TotallyOz Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I heard this phrase in the saunas yesterday by a group of flight attendants. Since Tampa was not there to help me with the defination, I had to research it on my own. sanguine PRONUNCIATION: (SANG-gwin) MEANING: adjective: 1. Cheerfully optimistic or confident. 2. Having a healthy reddish color. 3. Blood-red. ETYMOLOGY: From Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus (bloody), from sanguis (blood). USAGE: "Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite sober." Abraham Lincoln; Letter to James C. Conkling; Aug 26, 1863. Quote
Guest StuCotts Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 It all brings back the theory of the four bodily humors. The trick was to keep them in balance. An imbalance could cause a person to be sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric or melancholic. For the interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humorism All too glibly dismissed if you ask me, which, admittedly, nobody has. Quote
Members nytb Posted February 5, 2009 Members Posted February 5, 2009 Oh thank you! I feel so elucidated. Quote
AdamSmith Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 All too glibly dismissed if you ask me, which, admittedly, nobody has. Although we should have. As, likewise, the elegant & imaginative notion of phlogiston. Of which I was put in mind by the reference from the 4 humours to the 4 classical elements, phlogiston being a postulated 5th. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogisten If Einstein could cook up the cosmological constant, why not this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_constant Quote
AdamSmith Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 elucidated. Why does this (correct) usage remind me of the Wizard's great malapropism? "Ah! You liquidated her, eh? Very resourceful." Quote
