Pedestrian

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Dr. Goodword
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Pedestrian

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:41 am

• pedestrian •


Pronunciation: pê-des-tree-ên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Traveling on foot. 2. Commonplace, everyday, mundane, mediocre, boringly ordinary, so-so.

Notes: Although we list today's Good Word as an adjective, as we all well know, it is more often used as a countable noun, as in pedestrians. It is responsible for pedestrianism, the preference to travel by foot rather than contribute to the drain on fossil fuels. We also have a verb, pedestrianize "convert a street to pedestrian traffic only", which refers to a welcome process going on all around the world.

In Play: Today's extraordinary ordinary word does not have quite the sting of mundane, mediocre, or so-so, though it means the same: "Molly Spancer-Downe loves building out her wardrobe, but the clothes she chooses are so pedestrian!" You want to keep the pedestrian away from your palate: "Anne Chovi must have slept her way through culinary school: I find her dinners no more than pedestrian."

Word History: Today's Good Word was borrowed from Latin pedester, an adjective meaning "on foot, pedestrian", derived from pes, pedis "foot". The same root is visible in pedal. Few roots from the mother of Indo-European languages remained in so many descendant languages so long. It emerged as Sanskrit pad "foot", Russian pod "under", German Fuß "foot", and English foot. Of course, the Latin word survived in all its Romance language descendants, such as French pied and Spanish pie, Italian piede, and Portuguese . The Greek variant, pous, podis "leg, foot" was borrowed in the English words tripod, podiatrist, and podium. The figurative usage ("boringly ordinary") resulted from the comparison of walking to riding in a flashy carriage.
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Slava
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Re: Pedestrian

Postby Slava » Tue Jul 25, 2023 6:25 am

Having become a pedestrian a while back when my car died, I can say it would be nice if more people pedestrianized their sidewalks, making them more suitable for foot traffic. :cry:
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Debbymoge
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Re: Pedestrian

Postby Debbymoge » Tue Jul 25, 2023 4:24 pm

How are the sidewalks needing to be pedestrianized?
Who would be responsible for doing so?

Just wondering...
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Slava
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Re: Pedestrian

Postby Slava » Tue Jul 25, 2023 4:58 pm

It depends on city ordinances, but in mine the property owner is responsible for proper maintenance of the sidewalks. As we have a great many absentee landlords, i.e. slumlords, the sidewalks eventually fall into disrepair and become nearly impassable.

(Oops, originally written as impassible, which, while a real word and appropriate for my neuropathetic (sic) feet, wasn't what I was trying to say.)
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Audiendus
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Re: Pedestrian

Postby Audiendus » Fri Jul 28, 2023 1:43 pm

I think you mean "impassable". :wink:

("Impassible" was featured as a Good Word last year.)

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Slava
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Re: Pedestrian

Postby Slava » Fri Jul 28, 2023 2:38 pm

Oops :oops: . Fixed, with note. Thanks for keeping me honest.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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