Disparate

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:

Disparate

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:26 am

• disparate •

Pronunciation: dis-pê-rêt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Incompatibly different, entirely dissimilar. 2. Containing entirely dissimilar or opposite elements.

Notes: We have two traps to avoid in the spelling of this word. First, the first vowel is I, not E: today's word should not be confused with desperate "having lost all hope". Second, the second vowel is A, not E, as we might expect. This word does come with an adverb, disparately, and a noun, disparateness.

In Play: The basic meaning of today's word is "irreconcilably different": "Oil energy and solar energy come from disparate sources." The second sense of today's Good Word may be expressed this way: "Marian Kine broke up with Luke Warme because their personalities were disparate in a way that was not at all complementary."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes to us ultimately from Latin disparatus "separated, divided", the past participle of disparare "to divide ". This verb is made up of dis- "apart" + parare "to allot, make equal". The root of parare is also visible in par(t)s "part". Parcel comes from a diminutive of par(t)s, particula "small part", which also became particle in English. In Latin par meant "equal", so in English the phrase 'on a par with' means "equal to". The Proto-Indo-European word that led to all these words in Latin had an unnoticeable impact outside that language.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
call_copse
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 668
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:42 am
Location: Southampton

Re: Disparate

Postby call_copse » Tue Jan 06, 2015 7:21 am

Nice treatment - though I'd argue that oil energy is simply stored or banked solar energy, thus not STRICTLY a disparate source.
Iain

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Disparate

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:03 am

Some geologists and other scientists are not so sure that oil and natural gas are fossil fuel? It is obvious that coal is organic, but gas and oil may have other, non-organic origins.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

User avatar
call_copse
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 668
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:42 am
Location: Southampton

Re: Disparate

Postby call_copse » Mon Jan 12, 2015 9:53 am

Interesting idea, which I had no experience of. I see from basic wikipedia checking that this theory is called abiogenic petroleum origin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin

According to the article such theories are generally discredited among geologists in this day and age, but I guess it's possible.
Iain

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Disparate

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Jan 12, 2015 10:58 am

The literature is replete with controversy over abiotic oil. Don't let the idea that young earth proponents are the source of this controversy. They merely latched on to it to support their unsustainable theory of the recent origin of the universe. The issue may never be resolved. Big oil wants us to believe in biotic oil and gas because they can see it as a limit to production and thus increase the price. This, of course, doesn't work when Saudi Arabia is dumping oil on the world market to deliberately run the price down. Russia seems to be the source of much abiotic discussion. That could be just politics. In the long run, the whole controversy could be driven by economic and political interests. Isn't everything? I remain unconvinced by either camp.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Google [Bot], Semrush [Bot] and 51 guests