wonder if I am stealing someone else's work that I previously had heard.

At those times I think how exciting it must have been for Hector Berlioz, to know that he was truly innovative!

-Tim

Stargzer
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2578
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
Location: Crownsville, MD

Re: DEJA VU

Postby Stargzer » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:07 am


Meaning: . . . 3. A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something..
[I added the missing definiton...] :)
-gailr
You forgot:
deja moo--the feeling you've heard all this bull before.
Happens quite a lot when you work for the Government.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Huny
Lexiterian
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: DEJA VU

Postby Huny » Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:37 am

Happens quite a lot when you work for the Government.
Is that why, when I asked my mom what she really did for a living she replied, "If I tell ya, I'll have to kill ya."? Needless to say, I left that one alone. :shock:
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.

Perry
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2306
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:50 am
Location: Asheville, NC

Postby Perry » Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:20 am

Your mom's job must be fairly low level security clearance. We would have to kill you just for asking the question. 8)
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Re: DEJA VU

Postby gailr » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:23 pm

You forgot:
deja moo--the feeling you've heard all this bull before.
Happens quite a lot when you work for the Government.
Not just the government, Larry; this applies equally well to the running (and sometimes sleeping) dogs of capitalism.
-gailr

Bailey
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2114
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:51 pm

Postby Bailey » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:29 pm

I thought it was the Imperialist running dog-Capitalists.

mark
always wondered why it was running dogs rather than manger setters [sic].

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









User avatar
gailr
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1945
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:40 am
Contact:

Postby gailr » Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:32 pm

always wondered why it was running dogs rather than manger setters [sic].
Hint: there's the hitch of runners, and then there's the guy standing on the sled shouting, "mush!"

-gailr
But I like the "manger setters".

Huny
Lexiterian
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:38 pm
Location: Georgia

Postby Huny » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:10 pm

Your mom's job must be fairly low level security clearance. We would have to kill you just for asking the question. 8)
I think you may have a point there, she claims to be in "Waste Management". :lol:
BTW: Sorry for the delay in response, but we here in Middle GA have a visitor that happens to be dumping a lot of rain on us, so I felt the urge to read a book. It looks like things are only going to get worse- sorry, totally irrelevant :oops:
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compaired to what lies inside us." R.W.E.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 44 guests