Ronchisonant - Making a snorting noise; snorting I sometimes make rhonchisonant sounds while I'm sleeping. I don't realize it, but my wife sure does. It doesn't happen very often, but it's something that seems to annoy. If we break down the word - Ronchi means abnormal sounds that can be heard when a doctor listens to your lungs with a stethoscope. The doctors are checking for issues that may be caused by underlying conditions. Sonant means sound produced by the vocal cords. Particularly when the vocal cords are vibrating.
Another day another word of the day: Mumpsimus
Mumpsimus is defined as a traditional custom or notion adhered to although shown to be unreasonable.
We all can think of traditions or peoples that are mumpsimus, but I'd like to home in on a practice that I find particularly problematic. This may sound controversial, but as I get older, I find the practice of tipping at restaurants as mumpsimus.
I’m seeing this problematic at a lot of restaurants where you are forced to decide to select a tip amount when picking up food (where the cashier literally just hands you the food). In many other cultures like the Japanese, tipping is not customary and is certainly not at all expected. In Japan, it also might be considered rude or insulting to tip at restaurants.
Here in the United States, it would be nice if we followed the culturally practice of not tipping. Instead, we should strive for dignity and respect in service and also pay our service workers a meaningful wage.
To be clear, I do tip when I eat out at restaurants, and I know that tips are a lifeline for restaurant workers, and so I respect the tradition as is, but it doesn’t mean that I agree with it. I’m not sure how we can meaningfully change tipping culture, it’s so ingrained in our society, but perhaps if we can convince ourselves and a couple of restaurant owners, we can take a step forward to ending this mumpsimus.
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