Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Word of the Day: cavil

Word of the Day

cavil (v)

To object in a trivial way or for trivial reasons

"Tutor: ....So, in a word, you stand head and shoulders above the ruck and, what's more, you could hold a chair of philosophy or architecture in a great university. And yet you cavil at your lot!

Orestes: No, I do not cavil. What should I cavil at? You've left me free as the strands torn by the winds form spiders' webs that one sees floating ten feet above the ground. I'm light as gossamer and walk on air."
--Jean Paul Sartre, The Flies

Every weekend, I find a spider web in the same place in the backyard shed. I have to break it to get to anything in there, but it always comes back. I've started to feel sorry for the spider, but also impressed by its persistence.

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