Message-ID: <10677091.1075858928943.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 21:02:11 -0700 (PDT) From: wsmith@wordsmith.org To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--casus belli Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Wordsmith @ENRON X-To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \SSCOTT5 (Non-Privileged)\Scott, Susan M.\Wordsmith X-Origin: Scott-S X-FileName: SSCOTT5 (Non-Privileged).pst casus belli (KAY-suhs BEL-y, BEL-ee) noun, plural casus belli An action or event that causes or is used to justify starting a war. [From New Latin casus belli, from Latin casus, occasion, belli, genitive of bellum, war.] "RAI's news operations are still heavily politicized, with every channel following a political bent and news editors' appointments becoming a casus belli for political battles." Yaroslav Trofimov, RAI Chief Turns State Network Into Modern Firm, The Wall Street Journal, Dec 13, 2000. This week's theme: words from war. ............................................................................ Every civilizing step in history has been ridiculed as 'sentimental', 'impractical', or 'womanish', etc., by those whose fun, profit or convenience was at stake. -Joan Gilbert (1931- ) Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone." Invite your friends and family to join in the quest by sending a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. It is free! http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/casus_belli.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/casus_belli.ram