A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Sat Mar 1 00:05:18 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--falstaffian X-Bonus: Law...begins when someone takes to doing something someone else does not like. -Karl Llewellyn Fal-staff-i-an adj. Characterized by joviality and conviviality.[After John Falstaff, a character in Henry IV and Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)] Corelli, R.-Dwyer, V., It's tough.., Vol. 318, Economist, 03-30-1991, pp 88. "Bulky as a lumberjack, Mr Depardieu has a Falstaffian gusto for life." Jan Stuart, On Holiday With the Ripper., Newsday, 03-06-1995, pp B07. "The director and authors do work up a nice Falstaffian bawdiness and vitality in the saloon scenes, yet for all the hustle and bustle, boredom and visual overload take over." -------- Date: Sun Mar 2 00:05:27 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apollonian X-Bonus: Never explain - your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you anyhow. -Elbert Hubbard Ap-ol-lo-ni-an adj. 1. Of or pertaining to Apollo. 2. apollonian. Of a theoretical or rational nature; clearly defined and well-ordered; harmonious. 3. apollonian. Noble; dignified; serene. Moore, C., Guide to records, Vol. 58, American Record Guide, 11-01-1995, pp 153. "Infused with power, apollonian beauty, and great dignity, the 1982 Karajan is one of the great Mahler performances." -------- Date: Mon Mar 3 00:05:23 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nimrod X-Bonus: Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. Nim-rod n. 1. A mighty hunter and king and Noah's great-grandson in the Old Testament. 2. Also nimrod. A hunter.[Heb. Nimrodh] -------- Date: Tue Mar 4 00:05:21 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--boswell X-Bonus: This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. -Western Union internal memo, 1876 Bos-well n. An assiduous and devoted admirer, student, and recorder of another's words and deeds.[After James Boswell (1740-1795)] -- We continue this week with the eponym series. Today's word was coined after James Boswell, biographer and a close friend of the lexicographer Samuel Johnson. -Anu -------- Date: Wed Mar 5 00:05:19 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--panglossian X-Bonus: Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. -Albert Einstein Pan-gloss-i-an adj. Blindly expecting a favorable outcome or naively dwelling on hopeful aspects.[After Pangloss, an optimist in Candide, a satire by Voltaire (1694-1778)] Schroeder, K., Dick Cheney's Pentagon, Vol. 318, Economist, 01-19-1991, pp 30. "When the rest of the administration turned mushily Panglossian about the prospects for reform in the Soviet Union, he did not." -------- Date: Thu Mar 6 00:05:21 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--luddite X-Bonus: A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. -Mildred Stouven Lud-dite n. Any of a group of British workmen who, between 1811 and 1816, rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery in the belief that such machinery would diminish employment.[After Ned Ludd, a legendary leader] PATT MORRISON, Perimeters / PATT MORRISON; A Deadly Knock at a Suburban Door; Home Edition., Los Angeles Times, 09-13-1995, pp B-5. "Until recently, he worked on the editorial support staff at The Times where I knew him as a man who was patient with my Luddite fumblings with the paraphernalia of high-tech." -------- Date: Fri Mar 7 02:05:19 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--midas X-Bonus: When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers. -Oscar Wilde, writer (1854-1900) Mi-das n. [L fr. Greek]: a legendary Phrygian king who is given the power of turning everything he touches to gold Jerry Flint, Who's Squeezing Whom? King Midas Found He Couldn't Eat Gold, and Kirk., Armenian Reporter, The, 11-18-1995, pp PG. "Kirk Kerkorian has a Midas touch. At age 78, he's a longstanding billionaire with a string of financial coups to his name." -------- Date: Sat Mar 8 00:05:20 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--philistine X-Bonus: Half of the harm that is done in this world Is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm But the harm does not interest them. -T.S. Eliot Phi.lis.tine n. 14th century 1 : a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia 2 often not capitalized a : a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values b : one uninformed in a special area of knowledge philistine adjective, often cap -------- Date: Sun Mar 9 00:05:17 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--serendipity X-Bonus: Is not the core of nature in the heart of man? -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ser-en-dip-i-ty n [fr. its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, 1754] the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for Steve G. Steinberg, Innovation; The Cutting Edge; When 'Push' Has a Pull on the Net; Home Edition., Los Angeles Times, 11-25-1996, pp D-1. "These dangers of push media are worrisome. They destroy the depth and serendipity of the Web for the sake of advertisers' needs." -------- Date: Mon Mar 10 00:05:39 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--defenestration X-Bonus: It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. -Moliere de.fen.es.tra.tion n [de- + L fenestra window] 1620 : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window Patt Morrison, California Dateline; Snapshots of life in the Golden State; Made-for-Campaign Caper Gets Double Exposure; Home Edition., Los Angeles Times, 09-02-1994, pp A-3. "The defenestration of Moscow: Idaho will not dignify with an answer--that is, file a response to--a $940,000 claim by a young San Jose man and his parents. The former student at the University of Idaho in Moscow, who was hurt when he `mooned' other students and fell out a window, argued in a lawsuit that the university was negligent for, among other failings, not warning students of the risks associated with upper-story dorm windows. Surely there's something in the student handbook about gravity and open windows, next to the warning about blow-dryers in the bathtub." -- This Friday, the fourteenth marks the third anniversary of AWAD. For this week's theme, I have selected some words from AWAD archives. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 11 00:05:23 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--omphaloskepsis X-Bonus: Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress. -Thomas A. Edison om.pha.lo.skep.sis n [NL, fr. Gk omphalos + skepsis examination--more at spy] (1925): contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation; also: inertia 2 1925 A. HUXLEY Those Barren Leaves V. iv. 366 "The flesh dies... And there's an end of your *omphaloskepsis." 1983 Verbatim Summer 23/1 "Presumably, one arrives at game theory through omphaloskepsis." -------- Date: Wed Mar 12 00:05:19 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cwm X-Bonus: The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. -Eden Phillpotts cwm \'ku:m\ n [W, valley] : CIRQUE Joseph Shapiro, Lake, Vol. 14, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996. "Cirque lakes, also known as kars in Germany, cwms in Wales, and corries in Scotland, are amphitheater-like lakes formed by freezing and thawing on mountain faces at the heads of glaciated valleys." -------- Date: Thu Mar 13 00:05:25 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quiddity X-Bonus: To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour. -Robert L. Stevenson quid.di.ty n [ML quidditas essence, lit., whatness, fr. L quid what, neut. of Xquis who - more at WHO 1a: a trifling point : QUIBBLE 1b: CROTCHET, ECCENTRICITY 2: whatever makes something to be of the type that it is : ESSENCE Beedham, Brian, Atoms and solid matter, Economist, 05-22-1993, pp 17. "No people ever quite loses the quirks and quiddities that originally got it identified as a recognisable entity--as a people. The Greeks are not about to become Germans (and the rest of Europe can probably survive the fact). Moore Jr., Alvin, The noble traveler, Vol. 21, Parabola, 06-01-1996, pp 6. "Pondering this reversal of fortune, he composed a soliloquy in which, queried by Philosophy as to his quiddity, he replied: `I am a man, a rational and mortal animal.'" -------- Date: Fri Mar 14 00:05:26 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--decalcomania X-Bonus: You can't sit on the lid of progress. If you do, you will be blown to pieces. -Henry Kaiser de.cal.co.ma.nia n [F. decalcomanie, from decalquer to copy by tracing (from de- + calquer to trace, from Italian calcare, literally, to tread, from L) + manie mania, from Late Latin mania -- more at CAULK]: 1864 1 : the art or process of transferring pictures and designs from specially prepared paper (as to glass) 2 : DECAL Kathleen O'Gorman, Tomlinson, Charles (1927- ), Vol. 22, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996. "Though he began as a painter, using the technique known as decalcomania and introducing random elements into his paintings and graphics, Tomlinson is known primarily as a poet." -- A compilation of linguaphiles' responses to this word, when it first appeared in AWAD on June 16, 1994, can be seen at: https://wordsmith.org/awad/a-decalcomania.html -Anu -------- Date: Sat Mar 15 00:05:31 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--abiogenesis X-Bonus: Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. -Abraham Lincoln abio.gen.e.sis n [NL, fr. a- + bio- + L genesis] (1870): the supposed spontaneous origination of living organisms directly from lifeless matter -- abi.og.e.nist n -------- Date: Sun Mar 16 00:05:19 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--billingsgate X-Bonus: Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. -Samuel Johnson bil.lings.gate n [fr. Billingsgate, old gate and fish market in London] 1652 : coarsely abusive language Les Payne, The Sad Truth Behind the Slur, Newsday, 01-21-1996, pp A50. "So blatant was Pike's slander that even Don Imus, the New York shock jock, was moved to beg for mercy. It must, however, be noted that whenever this geyser of billingsgate casts a glance at a person other than himself it's a sure bet he smells a profit, a few yucks or a chance to settle a score." -------- Date: Mon Mar 17 01:05:21 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--incubus X-Bonus: Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato in-cu-bus n., pl. -bus-es or -bi 1. An evil spirit believed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with sleeping women. 2. A nightmare. 3. Something that is oppressively or nightmarishly burdensome.[ME 2 : noisily insistent synonym see VOCIFEROUS "The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane the yellow leaves flutter and fall." This week's theme: words from Tagore's Geetanjali. -------- Date: Sat Mar 29 00:05:27 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--penury X-Bonus: The Senate trying to govern cyberspace is analogous to King George believing he could still govern the colonies even though he had never been there. -John Perry Barlow pen.u.ry n [ME, fr. L penuria, paenuria want; perhaps akin to L paene almost : 14th century] 1 : a cramping and oppressive lack of resources (as money); especially : severe poverty 2 : extreme and often niggardly frugality synonym see POVERTY "This is my prayer to thee, my lord-- strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart." This week's theme: words from Tagore's Geetanjali. -------- Date: Sun Mar 30 00:05:26 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--boisterous X-Bonus: We aim above the mark to hit the mark. -Ralph Waldo Emerson bois.ter.ous aj [ME boistous rough : 14th century] 1 obs a : COARSE b : DURABLE, STRONG c : MASSIVE 2 a : noisily turbulent : ROWDY b : marked by or expressive of exuberance and high spirits 3 : STORMY, TUMULTUOUS synonym see VOCIFEROUS "The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous." This week's theme: words from Tagore's Geetanjali. -------- Date: Mon Mar 31 00:05:25 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fagin X-Bonus: We're in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it's all gone. -Robert M. Pirsig [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance] fa.gin n [Fagin, character in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1839) : 1847] : an adult who instructs others (as children) in crime Sterling, Bruce, The Hacker Crackdown "Thackeray, however, had already learned far more than enough about Kyrie, whom she roundly despised as an adult criminal corrupting minors, a female fagin." When proper names are used generically, they are called eponyms. This is the most popular theme in AWAD. This week we look at seven more eponyms. -Anu