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Phlegmatic

After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested and ...

When:

Lookups spiked on December 14, 2010.

Why:

After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested and kept in custody pending appeal, Assange's lawyer described him as "phlegmatic" in response to these events.

Phlegmatic means "not easily upset, excited, or angered."

The word derives, somewhat unpleasantly, from phlegm -- one of the four fluids of the body that in medieval medicine were thought to determine a person's temperament.

Photo credit: Espen Moe / flickr


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