
Word of the Day: Choleric
Today’s word of the day, thanks to WordGuru.com, is choleric. Pronounced / ˈkɒl ər ɪk / or / kəˈlɛr ɪk / (stress on first or second syllable), the adjective means “extremely irritable or easily angered; irascible,” although there is an obsolete meaning of bilious (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/choleric). Samuel Johnson, in his 1755 Dictionary, lists as his first definition, “Abounding with choler” (https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=choleric).
Merriam-Webster gives this: “easily moved to often unreasonable or excessive anger : hot-tempered” and “angry, irate” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choleric). M-W also provides this as a definition of bilious: “of or indicative of a peevish ill-natured disposition” or “sickeningly unpleasant” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bilious). Then it gives an explanation which applies to choleric as well as to bilious: “Bilious is one of several words whose origins trace to the old belief that four bodily humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) control temperament. Just like phlegmatic (‘of a slow and stolid phlegm-driven character’), melancholy (‘experiencing dejection associated with black bile’), and sanguine (‘of a cheerful, blood-based disposition’), bilious suggests a personality associated with an excess of one of the humors—in this case, yellow bile. Such a personality may also be described as unreasonable, peevish, or ill-tempered, as typified by Charlotte Brontë in her 1849 novel, Shirley: ‘These two men, of hard, bilious natures both, rarely came into contact but they chafed each other’s moods’” (ibid.).
It first appears in English in the “mid-14c., colrik, ‘bilious of temperament or complexion,’ from Old French colerique, from Late Latin cholericus, from Greek kholerikos, from Greek kholera ‘a type of disease characterized by diarrhea, supposedly caused by bile,’ from khole ‘gall, bile,’ so called for its color, related to khloazein ‘to be green,’ khlōros ‘pale green, greenish-yellow,’ from PIE root *ghel- (2) ‘to shine,’ with derivatives denoting ‘green, yellow,’ and thus ‘bile, gall.’ Meaning ‘easily angered, hot-tempered’ is from 1580s (from the supposed effect of excess choler); that of ‘pertaining to cholera’ is from 1834” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=choleric). So choler, the root word of choleric, means the same thing as bile: “late 14c., ‘bile,’ as one of the humors, an excess of which was supposed in old medicine to cause irascibility or temper, from Old French colere ‘bile, anger,’ from Late Latin cholera ‘bile’” (ibid.). Cholera, the disease, is also derived from the PIE root word.
On this date in 1962, “Ringo Starr replaces Pete Best as the Beatles’ drummer, with the first official concert two days later” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/august/16).
Randolph Peter Best (b. 1941) was actually born in Madras, India. His father was in the British military, but he died in the war. His mother then married Johnny Best, who family was from Liverpool. They then left India in late 1945 and returned to England, specifically to Liverpool, where Pete Best grew up. “Best passed the eleven plus exam at Blackmoor Park primary school in West Derby and was studying at the Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School in Shaw Street when he decided he wanted to be in a music group. Mona bought him a drum kit from Blackler’s music store, and Best formed his own band, the Black Jacks” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Best).
In 1959, Best encouraged his mother to open a club in the basement of their large Victorian home, a place where he and his friends could listen to the popular music of the time. A group called The Quarrymen, comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown, helped with the painting of the club and then became the club’s resident group. The Quarrymen eventually left The Casbah because of a dispute over money, and the Blackjacks became the club band. It included Ken Brown, who left The Quarrymen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Best).
After the Blackjacks broke up, McCartney recruited Best to become the drummer for The Quarrymen, although by this time the group had worked their way through several name changes, finally settling on The Beatles. He began his time with the group in Hamburg, and the group actually included five members—Stuart Sutcliffe played bass. Sutcliffe eventually left the group to pursue his art (ibid.).
When the Beatles manager, Brian Epstein, first arranged studio recordings for the group, to try to get them a record deal, some of the studio executives determined that Best’s work was not up to snuff. Epstein and the other three members of the band agonized over what to do. Best was popular, especially with girls, in live performances, but they feared his studio work would hold the group back. Eventually, the desire to have a recording career outweighed the live performance angle, and Epstein informed Best that he was being replaced (ibid.).
Ringo Starr left another group to join The Beatles, and the rest is history.
Now, I never learned to play a musical instrument growing up. I wish I had, but I was the third of three boys, and my parents, who tried to get my older brothers to learn piano, had pretty much given up, so no piano lessons for me. In fourth grade I tried, very briefly to learn the trombone, but that effort lasted but a few weeks. So with my limited background, I would have no way of determining whether somebody was good enough to play for recordings or not. Even the drummer. But I’m pretty sure that were I Pete Best, I’d be somewhat choleric after being summarily dumped like that.
Today’s image is The Beatles “at Hamburg Funfair in 1960, photographed by Astrid Kirchherr.” The members of the group are “Left to right: Pete Best, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Stuart Sutcliffe” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles).