Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Retrograde

Retrograde \RE-truh-greyd\ , adjective;
1. Having a backward motion or direction; retiring or retreating
2. Inverse or reversed, as order
3. Exhibiting degeneration or deterioration

At first I thought that this word was used in carspeak (a language I thoroughly don't understand), but while googling it I found something much more interesting: retrograde ejaculation. Retrograde ejaculation is when the semen goes into the bladder instead of being expelled from the body, which sounds....horrible. I'm obviously not a guy, but I can imagine that this would make one extremely uncomfortable, not to mention panicky!

According to Etymonline.com:
The word dates back to the late 14th century and was originally applied to the apparent motion of planets. It comes from the Latin retrogradus and retrogradi, which mean "going backward" and "move backward," respectively. Retrogradi is a combination of retro- ("backward") and gradi ("to go, step"). The general sense of "tending to revert" goes back to at least the 1530's.

14th century? This word is retro (wah wah). Sorry, I had to...

Also, I'm pretty sure the carspeak word I was thinking of is retrofit.

*Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Tuesday, October 12

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