May A-Z Challenge: A Pair of Favourite English Words [V]

Blog entry #50

Venture  | Ventriloquist

Venture

A shortened form of 'aventure', itself a shortened form of 'adventure', coined as early as the 15th century, this word means to undertake a risk. The term venture capital came about only in 1943. I associate this term with gallantry. Whenever I want to try something outside my comfort zone or face one of my fears, I tell myself that I would venture out, say, in the dark, or alone on a trip. It’s good to take calculated, calibrated risks sometimes.

Ventriloquist

If you had read my post on 'V' in the city connect challenge, you’d know that I had attended a ventriloquism workshop back when I was in grade 7. Post the YouTube era, I’ve binge-watched videos of two amazingly creative and talented ventriloquists, namely Jeff Dunham and Darci Lynne. My favourite words post on 'L' talks about 'loqui-' being the Latin stem for ’talk.' You can now guess that the prefix of the word ventriloquism comes from the Latin word 'venter', which refers to 'belly.'

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