innocuous
adjective

- completely harmless

The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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ORIGIN

Late 16th century, from the Latin innocuus “harmless; innocent; inoffensive”, deriving from in- “not” + nocuus “hurtful”, and from the root of nocere “to injure, harm”.

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A NOT-SO-INNOCUOUS HOBBY

Thor Alex Kappfjell was a Norwegian offshore oil worker with a dangerous hobby: base jumping. Kappfjell made a series of spectacular leaps from mountains and high buildings. One of his obvious targets was New York City where he first leapt from the Empire State Building’s 86th-floor observation deck and landed on Fifth Avenue, before collecting his parachute and calmly hailing a cab before the police arrived.

Three days later he rappelled down the side of the Chrysler Building on a fire hose and jumped from one of the steel eagle-head sculptures jutting from its 61st story. Again he rolled up his parachute, hailed a taxi and once again escaped before the police arrived.

Kappfjell, now a notorious public figure, then announced his plan to complete a hat trick by jumping off the World Trade Center. In response, Rudy Giuliani, New York’s no-nonsense mayor, assured the press that police would be waiting.

Five months later Kappfjell, sneaked onto the World Trade Center’s 1,377-foot-high observation deck by pretending to be a tourist and disguising his gear as camping equipment. Again he jumped and eluded police, but inexplicably checked into a hotel room for the night. Police quickly found and arrested him, and charged him with three counts of reckless endangerment.

Before he could be brought to trial however, Kappfjell fled the US and made it back home to Norway where sadly, he died in 1999 after a mountain jump.

Over time, Kappfjell had built up an impressive resumé of more than 200 jumps from radio and television masts, bridges and tall buildings.

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SYNONYMS

anodyne, benign, harmless, INNOCUOUS, innoxious, non-dangerous, non-malignant, non-poisonous, non-toxic, paper-tiger, pussycat, risk-free, safe, undamaging, uninjurious

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Fortunately, most of the bacteria in and on our bodies is not only INNOCUOUS, but actually beneficial.”

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-

and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40