A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Tue Apr 1 00:01:08 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prithee X-Bonus: We know now that a man can read Goethe or Rilke in the evening, that he can play Bach and Schubert, and go to his day's work at Auschwitz in the morning. -George Steiner, professor and writer (b. 1929) This week's theme: words formed by contraction. prithee (PRITH-ee) interjection Please (used to express a request). [Contraction of (I) pray thee.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Probably it is because I am by profession a storyteller that I cannot resist a good tale, and it makes no matter if I end up telling it as a piece of fiction or as what calls itself truth. Just do not, I prithee, confuse me with a clam." The Specialist Said; The Sunday Independent (Dublin, Ireland); May 28, 2006. -------- Date: Wed Apr 2 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--willy-nilly X-Bonus: The best way to be more free is to grant more freedom to others. -Carlo Dossi, author and diplomat (1849-1910) This week's theme: words formed by contraction. willy-nilly (WIL-ee NIL-ee) adverb, adjective 1. Whether willing or not. 2. Haphazardly. [From contraction of "will ye/he/I nill ye/he/I", from will (to be willing) and nill (to be unwilling).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The interns] had been recruited at the last minute by a government summer job program and assigned, willy-nilly, to the aquarium." David L. Kirp; Diversity and Its Malcontents; The Nation (New York); Apr 21, 2003. -------- Date: Thu Apr 3 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--blimey X-Bonus: War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it. -Desiderius Erasmus, humanist and theologian (1466-1536) This week's theme: words formed by contraction. blimey (BLY-mee) interjection An expression of surprise, dismay, etc. [Contraction of "blind me" or "blame me", from "God blind/blame me"; sometimes heard in the form gorblimey or corblimey.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) Other examples of similar euphemistic contractions, mostly out of use, are: Strewth: God's truth 'sblood: God's blood Lassy me: Lord save me "And blimey, if Rupert Grint doesn't storm the barricades of boyishness to find something emergent, touching and vital in Ron Weasley." Peter Travers; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Rolling Stone (New York); Jun 29, 2007. -------- Date: Fri Apr 4 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hidalgo X-Bonus: We are all equal before the law, but not before those appointed to apply it. -Stanislaw J. Lec, poet and aphorist (1909-1966) This week's theme: words formed by contraction. hidalgo (hi-DAL-go) noun A member of the lower nobility in Spain. [From Spanish, contraction of hijo de algo (son of something). A similar term of nobility in Portugal is fidalgo, from Portuguese filho de algo.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The play] ended in a massive attack by U.S. troops, who illustrated egalitarian principles by slaughtering hidalgos, peons, and enslaved Indians alike." Michael Feingold; This Week's Hot New Plays; The Village Voice (New York); Oct 2, 2007. -------- Date: Mon Apr 7 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ebullient X-Bonus: What matters is not the idea a man holds, but the depth at which he holds it. -Ezra Pound, poet (1885-1972) After reading a bedtime story to my daughter, I sometimes ask her "So, what do you think of the book?" More often than not, the answer is a simple "Good." I tell her that the word "good" is banned. The book could be funny, boring, interesting, scary, lovely, awful, awesome, delightful, ... or a combination of terms. Anything but good. It's time to give the tired words "good" and "bad" a well-deserved rest. I think the same applies for people. People are rarely just good or bad. This week's words will show five words to describe them. ebullient (i-BUL-yuhnt, -BOOL-) adjective Bubbling with enthusiasm or excitement. [From Latin ebullire (to boil up), from bulla (bubble).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The cranky senior citizen of the televised leaders' debate was replaced by an ebullient man with a spring in his step and an enthusiastic handshake." Larissa Dubecki; Howard Rediscovers Charm in Street Walk; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Nov 2, 2007. -------- Date: Tue Apr 8 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tremulous X-Bonus: The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. -Fyodor Dostoyevsky, novelist (1821-1881) This week's theme: Words to describe people. tremulous (TREM-yuh-luhs) adjective 1. Trembling. 2. Timid; nervous. [From Latin tremere (to tremble).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The activist, actress and mother of two -- Maddox, 4, and Zahara, 8 months -- seemed a little tremulous in the spotlight at the Waldorf-Astoria to receive the 2005 U.N. Global Humanitarian Action Award." Donna Freydkin; For Angelina Jolie, Good Works; USA Today; Oct 13, 2005. -------- Date: Wed Apr 9 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pusillanimous X-Bonus: Men are idolaters, and want something to look at and kiss and hug, or throw themselves down before; they always did, they always will; and if you don't make it of wood, you must make it of words. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894) This week's theme: Words to describe people. pusillanimous (pyoo-suh-LAN-uh-muhs) adjective Lacking courage; timid. [From Latin pusillus (weak, very small), diminutive of pullus (young of an animal) + animus (spirit, mind).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Although the admonitory title and scarlet cover of Erik Durschmied's Beware the Dragon is designed to chill the blood of pusillanimous Europeans and Americans already anxious about the rise of China, the book itself is a war correspondent's take on the past, not the future." Victor Mallet; The Rebalance of Power; The Financial Times (London, UK); Apr 5 2008. -------- Date: Thu Apr 10 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pavid X-Bonus: Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit. -Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007) This week's theme: Words to describe people. pavid (PAV-id) adjective Timid; fearful. [From Latin pavere (to be frightened). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pau- (to cut, stroke, or stamp) that is also the source of amputate, compute, dispute, and count.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Ah remember his filthy bearded face twisted with terror, his pavid hands trembling, his pathetic sobbing." Nick Cave; And the Ass Saw the Angel; Black Spring Press; 1989. -------- Date: Fri Apr 11 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--piker X-Bonus: God must have loved the people in power, for he made them so much like their own image of him. -Kenneth Patchen, poet and novelist (1911-1972) This week's theme: Words to describe people. piker (PY-kur) noun A stingy person, a cautious gambler, or one who does things in a small way. [Of uncertain origin, possibly from Middle English pike (to leave).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The guy who put a lit firecracker between his buttocks is a piker compared to the Russian soldiers who took a smoke break in an ammunition warehouse -- the explosions went on for a week." Colette Bancroft; Smarty Pants; St. Petersburg Times (Florida); Dec 9, 2007. -------- Date: Mon Apr 14 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cenotaph X-Bonus: Having been unable to strengthen justice, we have justified strength. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662) This week's words are created using combining forms. What are combining forms? You can think of them as the Legos of language. As the name indicates, a combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with some other form. This other form could be a word, another combining form, or an affix (a prefix or suffix). Unlike a combining form, an affix can't attach to another affix to form a standalone word by itself. When coining a new word, these ready-made building blocks of the language come in handy. Let's say we need a new insult word, a fancy word to describe someone as brainless. We could start with ceno- (empty), add -cephalic (relating to the head) to it, and our new word is ready: cenocephalic. This week we'll see words made using these combining forms: ceno- (empty), endo- (within), seti- (bristle), nocti- (night), and geo- (earth). Happy word crafting! cenotaph (SEN-uh-taf) noun A tomb or a monument in honor of a person (or a group) whose remains are elsewhere. [Via French and Latin, from Greek kenotaphion, from kenos (empty) + taphos (tomb).] Pictures of cenotaphs around the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenotaph -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Then I joined the throngs at the cenotaph inscribed NEVER AGAIN, at an eternal flame above a reflecting pool, and at the crane-festooned statue of Sadako Sasaki, a bomb victim who died at the age of twelve while attempting to fold a thousand paper cranes in the hope this would prolong her life." Samuel Day Jr.; Two Hiroshimas; The Progressive (Madison, Wisconsin); Aug 1994. -------- Date: Tue Apr 15 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--endogamy X-Bonus: It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. -Baltasar Gracian, philosopher and writer (1601-1658) This week's theme: words made using combining forms. endogamy (en-DOG-uh-mee) noun The practice of marriage within a specific social group. [From Greek endo- (within), from endon (within) + -gamy (marriage), from gamos (marriage).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "A third of Americans have become religiously mobile -- ascribing not to their original faith. This social interweaving has bred forbearance to the point that religious endogamy has become irrelevant." Meidyatama Suryodiningrat; Pride, Prejudice & Hussein in U.S. Election; The Jakarta Post (Indonesia); Mar 8, 2008. -------- Date: Wed Apr 16 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--setiform X-Bonus: We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past. -Miguel de Unamuno, writer and philosopher (1864-1936) This week's theme: words made using combining forms. setiform (SEE-tuh-form) adjective Bristle-shaped or having bristles. [From Latin seti- (bristle) + -form.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The compound was full of figures, the scampering setiform bodies of chimpanzees and the taller, more exiguous* forms of their closest living relatives." Will Self; Great Apes; Grove Press; 1998. * small; slender. -------- Date: Thu Apr 17 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--noctilucent X-Bonus: If someone does something we disapprove of, we regard him as bad if we believe we can deter him from persisting in his conduct, but we regard him as mad if we believe we cannot. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (b. 1920) This week's theme: words made using combining forms. noctilucent (nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt) adjective Shining at night. [From Latin nocti- (night) + lucent (shining).] The term is often used of clouds that are luminous at night: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The noctilucent paint is powerful enough to light up the entire 20-ft diameter of the pandal* without any light bulbs." Sangita Sultania G. Roy; Glow-worm Goddess for Shoestring Budget; The Telegraph (Calcutta, India); Oct 21, 2004. * a temporary shed erected to hold an event -------- Date: Fri Apr 18 00:01:05 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--geoponic X-Bonus: Who knows what Columbus would have discovered if America hadn't got in the way. -Stanislaw J. Lec, poet and aphorist (1909-1966) This week's theme: words made using combining forms. geoponic (jee-uh-PON-ik) adjective Of or relating to agriculture. [From Greek geoponikos, from geo- (earth) + ponein (to toil).] Sometimes the term geoponics is used to refer to growing of plants in earth, as contrasted with hydroponics (growing in water) or aeroponics (in air). -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Our cherished leaf-mould ... had been delivered to us, ready wrapped, in huge portable quantities. Delivered unto us, you might be tempted to say, for what was this but geoponic manna?" Alan Coren; Alan Coren Column; The Times (London, UK); Oct 18, 1995. -------- Date: Mon Apr 21 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--suspire X-Bonus: Every natural form -- palm leaves and acorns, oak leaves and sumach and dodder -- are untranslatable aphorisms. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) It's said that in the English language every noun can be verbed, but there's nothing more grating on the ears than the gratuitous "verbification" of nouns in a modern workplace exchange. From "productizing an idea" to "administrating the plan" and "incentivizing the workers" these verb-forms are about as graceful as a sumo wrestler performing a ballet. Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing sinful about coining new words, or using existing ones in creative ways, but these Latinate constructions just don't work. There are already countless words that can do the job very well. This week we'll look at five verbs in the English language. suspire (suh-SPYR) verb tr., intr. To breathe; to sigh. [From Latin suspirare (to breathe up), from spirare (to breathe).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Environmentally, there can be no doubt now that Singaporeans will either suspire or expire together with the Indonesians and Malaysians." Janadas Devan; An Environmental Wake-up call; Straits Times (Singapore); Oct 7, 1994. -------- Date: Tue Apr 22 00:01:05 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--indurate X-Bonus: The world is a story we tell ourselves about the world. -Vikram Chandra, novelist (b. 1961) This week's theme: verbs. indurate (IN-doo-rayt, -dyoo-) verb tr. 1. To make hardy, inured, accustomed. 2. To make callous or unfeeling. verb intr. 1. To make hard. 2. To become established. adjective (IN-doo-rit, -dyoo-) Hardened; callous; obstinate. [From Latin indurare (to harden), from durare (to last), from durus (hard). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deru-/dreu- (to be firm) that's the source of such other words as truth, trust, betroth, tree, endure, and druid.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Do you need to show exploding heads to illustrate the tragedy of war? Only, surely, if your audience is so indurated to on-screen suffering, that nothing else will pierce its hide." Catherine Bennett; Shootists; The Guardian (London, UK); Sep 12, 1998. "His person, though muscular, was rather attenuated than full; but every nerve and muscle appeared strung and indurated by unremitted exposure and toil." James Fenimore Cooper; The Last of the Mohicans; 1826. -------- Date: Wed Apr 23 00:01:05 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yammer X-Bonus: Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels but they live like men. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) This week's theme: verbs. yammer (YAM-uhr) verb tr., intr. To whine, complain, or to talk loudly and incessantly. noun The act of yammering. [From Middle Dutch jammeren (to lament).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Every year, hundreds of those metallic helium balloons that some little kid lets go of by accident, or some misguided romantic releases into the sky like a shiny-bright dove, float up into electric lines and knock out the power hundreds of times over. ... The Balloon Council, evidently full of its own product, is yammering about how [the proposal to ban them] criminalizes a toy." Patt Morrison; More Hot Air From Lobbyists; Los Angeles Times; Apr 8, 2008. -------- Date: Thu Apr 24 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--extirpate X-Bonus: How can one better magnify the Almighty than by sniggering with him at his little jokes, particularly the poorer ones. -Samuel Beckett, author (1906-1989) This week's theme: verbs. extirpate (EK-stuhr-payt) verb tr. 1. To destroy completely. 2. To pull up by the roots. [From Latin extirpare (to root out), from stirps (stem, root).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Shut up, shut up, shut up. Disloyal thoughts must be ruthlessly extirpated." Gene Kerrigan; Screw Democracy, Here's Dear Leader; Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Apr 13, 2008. -------- Date: Fri Apr 25 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spall X-Bonus: Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well-ordered mind than a man's ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE) This week's theme: verbs. spall (spal) verb tr., intr. To break into small pieces; to splinter. noun A chip or splinter, especially of stone. [Of unknown origin.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "'There's concrete that's been spalling away from the abutment,' said Brent Johnson, the city's deputy director of engineering." Matt Lakin; TDOT's Concrete Concerns; Knoxville News Sentinel (Tennessee); Apr 19, 2008. -------- Date: Mon Apr 28 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chimera X-Bonus: My poverty is not complete: it lacks me. -Antonio Porchia, writer (1886-1968) So many mythological animals live on in literature, in our minds, and in our imagination, that they would fill a virtual zoo. Because these creatures are myths, they're not bound by biological rules. Sometimes they're part human, part animal. They could have a human head and an animal body, or vice versa. These permutations and combinations of body parts make it look as though the gods were playing a mix-n-match game of combining parts to make composites. At times, one of these mythical animals had more than a single head. Enjoy looking at the menagerie this week and feel free to use their attributes metaphorically in situations in your life. chimera (ki-MEER-uh, ky-) noun 1. A fanciful fabrication; illusion. 2. An organism having genetically different tissues. [After Chimera, a fire-breathing female monster in Greek mythology who had a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. From Greek khimaira (she-goat), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter) that is the ancestor of words such as chimera (literally a female animal that is one winter, or one year old), hibernate, and the Himalayas, from Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The government subsidies [for bio-fuel] may quickly dry up once policymakers face up to the reality of their euphoric chimera, and food shortages threaten political stability and national security." Abdullah A. Dewan; Fuel Versus Food; The Daily Star (Dhaka, Bangladesh); Apr 24, 2008. -------- Date: Tue Apr 29 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--argus X-Bonus: Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit it is the first. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914) This week's theme: words derived from the names of mythical creatures. argus (AHR-guhs) noun An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian. [After Argus, a giant in Greek mythology who had 100 eyes and was sent to watch over Zeus's lover Io. He was killed by Hermes and after his death his eyes transformed into spots on the peacock's tail. Greek argos (bright).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Arnold [Schwarzenegger] knew immediately that Total Recall needed an Argus-eyed director who could maintain control over complicated visual effects, extravagant futuristic sets, dangerous stunts, etc. -- while also demanding good performances from his actors." Bill Jones; Muscles Parlayed Into Stardom; The Phoenix Gazette (Arizona); Jun 2, 1990. -------- Date: Wed Apr 30 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--centaur X-Bonus: Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East- to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them- who were above such trifling. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) This week's theme: words derived from the names of mythical creatures. centaur (SEN-tor) noun 1. An expert horse rider. 2. An unnatural creation made of disparate entities. [After Centaur, a race of monsters having the torso of a human and lower body of a horse. Also, early Greek literature depicted Centaurs as a tribe from Thessaly whose members were skilled horse riders.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "When Claire is on a horse, she loses her limp and is in charge of the universe, a centaur." Michael Ondaatje; Divisadero; Knopf; 2007.