Today's new word is PELLUCID

It's a synonym for transparent, another word I thought I knew. But English is such a fluid language, full of hope and change. Transparent comes from the Latin word trans meaning through, and parere, to appear, so it has the sense of "appear through." It means sheer, clear, limpid or diaphanous. There is something there, but you can see beyond. Those of you my age may remember that in the 1950s, completely transparent, sheer nylon dresses and blouses were in fashion. Yes, if your grandmother or mother complains about today's revealing short skirts or skimpy, dipping sweater tops showing cleavage created by padded, push-up bras, pull out that old photo album and take a look at what we were wearing in 1953. The idea was to wear lacy, sexy slips or camisoles underneath. Some girls didn't get the message, so instead you might see a rather dirty bra or unshaven armpits under the sheer yellow, pink or white outfit. Not a pretty sight.

And that's what Obama's transparency is--not a pretty sight. Pellucid when used figuratively, means clear to the understanding. And I think it is clear what is happening. He has promised transparency in government. In the vetting of his appointees, it was learned that his choice for Treasury was a tax cheat. He'd been caught once already, paid a fine and back taxes, and then continued with the same behavior. Seems he didn't understand the concept of filing quarterly on estimated income, something we learned how to do as soon as my husband became a sole practitioner. He'd also "misstepped" on paying a domestic servant whose visa had expired. Now transparently contrite, he still thinks he is the man to help the rest of us with our money. So does our President. That's transparency--know ahead of time you've appointed a guy with loosey-goosey ethics so you're not caught off-guard later.

Then there's Mrs. Senator Clinton. Everyone knows the problems with her husband, a type-A bored loose canon, how he still wants to be president, and how he's accepted money from some pretty shady people for his post-presidential years. But to deny her the Secretary of State position, her prize for being decent and not making a fuss, the cost of bringing the PUMAs into the party tent again, would just be silly. But it is transparent.

According to "English Vocabulary Builder" (1937), 7% of grammar school students thought "transparent" meant to conceal, just the opposite of its meaning. Obviously, they were ahead of their time and that misunderstanding caught on. 18% of adults at that time had no idea what "pellucid" meant (and I certainly have never used it), which comes from the same root as Lucifer, lucere.