The word for today is…

phlegmatic (adjective) –
1 : resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm
2 : having or showing a slow and stolid temperament

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : According to the ancient Greeks, human personalities were controlled by four bodily fluids or semifluids called humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Each humor was associated with one of the four basic elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Phlegm was paired with water—the cold, moist element—and it was believed to impart the cool, calm, unemotional personality we now call the “phlegmatic type.” That’s a bit odd, given that the term derives from the Greek phlegma, which literally means “flame,” perhaps a reflection of the inflammation that colds and flus often bring.

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...