A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Mar 1 00:37:18 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pecuniary X-Bonus: He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes. -Chinese Proverb pecuniary (pi-KYOO-nee-er-ee) adjective 1. Relating to money. 2. Involving monetary fine. [Latin pecuniarius, from pecunia, property, wealth, derivative of pecu flock, farm animals; akin to pecus cattle.] "It is a delight for concert audiences in Japan to welcome and enjoy the performances of the many artists and ensembles from abroad who appear here. We should appreciate, too, that these performances require enormous expenditure of personal and pecuniary resources." Robert Ryker, Long trip from Kiev to Tokyo Justified by 'Pathetique' Results, The Japan Times, Sep 10, 2000. This week's theme: words from newspapers of the world. -------- Date: Fri Mar 2 00:03:44 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--morose X-Bonus: Time engraves our faces with all the tears we have not shed. -Natalie Clifford Barney, Author (1876-1972) morose (mo-ROS) adjective Gloomy, sullen. [From Latin morosus, peevish, equivalent to mor-, mos, will, inclination + -osus, -ose.] "Celebrating, though, is hardly the right word for the morose Vitukhnovskaya, a peculiar mix of teenage anxieties and deconstructionalist ideas." Natalya Shulyakovskaya, Freed Poet Reflects on Time in Jail, The Moscow Times (Russia), May 14, 1998. This week's theme: words from newspapers of the world. -------- Date: Mon Mar 5 02:12:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fletcherize X-Bonus: People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist and author (1926- ) Fletcherize (FLECH-uh-ryz) verb tr., intr. To chew food thoroughly. [From the practice of chewing food many many times as advocated by Horace Fletcher, U.S. nutritionist (1849-1919).] "Dinner table conversation comes to a halt as people around the nation Fletcherize." Morsels from Diet History, Florida Today, Oct 19, 1999. The idea of Fletcherizing invites the question, "Is too much of a good thing better?" Horace Fletcher proposed that one should grind food once for each tooth in the mouth. That implies that we masticate each bite of pizza as many as 32 times. I'd rather stick with the idea that each byte has eight bits. At any rate, Mr. Fletcher, the art dealer turned nutritionist, did earn the moniker `The Great Masticator,' for his popular book at the time and got his name into the dictionary. This week we'll look at more such words, eponyms, coined after people from fact and from fiction. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 6 00:01:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--grinch X-Bonus: How much easier it is to be generous than just! Men are sometimes bountiful who are not honest. -Junius, pseudonym of the unknown author of a series of letters published in a London newspaper during (1769-1772) grinch (grinch) noun Someone who ruins others' enjoyment. [From the Grinch, a character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) by Dr. Seuss, pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991).] "The grinch came early for Bill Gates as Microsoft Corp. shares fell as much as 4.1 percent Wednesday - reaching their lowest level since May." Breakfast Briefing / Nation World, Chicago Sun-Times, Dec 25, 1997. -------- Date: Wed Mar 7 00:01:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--John Bull X-Bonus: When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer. -Corrie Ten Boom, author and Holocaust survivor John Bull (jon bul) noun 1. A personification of England or the English people. 2. A typical Englishman. [After John Bull, a character in John Arbuthnot's satire, Law Is a Bottomless Pit (1712).] "Current historiography on the Mandate period is no longer dominated by a demonization of the British, which was a recurrent theme during the first decades of the state. Yet the disintegration of the old mythology is no reason to create a new mythology, this one a fantasy of John Bull in Palestine as a kind of disoriented Santa Claus, as in Segev's skewed account." Anita Shapira, Eyeless in Zion, The New Republic, Dec 11, 2000. -------- Date: Thu Mar 8 00:01:17 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aristarch X-Bonus: More die in the United States of too much food than of too little. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006) aristarch (AR-uh-stark) noun A severe critic. [After Aristarchus of Samothrace (circa 216-144 BCE), Greek philologist and critic of the Homeric poetry, who rejected many lines of it as spurious.] "Before them march'd that awful Aristarch; Plow'd was his front with many a deep Remark." The Dunciad, Alexander Pope, 1741. -------- Date: Fri Mar 9 00:01:21 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Chicken Little X-Bonus: A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970) Chicken Little (CHIK-en LIT-l) noun A pessimist-cum-alarmist, one who constantly warns of impending calamities. [After a hen in children's tale who, when hit on the head by a falling acorn, believes the sky is falling.] "The question is, how much longer can we count on ingenuity to compensate for prodigality? The Chicken Littles of environmental alarm may yet be right. McNeill is careful to refrain from saying that an ecological crisis is upon us, but he does not mince words about the unsustainability of our course. Adding to our peril is the fact that it is nearly impossible to see what is happening until it is inconveniently late to do much about it." Chip Brown, Not Easy Being Green, The Washington Post, Aug 20, 2000 -------- Date: Mon Mar 12 00:25:14 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mondegreen X-Bonus: We should measure affection, not like youngsters by the ardour of its passion, but by its strength and constancy. -Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE) mondegreen (MON-di-green) noun A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase. [Coined by American author Sylvia Wright from the line "laid him on the green," interpreted as "Lady Mondegreen," in the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray."] "`Do you have a cute back pain?' asks the announcer on a television commercial, and the listener must recall the homophone acute. In 1994, Disney promoted `The Lion King' as its `new 30-second animated feature'; what sounded like an incredibly short cartoon was actually an impressive achievement: a follow-up to the studio's 31st animated film. For the most frightening mondegreen, consider this statistic given last year by a nutritionist on `Good Morning America:' `The average American will gain 47 pounds during the holidays.' (Lighten up; the actual prediction was `4 to 7 pounds.')" Jeffrey McQuain, Our language is getting so colorful, The Houston Chronicle, Aug 11, 1996. This week marks Wordsmith's septennial. Seven years ago, on March 14, 1994, we mailed our first word to a group of friends. Today's AWAD is being emailed to 400,000 linguaphiles in more than 195 countries. Seven years after we set off on our mission to share with others our love for the music and magic of words, we are still captivated by the sound and stories of words. To mark the anniversary, we'll revisit a few words about words that have evoked tremendous response from the world's linguaphiles. You are welcome to share your original examples illustrating these words on the bulletin board at https://wordsmith.org/board or email them to (garg AT wordsmith.org). We'll compile them in a mailing next week. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 13 00:35:19 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--malapropism X-Bonus: Walking is also an ambulation of mind. -Gretel Ehrlich, novelist, poet, and essayist (1946- ) malapropism (MAL-uh-prop-iz-ehm) noun 1. The humorous misuse of a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding word. 2. An instance of such misuse. [After Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's play, The Rivals, who confused words this way.] "For younger readers: Norm Crosby was a semi-celebrated stand-up comic in the '60s whose gimmick was the malapropism, or the confusing of similar-sounding words and phrases, often with amusing effect. Examples include saying `held hostile' instead of `held hostage,' complaining about being `pillared' in the press when you mean `pilloried,' and telling school kids that to succeed, `You've got to preserve,' when the word you had in mind was `persevere.' "These particular examples are, as it happens, all actual malapropisms enunciated by candidate Bush, who has also confused `subscribe' with `ascribe,' `gist' with `grist,' and `vile' with either `vital' or `viable,' depending on how you read a call for `an economically vile hemisphere.'" Bob Wieder, A Guide to Bushspeak, The San Francisco Chronicle, Sep 10, 2000. This week's theme: words from AWAD archives. -------- Date: Wed Mar 14 04:35:23 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spoonerism X-Bonus: I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs. -Joseph Addison, essayist and poet (1672-1719) spoonerism (SPOO-nuh-riz-em) noun The transposition of usually initial sounds of words producing a humorous result. [After William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), British clergyman and educator.] "(Steve) Forbes was so flustered last night that he blurted out a delicious Spoonerism during a comment on the tax system that could have applied to the evening, `The stack is decked.'" Thomas Oliphant, Bush Shored Up His Dominant Position, The Boston Globe, Dec 3, 1999. This week's theme: words from AWAD archives. -------- Date: Thu Mar 15 03:02:11 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paronomasia X-Bonus: I have learned through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmitted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmitted into a power that can move the world. -Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) paronomasia (par-uh-no-MAY-zhuh) noun A play on words, especially a pun. [From Latin, from Greek, from paronomazein, to call by a slight name-change; para-, beside + onomazein, to name.] "Paronomasia Having fun Is the measure of pleasure And so the pun Is the pleasure I treasure. But the trouble is, Others at me scoff -- For what turns me on Turns all of them off." Lakenan Barnes, Pepper... And Salt, The Wall Street Journal, Mar 10, 1986. This week's theme: words from AWAD archives. -------- Date: Fri Mar 16 01:32:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rodomontade X-Bonus: There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) rodomontade (rod-uh-mon-TAYD) noun Pretentious boasting. adjective Bragging verb intr. To boast; brag. [From Middle French, from Italian Rodomonte, the boastful king in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.] "It is difficult to believe that a reformed and tempered man would agree to a poster of himself with the following copy: `The sum of the amusement world from which all lesser luminaries borrow light. Born in the town of Bethel, Conn., July 5, 1810. Started as a showman in 1835. He has conceived and exhibited more gigantic amusements and enterprises than any other showman that ever lived. (He) is the wealthiest manager on the face of the Earth and projector and builder of a great city, (he) has been the frequent guest of emperors, kings and queens. Once mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., 4 times member of state legislature, an editor, an able writer and a popular lecturer in Europe and America.' Rodomontade and modesty aside, there is a serious Barnum worthy of our attention." Ricky Jay, America's Prince of Humbug P.T. Barnum, The Los Angeles Times, Sep 17, 1989. This week's theme: words from AWAD archives. -------- Date: Mon Mar 19 01:32:11 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--haplography X-Bonus: Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924) haplography (hap-LOG-ruh-fee) noun The accidental omission of a letter or letter group that should be repeated in writing, for example, "mispell" for "misspell". [From Greek haplo- single + -graphy writing.] "In the apparatus of Trounce's edition, dittography occurs at line 266, haplography at line 352, and there are numerous erasures and corrections within the text." Elaine Treharne, Romanticizing the Past in the Middle English Athelston, The Review of English Studies, Feb 1999. Search the Web for `Missippi' and you'd find thousands of hits showing pages where the authors clearly meant Mississippi. With the advent of modern computers and spell-checkers you'd think this illustration of haplography will not occur so often. If you feel this is bad, imagine the time before the printing press came along, when the only way to make copies of a book was with a quill and parchment. Sorry, no photocopying machines to crank out double-sided copies there. Biblical translations and copies of other books from olden times are replete with haplography and its cousins. Many scholars spend their lifetime identifying these `bugs' in ancient books and other scripts. A counterpart of haplography is haplology (AWAD, May 15, 2000). Haplology occurs when one `eats' a few letters while pronouncing a word. Latin nutrix (nurse) came from earlier nutritrix. Chancery, a contraction of chancellery, is now an acceptable part of the English language. Do you think some day `probly' will be considered standard and `probably' obsolete? If there are some who economize on letters, there are others who splurge. The word for this phenomenon is called dittography. This week we'll see a few more words about words. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 20 00:02:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obiter dictum X-Bonus: I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money. -Arthur Godfrey, radio and television entertainer (1903-1983) obiter dictum (OB-i-tuhr DIK-tuhm) noun, plural obiter dicta 1. A passing comment. 2. An observation or opinion by a judge that is incidental to the case in question, and not binding as precedent. [From Latin, literally, saying by the way.] "`Abstract Expressionism was being deployed as a cold war weapon,' (Frances Stonor) Saunders jauntily asserts. ... Obiter dicta like Saunders's pronouncement above highlight her irreducible problem." Josef Joffe, America's secret weapon, New York Times Book Review, Apr 23, 2000. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Wed Mar 21 00:11:14 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--asyndeton X-Bonus: The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910) asyndeton (uh-SIN-di-ton, -tuhn) noun The omission of conjunctions, as in "I came, I saw, I conquered." [From Late Latin, from Greek, from neuter of asyndetos, not linked, from a- + syndetos, bound together, from syndein, to bind together, from syn- + dein to bind.] "The unwillingness to waste words shows up in the address's telegraphic quality--the omission of coupling words, a technique rhetoricians call asyndeton. Triple phrases sound as to a drumbeat, with no `and' or `but' to slow their insistency: `We are engaged... We are met... We have come...'" The Words That Remade America: Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Atlantic (Boston), Jun 1992. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Thu Mar 22 00:05:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--verbigeration X-Bonus: There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910) verbigeration (vuhr-bij-uh-RAY-shun) noun Obsessive repetition of meaningless words and phrases. [From Latin verbigerare, to talk, chat, from verbum word + gerere, to carry on + -ation.] "Some words are standard, but with a twist; some are liberated from patriarchal prejudice and restored to archaic meanings; some are new and sharp as an ungrateful crone, and a feast for (Mary) Daly familiars. A sample: `Abominable snowmen of androcratic academia: freezers and packagers of learning; chilling throng of frigid fellows, specialists in verbigeration and refrigeration of knowledge.'" Audrey DeLaMartre, Bible speaks to fill readers with `holy chutzpah', The Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Nov 1, 1987. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Fri Mar 23 00:05:15 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--brachylogy X-Bonus: The teacher is like the candle which lights others in consuming itself. -Giovanni Ruffini, writer (1807-1881) brachylogy (bra-KIL-uh-jee) noun Conciseness of diction or an instance of such. [From Medieval Latin brachylogia, from Greek brakhulogi, brakhu-, brachy-, short + -logy.] "The term for the omission of words that are intended to be `understood' by the reader is ellipsis. Its extreme or irregular form has a name in Greek rhetoric: brachylogy, relying on the listener to supply the missing words, much as I relied on the reader to put a verb in the sentence fragment `A profound question, that.'" William Safire, Anchorspeak, The San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 7, 1990. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Mon Mar 26 03:54:12 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--oniomania X-Bonus: The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -Dante Alighieri, poet (1265-1321) oniomania (O-nee-uh-MAY-nee-uh, MAYN-yuh) noun Excessive, uncontrollable desire to buy things. [From Latin, from Greek onios, for sale, derivative of onos, price, + -mania.] "Usually, oniomania leads to financial problems, such as overspending on credit cards and bad credit ratings." Just Ask Us, Current Health 2 (Highland Park, IL), Mar 2, 2001. Oniomania is another word for the urge to shop till you drop, habit of the debit, thrill of the bill. According to a pearl of ancient wisdom, we don't acquire things, things acquire us. In the case of oniomaniacs, it is perhaps the fun of acquiring things that acquires them. Imelda Marcos of the Philippines could be one prime example of this category, also known as shopaholics, though she could be better known as a shoeaholic. This week we'll look at some more uncommon words with common suffixes. -Anu P.S. Come join us for an online chat with Richard Lederer later today. He is the author of numerous books on wordplay, such as "Word Circus," "Crazy English" and "Anguished English." The topic of the chat is "Play of Words." For more details: https://wordsmith.org/chat/lederer.html -------- Date: Tue Mar 27 00:01:11 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--garbology X-Bonus: A Robin Red breast in a Cage / Puts all Heaven in a Rage. -William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827) garbology (gar-BOL-uh-jee) noun The study of a society or culture by examining what it discards. [Garb(age) + -logy.] "Though garbology remains a relatively unplumbed subject, several colleges and universities offer courses that look at what people throw away and how it reflects who they are." Tina Kelley, Class at N.Y.U. Looks for Deeper Meaning at Fresh Kills, The New York Times, Mar 23, 2000. This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes. -------- Date: Wed Mar 28 00:01:12 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--onychophagia X-Bonus: Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life. -Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (1850-1894) onychophagia (on-i-ko-FAY-juh, -jee-uh) noun The practice of biting one's nails. [From Greek onycho, onyx, nail + -phagia, eating.] "If bad-tasting polish, gloves or fake nails haven't cured your onychophagia, these tips may help." Maria Liberty, Easy, Essential Nail Care, Better Nutrition for Today's Living (Atlanta), Mar 1994. This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes. -------- Date: Thu Mar 29 02:01:10 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--philography X-Bonus: Reading makes a full man, meditation a profound man, discourse a clear man. -Benjamin Franklin philography (fi-LOG-ruh-fee) noun The practice of collecting autographs. [From Greek philo-, loving + -graphy, writing.] "Virtually anything to which ink will stick can be collected, swapped or sold, according to the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, a 2,000-member association of experts in the field of philography." Ben Steelman, While You're Standing in Line, The Wilmington Morning Star (NC), Oct 22, 1998. This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes. -------- Date: Fri Mar 30 02:24:11 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--theophany X-Bonus: Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. -Japanese proverb theophany (thee-OF-uh-nee) noun An appearance of a god to a person. [Medieval Latin theophania, from Late Greek theophaneia, Greek theo-, + -phaneia, to show.] "Any mundane reality could yield a theophany, if approached with reverent imagination: a place, a rock, a tree, a man or a woman." Karen Armstrong, Divinity and Gender: a God for both sexes, The Economist (London), Dec 21, 1996. This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes.