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Tuesday 17 August 2021

Thing To Be Today: stupendous.

 This, you may feel, is a big ask, but take heart: not only is word stupendous next to the word stupid in many dictionaries, but it comes from the same basic idea.

There.

That makes it easier, doesn't it?

Thing To Be Today: stupendous. To be stupendous you have to be amazing, and the word comes from the Latin word stupēre, to be amazed. The word stupid comes from the word stupēre, too, but in that case the word took a detour, first via the Latin word stupidus, which means to be silly, and then via the French word stupide. The word arrived here in the 1500s, and people have been stupid ever since.



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