{"id":6899,"date":"2025-05-23T03:25:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T03:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6899"},"modified":"2025-05-23T03:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T03:26:52","slug":"word-of-the-day-voluble-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2025\/05\/23\/word-of-the-day-voluble-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Voluble"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster, is voluble<\/em>. Voluble<\/em> is an adjective that means \u201ceasily rolling or turning\u201d or \u201ccharacterized by ready or rapid speech\u201d (https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/voluble<\/a>). M-W adds, \u201cVoluble<\/em> traces back to the Latin verb volvere<\/em>, meaning \u201cto set in a circular course\u201d or \u201cto cause to roll.\u201d Another volvere<\/em> descendant, volume<\/em>, can also be a help in remembering voluble<\/em>\u2019s meaning, not because someone described as voluble speaks at a loud volume, per se, but because they have volumes to say\u201d (ibid.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etymonline.com goes a little deeper into the etymology. It says that the word appears in the language in the \u201clate 14c., \u2018able to turn, revolving with ease,\u2019 from Latin volubilis<\/em> \u2018that turns around, rolling, flowing,\u2019 figuratively (of speech) \u2018fluent, rapid,\u2019 from volvere<\/em> \u2018to turn around, roll\u2019 (from PIE root *wel-<\/strong><\/a> (3) \u2018to turn, revolve\u2019). Also in Middle English \u2018liable to constant change\u2019 (early 15c., now obsolete). The meaning \u2018fluent, talkative, characterized by great flow of words\u2019 is recorded in English from 1580s\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=voluble<\/a>). Now, you might have seen that PIE (Proto-IndoEuropean) root  *wel-, meaning to turn, revolve, and thought to yourself, \u201cAh! That must be the root of the modern word \u201cwheel.\u201d But you\u2019d be wrong. Wheel <\/em>comes \u201cfrom PIE *kw(e)-kwl-o-<\/em> \u2018wheel<\/em>, circle,\u2019 suffixed, reduplicated form of root *kwel-<\/strong><\/a> \u2018revolve, move round; sojourn, dwell\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=wheel<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not surprisingly, there is a noun form of the word, volubility,<\/em> which entered the language in the \u201c1580s, from French volubilit\u00e9<\/em> (16c.) or directly from Latin volubilitatem<\/em> (nominative volubilitas<\/em>) \u2018a rapid turning,\u2019 figuratively \u2018fluency (of speech)\u2026.\u2019 Used in 1570s with a sense of \u2018mental versatility\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=voluble<\/a>). The –ility<\/em> is a derivational suffix, deriving a noun from an adjective; we talked about the difference between compounding and derivation a few days ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this date in 1992, Johnny Carson (1925-2005) made his final appearance as the host of The Tonight Show<\/em>. Carson got his in the entertainment field in radio after serving in the navy during World War II and using the GI Bill to get a degree in radio and speech from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, having written a thesis on writing comedy for radio (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johnny_Carson<\/a>). He did some radio and local TV, and then was asked to become a writer for Red Skelton (if you\u2019ve never heard that name, Red Skelton was big in burlesque, vaudeville, radio, and finally television). One night, an hour before Skelton\u2019s live show was supposed to air, Skelton got knocked out during rehearsal, and Carson filled in for him. \u201cAs a result of Carson\u2019s performance, CBS created the primetime variety program The Johnny Carson Show<\/em>, a traditional potpourri of comedy, music, dance, skits, and monologues\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Johnny_Carson_Show<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the variety show was cancelled after just one season, Carson moved to New York and took over hosting duties for a daytime game show. It had started out as a primetime game show entitled Do You Trust Your Wife?<\/em>, hosted by Edgar Bergen (another huge name in comedy back in the old days). Carson was the host when the title was changed to Who Do You Trust?<\/em> And stayed with until he was given the opportunity to take over The Tonight Show<\/em>. He took it over from Jack Paar, who hosted it from 1957 to 1962. He had taken it over from the originator of the show, Steve Allen, who hosted it from 1954 to 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a brief and partial history of Carson from the wiki: \u201cBy the mid-1970s Tonight was the most profitable show on television, making NBC $50 to $60 million each year. Carson influenced the scheduling of reruns (which typically aired under the title The Best of Carson<\/em>) in the mid-1970s and, in 1980, the length of each evening’s broadcast, by threatening NBC with, in the first case, moving to another network, and in the latter, retiring altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to work fewer days each week, Carson began to petition network executives in 1974 that reruns on the weekends be discontinued, in favor of showing them on one or more nights during the week. In response to his demands, NBC created a new comedy\/variety series to feed to affiliates on Saturday nights that debuted in October 1975, Saturday Night Live<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 1980, Carson renewed his contract with the stipulation that the show lose its last half-hour. On the last 90-minute show (September 12, 1980), Carson explained that by going to an hour, the show would feel more fast-paced, and have a greater selection of guests\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carson had some regular sketches, like Carmac the Magnificent, but for 30 years what sustained him as the host of the most popular late-night show on television was his voluble nature. He could seemingly talk to anyone about anything, although he rarely engaged in anything political, and make that anything entertaining for his audience. You may hear some urban legends about risqu\u00e9 things he said to Arnold Palmer, or his wife, or to Zsa Zsa Gabor, but those stories are mostly not true. He was, at least on his show, a gentleman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is of Johnny Carson with his longtime sidekick Ed McMahon during his final episode, May 22, 1992 (https:\/\/www.today.com\/popculture\/remembering-johnny-carson-who-retired-20-years-ago-today-787205<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster, is voluble. Voluble is an adjective that means \u201ceasily rolling or turning\u201d or \u201ccharacterized by ready or rapid speech\u201d (https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/voluble). M-W adds, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,395,756,284,755],"class_list":["post-6899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-etymology","tag-johnny-carson","tag-linguistics","tag-voluble","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6901,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899\/revisions\/6901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}