If we can "overact" or "overreact", why can't we "underact" or "underreact"?  Well, we can.  The latter two aren't that common, but the words are bona fide members of the English language.  Similarly, if one can "oversee", why not "undersee"?  Both have been in the dictionary for hundreds of years, but since we rarely "underdo" these things, they’re not as familiar.  Understand?   

earwitness (EER-wit-nis) noun   One who testifies or can testify to something heard.  [From ear, from Old English eara + witness, from Old English witness.  Earliest documented use:  1539.]  https://wordsmith.org/words/earwitness.html    

diachronic (dy-uh-KRON-ik) adjective  Relating to changes occurring over time.  [From Greek dia- (across) + khronos (time).  Earliest documented use: 1857.]  https://wordsmith.org/words/diachronic.html   

consanguinity (kon-sang-GWIN-i-tee) noun  1. A relationship by blood or by a common ancestor.  2. A close connection or kinship.  [From Latin consanguineus, from con- (with) + sanguis (blood).  Earliest documented use:  1380.]  See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/consanguinity 

NOTES:  The counterpart of consanguinity is affinity, which refers to a relationship formed through marriage rather than by blood.  https://wordsmith.org/words/consanguinity.html    

The Volstead Act  By the turn of the 20th century, temperance societies were prevalent in the United States.  Concerned citizens had begun warning others about the effects of alcohol nearly 100 years earlier.  In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded to convince people to abstain from drinking.  Not long after, the Women's Christian Temperance Union pledged not only to ban alcohol and drugs, but to improve public morals.  The anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893 and eventually became a powerful political force in passing a national ban on alcoholic beverages.  Women were strongly behind the temperance movement, for alcohol was seen as the destroyer of families and marriages.  Men would often spend their money on alcohol, leaving women with no money to provide for their children.  Factory owners also supported temperance as well because of the new work habits that were required of industrial workers--early mornings and long nights.  The amendment worked at first:  liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford.  Alcohol consumption dropped by 30 percent and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50 percent during Prohibition.  These statistics however, do not reflect the growing disobedience toward the law and law enforcement.  The intensity of the temperance advocates was matched only by the inventiveness of those who wanted to keep drinking.  Enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult.  The illegal production and distribution of liquor, or bootlegging, became rampant, and the national government did not have the means or desire to try to enforce every border, lake, river, and speakeasy in America.  In fact, by 1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.  The demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety.  People found clever ways to evade Prohibition agents.  They carried hip flasks, hollowed canes, false books, and the like.  Neither federal nor local authorities would commit the resources necessary to enforce the Volstead Act.  For example, the state of Maryland refused to pass any enforcement issue.  Prohibition made life in America more violent, with open rebellion against the law and organized crime.  https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/volstead-act 

November 12, 2024  Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her science fiction novel Orbital.  The novel follows six astronauts as they orbit the Earth for one day of their nine-month space mission.  Harvey's astronauts–who hail from the U.S., Russia, Italy, Britain and Japan–see 16 sunrises and sunsets in the 24-hour time span of the novel.  Orbital also won the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.  https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/nx-s1-5184530/orbital-by-samantha-harvey-wins-2024-booker-prize   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue  2876  November 18, 2024