Episode 24: scrutinize
We're back after a brief hiatus with the word "scrutinize," whose roots draw from the universal experience of dealing with garbage. Well before our modern era of landfills and recycling, the Romans separated their trash—or scruta—from their treasure. From this Latin word scruta, we have inherited the notion of "scrutinizing": looking for something of value amid refuse. To close out, we ponder a surreal description of the American supermarket and its various species of junk from Don DeLillo's novel White Noise.
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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
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