the.com/silliness
Intelligence taking a day off and leaving the building unlocked.
means Behavior that's deliberately foolish, frivolous, or absurd — fun without the burden of seriousness.
from From 'silly,' which has one of the great reversal stories in English: it started as 'sely' or 'saelig,' meaning blessed, happy, or fortunate — related to the German 'selig' (blissful). Over centuries it drifted from blessed to innocent, then to pitiable, then to simple-minded, and finally landed on foolish. So 'silliness' is etymologically a fall from grace — a word that used to mean favored by God and ended up meaning goofing around with a lampshade on your head.
- etymology
- once meant blessed or holy in old English
- function
- lowers stakes enough for honesty to sneak in
- paradox
- requires real wit to fake convincingly