London Calling.
London Walks connecting.
This is London.
This is London Walks.
Streets ahead.
Story time.
History time.
Daily word time.
Yes, here we go, In the beginning was the word.
Today’s word. Great favorite of mine. Supercilious. It means haughtily superior. Disdainful. Arrogant. Looking down your nose at other people. And as is so often is the case, it’s all in the word. It originally comes from the Latin word supercilium. Supercilium was the Latin word for eyebrow. Crack the word
Supercilium apart and you get super, which meant above. Cognate of course with our words supreme and superior and superb.
And cilium meant eyelid or eyelash. Put those two together and you get eyebrow. Super – above. And Cilium, eyelid or eyelash. Eyebrow, Above the eyelid.
And in pretty short order it acquired that secondary meaning, haughty or arrogant. You know, the eyebrow raised a disapproving quarter of an inch. And you can really riff with the word. Take power, for example. Bouncers – muscle-bound bouncers at the door of bar – appearances to the contrary, they don’t have any serious power. Serious power is an eyebrow raised a disapproving eight of an inch. Perhaps followed by a nod to the bouncer to clear those low lifes out of here. That’s real power. You get the job done with just a look. The effortless lifting of an eyebrow maybe an eighth of an inch.
Ok, on to our main course. Got another interview for you today. Another young Londoner. Interview – and our interviewee – they speak for themselves. No introduction needed.
[Interview with Luke follows]