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May 17, 2011
This week's themeWords derived from circus This week's words three-ring circus desultory dog-and-pony show hey rube jumbo A Word A Day the book 
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with Anu Gargdesultory
PRONUNCIATION:
(DES-uhl-tor-ee)
MEANING:
adjective:1. Marked by absence of a plan; disconnected; jumping from one thing to another. 2. Digressing from the main subject; random. ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin desultorius (leaping, pertaining to a circus rider who jumps
from one horse to another), from desilire (to leap down), from salire
(to jump). Other words derived from the same Latin root, salire, are sally,
somersault, insult, result, saute, salient, and saltant. Earliest documented
use: 1581.
USAGE:
"Anyway, here we are with our little burgers and cokes, making the sort
of desultory conversation that those who have been married 30 years
make -- when this newly married couple walk in."Bikram Vohra; Love is the Last Bite; Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates); Apr 16, 2011. See more usage examples of desultory in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
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