A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu May 1 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sphinx X-Bonus: Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before. -Steven Wright, comedian (b. 1955) This week's theme: words derived from the names of mythical creatures. sphinx (sfingks) noun A mysterious, inscrutable person. [After Sphinx, a winged monster in Greek mythology who had a woman's head and a lion's body. It killed anyone who was not able to answer its riddle. From Greek sphinx (literally, strangler), from sphingein (to bind tight), also the source of the word sphincter.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Deborah Jeane Palfrey is unreadable, a sphinx, she covers her mouth when she whispers to her attorney to shield against lip readers." Monica Hesse; A Slash Of Scarlet in A Gray Court; Washington Post; Apr 11, 2008. -------- Date: Fri May 2 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--harpy X-Bonus: This above all: to thine own self be true, \ And it must follow, as the night the day, \ Thou canst not then be false to any man. -William Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (1564-1616) This week's theme: words derived from the names of mythical creatures. harpy (HAR-pee) noun 1. A predatory person. 2. A bad-tempered woman. [After the Harpies, monsters in Greek mythology, who had a woman's head and a bird's body. The gods ordered them to snatch food from Phineus, a king who was punished for revealing secrets. From Greek harpazein (to snatch).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Longoria Parker comes across as a shrill harpy in her pivotal role, hounding Ashley into ending the affair." Sam Cannon; She's No Angel; Bristol Evening Post (UK); Jan 31, 2008. -------- Date: Mon May 5 00:21:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lilliputian X-Bonus: There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else. -Gen. Peyton C. March (1864-1955) Have you ever read a novel so well-written that the characters came alive? This week's words are about those fictional men and women who have walked off the pages of their books and entered the dictionary. Perhaps it's a testament to the genius of the authors that their imaginary creations are now part of the living language. Let's meet five of these words, also known as eponyms, this week. lilliputian (lil-i-PYOO-shuhn) adjective Very small. noun A very small person. [After Lilliput, a fictional island nation in Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels. Everything was diminutive in Lilliput -- its inhabitants were six inches in height.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[Chantal] Lacoste is exploring and mapping the chilly Lilliputian world of mesofauna, microscopic creatures living in and under the Arctic sea ice." Peter Calamai; The Next Generation in the North; Toronto Star (Canada); Apr 5, 2008. -------- Date: Tue May 6 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pantagruelian X-Bonus: The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week's theme: eponyms. pantagruelian (pan-tuh-groo-EL-ee-uhn) adjective 1. Enormous. 2. Displaying extravagant and coarse humor. [After Pantagruel, a giant king with an enormous appetite, depicted in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[Ilan Ros's] jowls are scarlet, and he's wearing a loose apron over his Pantagruelian belly. He begins by gobbling up three slices of cold meat in quick succession and then wipes his mouth on a paper napkin." Yasmina Khadra (pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul); The Attack (translated by John Cullen); Doubleday; 2006. -------- Date: Wed May 7 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Simon Legree X-Bonus: Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice? -Lillian Hellman, playwright (1905-1984) This week's theme: eponyms. Simon Legree (SY-muhn li-GREE) noun A harsh taskmaster. [After Simon Legree, a brutal slave owner in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "In Brutal Bosses and Their Prey (1996, Riverhead Books), Harvey Hornstein identifies six variations on Simon Legree." Sal Marino; Brutal Bosses From Hell; Industry Week; Jun 22, 1998. -------- Date: Thu May 8 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gargantuan X-Bonus: I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. -Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (1889-1951) This week's theme: eponyms. gargantuan (gar-GAN-choo-uhn) adjective Gigantic. [After Gargantua, a voracious giant, the father of Pantagruel, in a series of novels by François Rabelais (c. 1490-1553).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Walls were built around Constantinople, gargantuan chains were set over the Bosporus and the Golden Horn to prevent any attempts by the enemy to enter." Vercihan Ziflioglu; A Sole Burned Gate; Turkish Daily News (Istanbul); Mar 26, 2008. -------- Date: Fri May 9 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--babbitt X-Bonus: The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. -M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and author (1936-2005) This week's theme: eponyms. babbitt (BAB-it) noun A self-satisfied narrow-minded person who conforms to conventional ideals of business and material success. [After the main character in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "'I've learned to be a merchant without being a Babbitt,' [David Schwartz] told Journal Sentinel book editor." Jim Higgins; Bookseller Sought to Feed the Soul; The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Jun 8, 2004. -------- Date: Mon May 12 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sideburns X-Bonus: It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961) Over the years we have featured weeks of words about words, we have had words about birds, and now it's time for, well, words about beards. Are bearded people irritating? While some find a beard on a man attractive, it repels others. Like barbed wire, literally speaking. The words barb, barber, rebarbative, and beard are derived from the same root: Latin barba (beard). And though many bards have beards, there is no connection between the two words. Though most men have only a fleeting interest in pogonotrophy (growing of a beard, from Greek pogon, beard + -trophy, nourishment or growth), growing it now, shaving it when the fancy strikes, for some, beards are a serious business. There's even a biennial championship event for the bearded: http://worldbeardchampionships.com/ This week we'll see five words having to do with facial hair. They are pure beard words as the week starts out, and like beards growing slender at the bottom, as the week ends the connection becomes slender too. sideburns (SYDE-burnz) plural noun Hair grown on the sides of a man's face, when worn with an unbearded chin. [After Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), who served as a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War, and who earned more recognition for his side whiskers than for his military career. Eventually the term burnsides morphed into sideburns as such a facial pattern was on the sides of a face.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Queensland paramedics claim they have been threatened with the sack unless they shave off their beards, moustaches and sideburns." Darrell Giles; Paramedics' Facial Hair Threat; The Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Australia); Apr 20, 2008. -------- Date: Tue May 13 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dundrearies X-Bonus: This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers. -Terry Tempest Williams, naturalist and author (b. 1955) This week's theme: words related to beards. dundrearies (dun-DREER-eez) noun Long flowing sideburns. [After the bushy sideburns worn by actor Edward A. Sothern who played the part of Lord Dundreary in the play Our American Cousin (1858), written by Tom Taylor (1817-1880). This was the play being performed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC during which Abraham Lincoln was shot.] A picture of dundrearies: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Lord_Dundreary.jpg -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[Jack] narcissistically fluffed out his imperial* and his dundrearies." Patrick Leigh Fermor; Sex O'Clock High; New Statesman (London, UK); Mar 1, 1963. * imperial : a small pointed beard under the lower lip. -------- Date: Wed May 14 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vandyke X-Bonus: My greatest skill has been to want but little. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) This week's theme: words related to beards. Vandyke or Van Dyke or vandyke (van dyk) noun A short, pointed beard. [After painter Anthony Van Dyck or Vandyke (1599-1641) who painted portraits of people having these v-shaped beards.] A painting by Anthony Van Dyck showing a vandyke: http://abcgallery.com/V/vandyck/vandyck40.html -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "And, a young man with a Van Dyke and kinte cloth shorts was Dirt Devil-ing the floor around a mannequin in one of the few windows in which mannequins were dressed." Frank DeCaro; Barneys Countdown: It's Retailing, Not a Revolution; Newsday (New York); Sep 8, 1993. "The Van Dyke, however, is shaped like a V and comes to a sharp point. It usually, but not always, has a mustache with it, suitable for twirling." Jim Kershner; Is it Too Late to Jump on Goatee Trend?; The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington); Jun 15, 1996. -------- Date: Thu May 15 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bluebeard X-Bonus: It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a god would choose for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose highest and only ambition is to obey. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899) This week's theme: words related to beards. bluebeard (BLOO-beerd) noun A man who marries and kills one wife after another. [After Bluebeard, the nickname of the main character Raoul in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1703). In the story, Bluebeard's wife finds the bodies of his previous wives in a room she was forbidden to enter. Yes, he did have a blue beard.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The groom] may have to carry her spiritual guide, and perhaps her interior bluebeard, some brutal side of the feminine." Robert Bly; A Little Book on the Human Shadow; Harper; 1988. -------- Date: Fri May 16 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jericho X-Bonus: There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor. -George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952) This week's theme: words related to beards. Jericho (JER-i-ko) noun A place out of the way; an unspecified place; a place of concealment. Often used in the phrase "go to Jericho". [After Jericho, an ancient city of Palestine, northwest of the Dead Sea, where David had his servants wait until their beards had grown. As in Samuel, a book of the Bible, "And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown."] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The best advice as you worry whether your mail lottery envelope will end up in Jacobs Field or shipped by mistake to Jericho is to savor every anxious moment of this season." Bud Shaw; No Tribe Season Will Match This; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio); Sep 21, 1995. -------- Date: Mon May 19 01:01:09 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cicerone X-Bonus: Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. -Roger Miller, musician (1936-1992) "Proper names that have become improper and uncommonly common" is how Willard R. Espy described eponyms, and that is the theme for this week's words in AWAD: words coined after someone's name. In our quest for eponyms, we are going to visit ancient Greece and Rome, 17th and 19th century Paris, and even go back to biblical times. Over the years we have featured hundreds of eponyms, but this week, as in any week, we'll review only five. If you want to have your fill of eponyms check out this eponym-infested story: http://newstatesman.com/200603200056 cicerone (sis-uh-RO-nee, chee-che-RO-nee) noun A tour guide. [After Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE), the Roman statesman, orator, and writer, who was known for his knowledge and eloquence. He's one of the rare people who have given two eponyms to the English language. Another word coined after his name is ciceronian, meaning marked by ornate language, expansive flow, and forcefulness of expression.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Could one entirely rely upon a reporter who assured his readers that the people of Valencia in general were perfidious, vindictive, sullen, mistrustful, fickle, treacherous and empty of all good? Laugh with him, certainly, in the hearty old days of political incorrectness, but have reservations about him as a cicerone." Jan Morris; Travel Lit's Novel Pursuit; The Nation (New York); Oct 6, 1997. -------- Date: Tue May 20 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--svengali X-Bonus: Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) svengali (sven-GAH-lee) noun A person who manipulates and exercises excessive control over another for sinister purposes. [After Svengali, a musician and hypnotist, in the novel Trilby written by George du Maurier (1834-1896). In the story, Trilby is an artist's model. She's tone-deaf, but Svengali transforms her into a singing sensation under his hypnotic spell. Another eponym to come out of the novel is the word for a man's hat: trilby. A trilby was a soft felt hat with a narrow brim and an indented crown. The word arose because such a hat was worn in the stage production of the novel.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "'Idol' was created by Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls svengali, and first aired in England in 2001, as 'Pop Idol.'" Sasha Frere-Jones; Idolatry; The New Yorker; May 19, 2008. -------- Date: Wed May 21 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lucullan X-Bonus: A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914) This week's theme: eponyms. lucullan (loo-KUHL-uhn) adjective Lavish, luxurious. [After a Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 110-57 BCE), who was known for his sumptuous banquets.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Mr. Buzzi's tastes run the gamut from the simplest to the most Lucullan." Aram Bakshian Jr.; Gastronomy; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Sep 24, 2005. -------- Date: Thu May 22 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jeremiah X-Bonus: Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that certain films were made by God or that specific software was coded by him. Imagine a future in which millions of our descendants murder each other over rival interpretations of Star Wars or Windows 98. Could anything -- anything -- be more ridiculous? And yet, this would be no more ridiculous than the world we are living in. -Sam Harris, author (b. 1967) This week's theme: eponyms. jeremiah (jer-uh-MY-uh) noun A person who complains continually, has a gloomy attitude, or one who warns about a disastrous future. [After Jeremiah, a Hebrew prophet during the seventh and sixth centuries BCE who prophesied the fall of the kingdom of Judah and whose writings are collected in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Having been a Jeremiah for so many years, mainly through the pages of the Guardian but also via his own immensely popular website, Monbiot has now turned his mind to what, precisely, can be done to halt global warming." Stephen Price; A Wake-up Call For the Human Race; The Sunday Business Post (Dublin, Ireland); Oct 8, 2006. -------- Date: Fri May 23 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tartuffe X-Bonus: The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff. Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry. -Lao Tzu, philosopher (6th century BCE) This week's theme: eponyms. tartuffe (tahr-TOOF) noun A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters. [After the main character in Tartuffe, a play by Molière, pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673). As if to prove themselves, the religious authorities in Paris had the play banned soon after it was introduced.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Tony Blair is like Harold Wilson, an empty vessel whose strength derives from his emptiness. (Religion is so often a substitute for depth.) Because he is a Tartuffe who does not really believe in anything, he is brilliant at seizing advantage; when he can't manipulate events, he surfs over them." A.N. Wilson; Further Trials of Teflon Tony; The Evening Standard (London, UK); May 19, 2003. -------- Date: Mon May 26 00:11:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--garboil X-Bonus: I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) Fashions come and go. One year it's bell-bottoms that are cool, another time it might be torn jeans. What is hip for one age is passé for another. The same goes for words. Yesterday's street slang becomes respectable today, suitable for office memos and academic theses. Words once in everyday use may be labeled archaic a few hundred years later. As I see it, there's no reason to despatch any word to the attic of time. Each word on our verbal palette -- whether new or old -- helps us bring out a nuance in conversation and in writing. The words featured here this week are considered archaic but are still in good shape. They're old but have not yet retired from the language. They still faithfully report for duty, as shown by some of the examples from newspapers. garboil (GAHR-boil) noun Confusion; turmoil. [Via French and Italian from Latin bullire (to boil).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "'That was some garboil in the woods', [Julius Winsome] announces to one increasingly confused victim." Gerard Donovan; Dark Memories in the Forest; Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Jun 16, 2007. -------- Date: Tue May 27 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--point-device X-Bonus: If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week's theme: archaic words. point-device (point di-VYS) adverb Completely; perfectly. adjective Perfect; precise; meticulous. [From the phrase "at point devis" meaning "at a fixed point" or "to perfection".] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Thus he [Eginhard] grew up, in logic point-device, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Tales of a Wayside Inn; 1863. -------- Date: Wed May 28 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scrannel X-Bonus: It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way. -Rollo May, psychologist (1909-1994) This week's theme: archaic words. scrannel (SKRAN-l) adjective 1. Thin. 2. Unmelodious. [Of unknown origin.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Though played with impressive skill and intense determination by Dorothy Stone, the often scrannel sounds irritated more than they fascinated." Terry McQuilkin; Pacific Festival Opens at Cal State LA; Los Angeles Times; Jun 24, 1989. -------- Date: Thu May 29 00:01:07 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sweven X-Bonus: For what are stars but asterisks. To point a human life? -Emily Dickinson, poet (1830-1886) This week's theme: archaic words. sweven (SWEV-uhn) noun Dream; vision. [From Old English swefn (sleep, dream, vision).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The queen] went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered during all her wedding-night from swevens and nightmare." The Arabian Nights (translated by Richard Francis Burton); 1885. -------- Date: Fri May 30 00:01:06 EDT 2008 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ween X-Bonus: Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. -Gladys Bronwyn Stern, writer (1890-1973) This week's theme: archaic words. ween (ween) verb tr., intr. To think, suppose, believe. [From Old English wenan (to expect), from the Indo-European root wen- (to desire or to strive for) that's also the source of wish, win, venerate, venison, Venus, and banyan. It's the same word that shows up in "overweening".] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "But well I ween that Gryffyth will never keep troth* with the English." Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; 1848. [*troth: promise, loyalty]