ERUDITION

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ERUDITION

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:41 pm

• erudition •

Pronunciation: er-ê-di-shên or er-yê-di-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: Deep, profound, scholarly knowledge of a subject.

Notes: Today's Good Word is the noun from the adjective erudite "deeply knowledgeable", as would be an erudite scholar. In RP, Received Pronunciation (that of the British upper class), the U is fully pronounced: [e-ru-di-shên] (or [e-ryu-di-shên]). This pronunciation is also acceptable elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

In Play: Erudition refers to profound knowledge obtained through persistent lucubration at excellent educational institutions: "President Bush is a man of considerable erudition, having graduate from both Yale and Harvard universities as well as the prestigious Andover Academy." However, beware of those who attempt to fake erudition: "I would expect a person of your erudition to know that Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, not Slovenia."

Word History: Today's Good Word is the English version of Latin action noun, erudtio(n-) "polishing, education" from the verb erudire "to polish, hone, educate". The verb is based on the phrase ex "out of" + rudis "rough, raw, unfinished", the ultimate origin of the English word rude. It is tempting to see a kinship with Latin crudus "raw, uncooked, unprepared" but the loss of an initial C in Latin would be inexplicable. (Today we thank the most erudite Eric Berntson for his suggestion of this lexical rubric of the overeducated.)
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Perry
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Postby Perry » Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:50 am

"President Bush is a man of considerable erudition, having graduate from both Yale and Harvard universities as well as the prestigious Andover Academy."

Careful Doc! Those typos always come back to haunt you. :oops:
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gailr
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Postby gailr » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:08 pm

Perry! Are you suggesting instead that he done graduated?

Perry
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Postby Perry » Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:44 am

I might could mean that.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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