How To Pronounce Grovel
Raguel Charrette
You know, good ol' OPRAH singer Sharleen (valiant effort, Juan Pablo) was onto something. Even though she basically called everyone else on the show stupid when she blatantly told Juan she "wishes she were dumber," she's right. Isn't that how this season has progressed, after all? Thanks to all these women who chose ignorance over common sense and continue to grovel over an obvious idiot of a man, we continue to be entertained each week. But who are we kidding? We have a nurse, a lawyer, even a mother here, but yet somehow, all of them have overlooked his stupidity just to make out on TV with a lame set of abs and an accent that ends up being annoying anyway?
But Sharleen really didn't look as wise as she wanted to. She was looking for a "cerebral connection" with this guy? He couldn't even pronounce that let alone give it to you, Fancy Pants, and it doesn't work when instead of actually carrying on a conversation for once, you spend an entire day making out on a yacht. (Ps. Why did there have to be so much lying down on a boat this week? His hairy legs spread like an arrogant monkey was the absolute worst) Then you mention some confusing bit about how you "like change," only to make out again and then wear a tight enough dress that night to let him think he's got you in the palm of his sweaty hand. And since when is a woman's "proper" English such a turn on? He's just using you as his dictionary, Sharleen, that should've been your first clue!
But thank goodness we have our Fairy Godmother Renee back at the house to help Sharleen decipher lust over intellect. "Think about what you'd be giving up. That could haunt you forever." Haunt you forever? Slow down, Mother Hen, if there is anything haunting about Juan Pablo, it's his wayward tongue.
Anyway, thank goodness for body tape, and Nikki's sassy antics are confusing me. Are we supposed to like her? I want to, but then she mouths off and picks fights with Clare (that was such a juvenile fight, almost like it was scripted and they just kept repeating their lousy-written lines) and then she plays the Courtney Card with "I got this rose in the bag" comments, and it's like she's our villain.
The group date was embarrassing to watch. Chelsie reads letters from Mom and Dad (opposite of turn-on), Clare cries again over her dad (give me a break) and Andi just flat out starts crying? No wonder making out is his only solution. Conversations are so much work this season.
I will never understand why Renee is still around. Her hair needs deep conditioning like Juan Pablo needs to be deported, and come on, the only scene she even had this week was to nurture Sharleen off the show. And I'm sorry, she looks twice his age.
Maybe he needs to keep her around as his guidance counselor when it gets close to the end. "Renee, My Special One, who will have enough patience to explain the English language to me every morning, withstand my bad dance moves, forgive my wandering eye and assep my hypocrisy as endearing?"
A kowtow /ˈkaʊtaʊ/ (Chinese: 叩头, Pinyin: kutu) is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. In Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It was widely used to show reverence for one's elders, superiors, and especially the Emperor of China, as well as for religious and cultural objects of worship. In modern times, usage of the kowtow has been reduced.[1]
In Imperial Chinese protocol, the kowtow was performed before the Emperor of China.[1] Depending on the situation's solemnity, different kowtow grades would be used. In the most solemn of ceremonies, for example, at the coronation of a new Emperor, the Emperor's subjects would undertake the ceremony of the "three kneelings and nine kowtows", the so-called grand kowtow, which involves kneeling from a standing position three times, and each time, performing the kowtow three times while kneeling. Immanuel Hsu describes the "full kowtow" as "three kneelings and nine knockings of the head on the ground".[3]
As government officials represented the majesty of the Emperor while carrying out their duties, commoners were required to kowtow to them in formal situations. For example, a commoner brought before a local magistrate must kneel and kowtow. A commoner was required to remain kneeling, whereas a person who had earned a degree in the Imperial examinations was permitted a seat.
Since one is required by Confucian philosophy to show great reverence to one's parents and grandparents, children may be required to kowtow to their elderly ancestors, particularly on special occasions. For example, at a wedding, the marrying couple was traditionally required to kowtow to both sets of parents, as acknowledgement of the debt owed for their nurturing.
Confucius believed there was a natural harmony between the body and mind and therefore, whatever actions were expressed through the body would be transferred over to the mind.[4] Because the body is placed in a low position in the kowtow, the idea is that one will naturally convert to his or her mind a feeling of respect. What one does to oneself influences the mind. Confucian philosophy held that respect was important for a society, making bowing an important ritual.
The kowtow, and other traditional forms of reverence, were much maligned after the May Fourth Movement. Today, only vestiges of the traditional usage of the kowtow remain. In many situations, the standing bow has replaced the kowtow. For example, some, but not all, people would choose to kowtow before the grave of an ancestor, or while making traditional offerings to an ancestor. Direct descendants may kowtow at the funeral of an ancestor, while others would simply bow. During a wedding, some couples may kowtow to their respective parents, though the standing bow is today more common.[1] In extreme cases, the kowtow can be used to express profound gratitude, apology, or to beg for forgiveness.[5]
The kowtow remains alive as part of a formal induction ceremony in certain traditional trades that involve apprenticeship or discipleship. For example, Chinese martial arts schools often require a student to kowtow to a master. Traditional performing arts often require the kowtow.[6]
Some Buddhist pilgrims would kowtow once for every three steps made during their long journeys, the number three referring to the Triple Gem of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Prostration is widely practiced in India by Hindus to give utmost respect to their deities in temples and to parents and elders. In modern times, people show regards to elders by bowing down and touching their feet. Prostration is also common among the Yoruba people in West Africa. Parents raised their male children to prostrate as a sign of respect and indication of good home training while the female children are trained to kneel to elders when greeting. Due to modernisation of some sort, it is not uncommon to see boys or men slightly bow their head to an older person rather than having to fully prostrate. Similarly, girls and women now slightly tilt their knees as a sign of respect, rather than having to fully kneel down all the time.
The word "kowtow" came into English in the early 19th century to describe the bow itself, but its meaning soon shifted to describe any abject submission or groveling. The term is still commonly used in English with this meaning, disconnected from the physical act and the East Asian context.[note 1]
The Qing courts gave bitter feedback to the Afghan emir Ahmad Shah when its Afghan envoy, presenting four splendid horses to Qianlong in 1763, refused to perform the kowtow. Coming amid tense relations between the Qing and Durrani empires, Chinese officials forbade the Afghans from sending envoys to Beijing in the future.[9]
The kowtow was often performed in intra-Asian diplomatic relations as well. In 1636, after being defeated by the invading Manchus, King Injo of Joseon (Korea) was forced to surrender by kowtowing three times to pledge tributary status to the Qing Emperor, Hong Taiji. As was customary of all Asian envoys to Qing China, Joseon envoys kowtowed three times to the Qing emperor during their visits to China, continuing until 1896, when the Korean Empire withdrew its tributary status from Qing as a result of the First Sino-Japanese War.[11]
I have no special expertise in this matter, since I know the word mainly from reading, and have probably not had the occasion to say it more than a couple of times in my life. But FWIW, I would have said (in IPA) something like
I was originally skeptical of the story that "the scientist who originally described this phenomenon asked a linguist to invoke an image of an Autumn tree shedding a leaf". According to the OED, the word was in use from the 18th century, if not earlier, in the (now rare or obsolete) sense "A resolution, relaxation, or loosening of something":
The modern meaning ("Death of individual cells, characterized by condensation and fragmentation of the nucleus and cytoplasm and usually followed by phagocytosis by other cells, typically occurring as a self-activated process involved in the regulation of cell numbers, as in normal development, and in the growth of tumours") is first cited from 1972:
[(myl) It's a free country, as they say. But in matters like this, norma loquendi can't freely be ignored. So unless you persuade a lot of other people to your point of view, your attempt to avoid the connotation of disease for that word will give others the impression that you're ignorant rather than eccentric.]
For me it's /ˌpɒpˈtoːsɪs/, though I probably have a schwa in the second syllable sometimes. I studied it briefly in microbiology at uni, and used to puzzle over the second-p-dropping variant I occasionally heard. Oxford Dictionaries gives /ˌapə(p)ˈtəʊsɪs/.
In other news, I remember being surprised when someone I knew pronounced 'aphelion' (the opposite of perihelion) with an 'f' sound for the ph. I had always said ap-helion, and still do, on the increasingly rare occasions when I need to say it.
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