Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Word Guru daily email, is flagrant. Pronounced / ˈfleɪ grənt /, it is an adjective that means “shockingly noticeable or evident; obvious; glaring,” or “notorious; scandalous,” or “Archaic. blazing, burning, or glowing” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/flagrant).

Etymonline.com says that it entered the language “c. 1500, ‘resplendent’ (obsolete), from Latin flagrantem (nominative flagrans) ‘burning, blazing, glowing,’ figuratively ‘glowing with passion, eager, vehement,’ present participle of flagrare ‘to burn, blaze, glow,’ from Proto-Italic *flagro- ‘burning’ (source also of Oscan flagio-, an epithet of Iuppiter), corresponding to PIE *bhleg-ro-, from *bhleg- ‘to shine, flash, burn’ (source also of Greek phlegein ‘to burn, scorch,’ Latin fulgere ‘to shine’), from root *bhel- (1) ‘to shine, flash, burn.’ Sense of ‘glaringly offensive, scandalous’ (rarely used of persons) first recorded 1706, probably from common legalese phrase flagrante delicto ‘while the crime is being committed, red-handed,’ literally ‘with the crime still blazing’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=flagrant). So what we have with flagrant is an example of pejoration, the process by which the meaning of a word becomes more negative over time.

Merriam-Webster discusses flagrant in contrast to another adjective: “In Latin, flagrare means ‘to burn,’ and flagrans means ‘burning’ or ‘fiery hot’ (both literally and figuratively). When it was first used in the 16th century, flagrant had the same meaning as flagrans, but by the 18th century it had acquired its current meaning of ‘conspicuously bad.’ Some usage commentators warn against using flagrant and blatant interchangeably. While both words denote conspicuousness, they are not exact synonyms. Blatant is usually used of some person, action, or thing that attracts disapproving attention (e.g., ‘a blatant grammatical error’). Flagrant is used similarly, but usually carries a heavier weight of violated morality (e.g., ‘flagrant abuse of public office’)” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flagrant).

The *bʰ sound in PIE is an aspirated labial stop, but it’s very hard to explain an aspirated labial stop to English speakers because our language no longer has any aspirated consonants. But if you’re interested in learning more about the phonology of PIE, there are numerous websites, like this one: https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/piep/2-pie-phonology.

According to On This Day, on this date in 1974, “US House Judiciary approves two Articles of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/july/21).

Most people in my generation are familiar with Nixon and Watergate, but if you’re younger, you may not be. On the other hand, you may hear people refer to various scandals with -gate at the end. For instance, in 2014 there was the infamous gamergate scandal; in 1980. President Jimmy Carter’s brother unlawfully represented a foreign government, leading to Billygate. In 1998 the Clinton administration obtained and examined hundreds of FBI files without the appropriate permission, leading to Filegate. In 2015, documents from the government of India were stolen and sold, leading to Leakgate. In 1983, a nominee for US Attorney General was withdrawn when it was discovered that the nominee had hired illegal migrants to watch their children, leading to Nanniegate. In 2015 the New England Patriots were caught by the NFL using balls with less than the required air pressure, leading to Deflategate. I could go on, but you might rather check out the wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_-gate_scandals_and_controversies).

But the mother of all of these scandals was Watergate.

Watergate is the name of a hotel in Washington, DC, and during the 1972 presidential election, the Democratic National Committee had their headquarters in that hotel. The campaign featured Richard Nixon, who had beaten Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and was running for re-election, against George McGovern, a very liberal senator from South Dakota.

Certain members of Nixon’s re-election committee decided it would be a good idea to break into the DNC’s headquarters to steal documents and plant eavesdropping devices. They were caught in flagrante delicto. Nixon disavowed all knowledge of their activities, but the question was raised on television news shows and in the nation’s newspapers, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” Eventually, partly through the sharing of information by an anonymous source with a couple of journalists from The Washington Post, an informant they named Deep Throat (the nickname is ironically comic because of the 1972 porno flick of the same name), it was determined that Nixon knew about the crime and tried to cover up his administration’s involvement.

The calls for Nixon’s impeachment or resignation began almost as soon as the scandal broke. Finally, the House of Representatives brought impeachment charges against Nixon. Just two and a half weeks later, Nixon resigned, and Gerald Ford became the president. Nixon is the only president in the nearly 250-year history of our nation who has resigned.

The late 60s and early 70s were a time of turmoil in the United States because of the Vietnam War. Although American involvement in the war was initiated by John Kennedy and greatly expanded by Lyndon Johnson, by 1972 the Leftist protesters were calling it Nixon’s war. The stupid thing about the Watergate scandal is that it was completely unnecessary. Nixon defeated McGovern in a landslide in large part because most Americans believed that we were truly fighting the advance of communism in South Vietnam, and that belief was reflected in the election results. But Nixon’s seeming paranoia allowed the scandal to happen, and it changed the course of our country.

Did Nixon deserve punishment? Perhaps. But he was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, and perhaps in part because of that pardon Ford lost to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. Nixon was persona non grata for a few years after his resignation, but he eventually achieved a bit of a renaissance, being invited to share his views on foreign affairs on various news shows. But his behavior certainly warranted his resignation at least. It was a flagrant abuse of power. Then again, other recent presidents and administrations have demonstrated flagrant abuses of power, some perhaps far worse than what Nixon did.

Today’s image is of the Watergate Complex in Washington, DC, which includes the Watergate Hotel (https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/22681fac29679b7d67236ff7bd55ae05d13a5b7f/c=0-75-1022-652/local/-/media/2018/05/31/USATODAY/USATODAY/636633297112166707-1-Watergate-Complex-Carol-M.-Highsmith-Library-of-Congress.jpg?width=3200&height=1680&fit=crop).