A word (and a phrase) a day

I was leafing through a vendor's proposal today and came across this word: successfulness

My first thoughts were that this couldn't be an actual word, but dictionary.com soon proved me wrong:

Successfulness - n : the condition of prospering; having good fortune [syn: prosperity]

It seems like quite an auspicious word!

Hmm, learn new word already, must use! So I wish all my friends & relatives "Successfulness in the Year of the Dog" :) Let's share a Successfulness pizza and enjoy our new year! :P

I learnt a new phrase from the S.O. today as well (smart arse that he is): Cogito ergo sum

It translates literally (in Latin) to "I think, therefore I am". The full phrase is actually (warning: LONG!):

"But I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does it now follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something [or thought anything at all] then I certainly existed. But there is a deceiver of supreme power and cunning who is deliberately and constantly deceiving me. In that case I too undoubtedly exist, if he is deceiving me; and let him deceive me as much as he can, he will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I think that I am something. So, after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that the proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind."

So, if Descartes is to be believed, if I think, if I am aware of my surroundings - I exist. Ah, the power of thought.

Conversely, once I act like a brainless bozo and do things without a second thought and with nary a care about my surroundings - I don't exist? (Actually, this does make sense. e.g. One day, Mr. Someone wanders around aimlessly, walks up a building and saunters off the edge *splat*)

Ah well. I'm getting lost in a haze of confusion so I shall leave you with this Descartes joke (swiped off Wikipedia):

Descartes is sitting in a bar, having a drink. The bartender asks him if he would like another. "I think not," he says, and vanishes in a puff of logic.

Long live smart-arse boyfriends who quote Latin at random and create headaches for their girlfriends :P