Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is dissemble. Pronounced / dɪˈsɛm bəl /, with the stress on the second syllable, it is a verb that means “to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of,” “to put on the appearance of,” or “Obsolete. to let pass unnoticed; ignore” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dissemble).

It appears in English in the “early 15c., dissemblen, ‘assume a false seeming; conceal real facts, motives, intentions, etc.; mask the truth about oneself,’ from Old French dessembler, from Latin dissimulare ‘make unlike, conceal, disguise,’ from dis- ‘completely’ (see dis-) + simulare ‘to make like, imitate, copy, represent,’ from stem of similis ‘like, resembling, of the same kind’ (see similar). Related: Dissembled; dissembling.
“Form altered apparently by influence of resemble, Old French resembler. Earlier was Middle English dissimule, from Old French dissimuler. Transitive meaning ‘make unlike, disguise’ is from c. 1500; that of ‘give a false impression of’ is from 1510s.
“’To dissemble is to pretend that a thing which is is not: as, to dissemble one’s real sentiments. To simulate is to pretend that a thing which is not is: as, to simulate friendship. To dissimulate is to hide the reality or truth of something under a diverse contrary appearance: as, to dissimulate one’s poverty by ostentation. To disguise is to put under a false guise, to keep a thing from being recognized by giving it a false appearance: as I cannot disguise from myself the fact. [Century Dictionary]’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dissemble).

Merriam-Webster, in its Did You Know section, “We have nothing to hide: dissemble (from the Latin verb dissimulāre, meaning ‘to disguise the identity of’) stresses the intent to deceive others, especially about facts, feelings, or intentions. Most often found in formal or literary speech and writing, dissemble also implies that the facts, feelings, or intentions someone is attempting to conceal could land that person in hot water if discovered, as when a politician dissembles at a press conference when faced with questions about a recent scandal. Typical use notwithstanding, it’s perfectly fine to bust out dissemble in less formal contexts and conversations. Just be careful not to confuse dissemble with disassemble, which means ‘to take apart’” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dissemble).

On this date in 1973, according to On This Day, “Queen Elizabeth II opens the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point in Sydney, Australia, after 14 years of construction” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/october/20).

“The Sydney Opera House exists because a few brave people dared to think differently. From conception to completion, the building tested the limits of engineering, construction and design.
“Designed by the Danish architect Jørn Utzon, this World Heritage-listed masterpiece represents a breakthrough in modern architecture. The famous sails have become a symbol of Sydney and modern Australia as a whole.
“When the Opera House opened its doors in 1973, a new era of cultural discovery began. Five decades later, it is the nation’s leading tourism destination, one of the world’s busiest performing arts centres and a community meeting place that belongs to all Australians. Its programming spans many arts forms and attracts a variety of audiences in person and online” (https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story).

“’The Sydney Opera House has captured the imagination of the world, though I understand that its construction has not been totally without problems,’ Queen Elizabeth II observed, officially opening Jørn Utzon’s masterpiece on a blustery spring day. But as the Queen went on to say: ‘The human spirit must sometimes take wings or sails and create something that is not just utilitarian or commonplace’” (https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/our-story/50-years-extraordinary-moments).

I can concur with the late Queen. I visited Sydney in December of 2025 and January of 2026 with my daughter. If you ever have the chance to go there, it is truly worth the trip.

Sydney is the largest city in Australia at about five and a half million people. It sits on the Tasman Sea, in the southeast corner of Australia, in the province of New South Wales. And it’s a lovely city with a beautiful harbor. It has ferries that will take you to a variety of different points around the harbor, and it has really good public transportation in town. There is a suburban area, but I never really saw it during my stay.

Sydney is also full of restaurants, and you can get a wide variety of foods, though I cannot remember seeing any Mexican restaurants. There were so many restaurants in Sydney that I got the impression that the citizens never cook at home.

One of our favourite places was the Taronga Zoo. We got to see a variety of land and sea life, especially life that is native to Australia.

Another featured site in the harbor is, of course, the Sydney Opera House. We didn’t get to see any shows there—nothing was playing that afternoon. (We did see a show when we were in Sydney, at the Capitol Theatre, a building which has hosted entertainment in Sydney since 1927. We saw The Book of Mormon, but it is not playing there now.) But we did get to look at it on the outside. It’s a veritable shrine to opera, though if you look through the website you will see that there are other kinds of events.

I would love to visit Sydney again, and I am not dissembling.

Today’s image is a group of pictures I took when we were visiting the outside of the Sydney Opera House on January 6, 2026.