Word of the Day: anodyne

anodyne (n or adj)

Something that lessens pain; something that isn't likely to disturb or annoy.

"Now, the anodyne had not produced the effect which it appeared to have done; instead of healthful sleep, it had brought on a kind of light-headed somnolence, in which the mind, preternaturally restless, wandered about its accustomed haunts, waking up its old familiar instincts and inclinations."
--Edward Bulwer Lytton, Zannoni

Last night, as part of the JC Fridays celebration, I stopped by the Fish with Braids gallery on Jersey Avenue. (In Jersey City in New Jersey -- everything was "Jersey" last night. I should have worn a jersey.) The "show" there included a display of living plants, dead mice and a dissected rat in various containers, along with a variety of tablets and pills (and dirt for the plants). It seemed to be an aesthetic and quasi-scientific examination of the effect of, say, Tylenol (anodyne!) or penicillin on philodendrons, rodent flesh, and such. Not an anodyne experience, but one I won't soon forget.