Making words work better
You’ll probably have come across placebo in one or other of its two modern meanings; a) ‘a medicine or procedure prescribed for the psychological benefit to the patient rather than for any physiological effect’; or b) ‘a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs’ (definitions taken from the Online Oxford Dictionary).
Which language do you think gazebo comes from? Perhaps Italian, because of it’s -o ending, like piano or casino or ghetto? Or maybe Spanish? Or even Arabic, a gazebo being a bit like a tent travellers on a caravanserai might pitch?
Today marks the vernal equinox. The event that ought to herald spring, despite the less than springlike weather Britain has been enjoying recently. While the meteorologists have already kicked 'spring' off to a start at the beginning of the month, today is when 'astronomical spring' begins.