A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jun 2 01:03:11 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sixty-four-dollar question X-Bonus: Oh, we have a home. We just need a house to put it in. -An anonymous child sixty-four-dollar question (SIKS-tee fohr DOL-uhr KWES-chuhn) noun also $64 question The critical question about a problem; a crucial issue. [From a popular radio quiz show in the US in the 1940s which offered $64 as the largest prize. The first question had a prize of $1 and the prize total doubled with each successive question: $2, 4, 8, 16, 32, culminating in the $64 question. With inflation, this term is used in many variant forms, such as, "$64,000 question" and upwards.] "'We still don't know if he's an enemy combatant,' Mr. Dunham said. 'That's the $64 question.'" Katharine Q. Seelye; Appeals Court Again Hears Case of American Held Without Charges or Counsel; The New York Times; Oct 29, 2002. "Now, the sixty-four million-dollar question. Need one have learned a second language to teach English as a second language?" Cultural Imperialism and the English Language Teacher; The Korea Times (Seoul, South Korea); Feb 24, 2000. Consider this sentence: "He went to look for Aldornia in her office but got a 404." Or this: "By the time I came back to my desk, my book had 404ed." Anyone who has been on the Internet for more than a few days would immediately know what 404 means. It indicates someone or something missing, alluding to the error code that Web servers spit out when a page is not found. With our creative capacity to extend meanings of words, we use them in completely unrelated contexts. And that's one of the ways language grows. It remains to be seen whether 404 will make it to the dictionary, but many other numeric terms are now part of the English lexicon. We use 101 to refer to something introductory or elementary on a topic ("Thorismud doesn't know even etiquette 101"), from the use of the number to identify the first course on a subject in a school or university. From geometry, we get "180 deg. turn" when referring to complete reversal ("The company went 180 deg. on its strategy"). From the business world, there is 24/7, to indicate complete availability ("He attended the sick child 24/7") referring to the number of hours in a day and the number of days in a week). This week we'll feature terms originating in a variety of fields -- a game show, rhyming slang, optometry, nautical lingo, and literature. One thing they have in common is that they're all numeric terms. -------- Date: Tue Jun 3 00:07:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eighty-six X-Bonus: The most important political office is that of private citizen. -Louis Brandeis, lawyer, judge, and writer (1856-1941) eighty-six (AY-tee SIKS) verb tr., also 86 1. To throw out; discard; reject. 2. To refuse to serve (a customer). adjective Sold-out (of an item). noun An undesirable customer, one who is denied service. [Perhaps rhyming slang for nix.] "He says the show will go on next month, though scheduling conflicts may move it to another hotel and the band may be eighty-sixed." Zan Dubin; Clubs in and Around Orange County; The Los Angeles Times; Jun 19, 1997. "David enlists the help of his friend Richard Lewis to buy a bracelet for his wife from a jewelry store that 86ed him." Melanie McFarland; `Curb' Built on `Seinfeld' Legacy; The Seattle Times; Oct 13, 2000. This week's theme: numeric terms. -------- Date: Wed Jun 4 00:07:06 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--twenty-twenty X-Bonus: When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826) twenty-twenty (TWEN-tee TWEN-tee) adjective, also 20/20 1. Possessing or relating to normal vision. 2. Having ability to see an issue clearly. [From a method of testing visual acuity involving reading a chart of letters or symbols at 20 feet away.] "As pundits of power go, Machiavelli was a prince. Ophthalmologically speaking, Ted Levitt's twenty-twenty vision into marketing myopia was farsighted. Saint Peter of Drucker, arguably this century's most influential management thinker, has probably inspired more effective executives than a Covey of business gurus." Michael Schrage; Staying Smart; Brave New Work: Will Evolving Corporate Strategy Be Dar-win-win-ian?; Fortune (New York); Jun 21, 1999. "With 20/20 hindsight, we see that our national unity problem was not so much a constitutional issue, and certainly not a racebased conflict, but merely the result of our cultural ignorance." Benoit Aubin; Speaking in Tongues; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Dec 9, 2002. This week's theme: numeric terms. -------- Date: Thu Jun 5 00:07:07 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--deep-six X-Bonus: Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure." -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) deep-six (deep siks) verb tr. 1. To throw overboard. 2. To discard or reject. [From nautical slang deep-six (burial at sea), or from the allusion to the typical depth of a grave.] "Second, the PRI holds the biggest bloc of seats in both legislative houses, and Fox's relentless condemnation of their governance during his presidential bid has strengthened their resolve to deep-six his agenda." George W. Grayson; Fox May Need a Miracle From the Pope; The News (Mexico City, Mexico); Jul 26, 2002. "Yet prominent critics of the protocol - notably economist William Pizer of Resources for the Future, a Washington think tank, and political scientist David G. Victor of the Council on Foreign Relations - have argued that the best response isn't to deep-six Kyoto but to add a safety valve." George Musser; Climate of Uncertainty; Scientific American (New York); Oct 1, 2001. This week's theme: numeric terms. -------- Date: Fri Jun 6 00:07:07 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--catch-22 X-Bonus: Music was invented to confirm human loneliness. -Lawrence Durrell, novelist and poet (1912-1990) catch-22 (kach twen-tee TOO) noun A situation marked by contradiction, absurdity, or paradox, where a solution is impossible to achieve. [From Catch-22, a novel by Joseph Heller.] In this World War II novel, an air force regulation states that a man is to be considered insane if he is willing to continue to fly dangerous missions. To be relieved of such duties all he has to do is ask. But one who makes such a rational request shows that he is, in fact, sane. Here is an extract from the novel. -Anu Doc Daneeka said, "He (Orr) has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to." "That's all he has to do to be grounded?" "That's all. Let him ask me." "And then you can ground him?" Yossarian asked. "No, then I can't ground him." "You mean there's a catch?" "Sure there is a catch," Doc Daneeka replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy." "Yet ask members of the public what they think about street sellers, and the most virtuous will respond that they should be banned from the city streets. Yet the sellers do a roaring trade, and could not do so unless their goods and services met a substantial public need. Some solution to this Catch 22 situation is long overdue ..." Word From the Streets: The Plight of the Informal Sector; The National (Papua New Guinea); May 19, 2003. "The players involved say it's too early to talk about it, which leads to a catch-22. If you wait until it becomes a pertinent issue, it may no longer even be an issue." Tony Jackson; Reds Ponder Rare Slugging Trio; Sebastian Sun (Florida); May 21, 2003. This week's theme: numeric terms. -------- Date: Mon Jun 9 01:07:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--extemporize X-Bonus: A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. -Leo Buscaglia, author, speaker and professor (1924-1998) extemporize (ik-STEM-puh-ryz) verb tr., intr. 1. To perform (speak, sing, play, etc.) without preparation or practice; to improvise. 2. To do something in a makeshift manner. [From extempore, from Latin ex tempore (out of the time), from tempus (time). Other words that are formed from the same Latin root: temporary, tempo, temper, contemporary, tempest and tense.] "Since the clavier player is obliged to improvise on the spot, he must also always keep in mind that such extemporizing should serve not the demonstration of his skills but rather the ultimate purpose of the music. `We must play from the soul, not like trained birds,' C.P.E. professed." Richard Perry; Little Known, But Delightfully Noteworthy; Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Mar 31, 2002. "Third, rather than confronting the basic root or source of the controversies, Soeharto was more familiar with his own style of extemporizing in the expectation that the incident would be forgotten as time went by." Adrianus Meliala; What Has Made Us Reluctant to Investigate?; Jakarta Post (Indonesia); Nov 6, 1998. It might appear that this week's words have been selected at random, but we aren't extemporizing. Each word has been carefully picked, vetted, and reviewed as suitable to be featured in the next five days. But what is that selection criterion? That's your challenge! Can you see a pattern in this week's words? Write to us at (garg AT wordsmith.org). See if you can be the first one to solve the puzzle. One answer per person, please. We'll announce the results next week. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Jun 10 00:10:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--impresario X-Bonus: We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680) impresario (im-pruh-SAR-ee-o) noun 1. An organizer, promoter, or manager of public entertainments, such as a ballet, opera, concert, or theater company. 2. Any manager or director. [From Italian impresario (one who undertakes a business), from impresa (undertaking), from Vulgar Latin imprendere (to undertake).] "Shadowing him on the trip here - visible on the margins of events, usually staying out of sight - was Mr. Bush's political impresario, Karl Rove." David E. Sanger; Middle East Mediator: Big New Test for Bush; The New York Times; Jun 5, 2003. "Even on Broadway, few stars have crashed as spectacularly as Garth Drabinsky, the impresario behind Ragtime, theatreland's highest-grossing show." From Riches to Ragtime; The Economist (London); Aug 15, 1998. This week's theme: yours to discover. -------- Date: Wed Jun 11 00:01:23 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--macroscopic X-Bonus: What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams. -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957) macroscopic (mak-ruh-SKOP-ik) adjective 1. Large enough to be visible to the unaided eye. 2. Of or relating to large units; comprehensive. [From Greek macro- (large, long) + -scopic, from scope, from skopos (aim, mark).] "We should have a more thorough and macroscopic view." Steve Chan; Working Together to Fight SARS in Taiwan; The Taipei Times (Taiwan); May 12, 2003. "We are slaves of the macroscopic, failing to appreciate the overwhelming domination of the microbial. Another proof that microbes rule." Jay Ingram; Another Proof That Microbes Rule; The Toronto Star (Canada); Oct 29, 2000. This week's theme: yours to discover. -------- Date: Thu Jun 12 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--postdiluvian X-Bonus: The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange. -G.K. Chesterton, essayist and novelist (1874-1936) postdiluvian (post-di-LOO-vee-uhn) adjective Pertaining to the period after the Biblical flood or any great flood. noun Someone or something in the period after the Biblical flood or any large flood. [From Latin post- (after) + diluvium (flood), from diluere (to wash away), from di- + -luere (to wash), combining form of lavere (to wash). Other words derived from the same root are: deluge, dilute, and lotion.] A related word is antediluvian (related to the period before the Biblical flood). It is also used to apply to someone or something very old or old-fashioned, e.g. antediluvian CEO or antediluvian ideas. -Anu "But that was in the good old days. Now, our postdiluvian world is swamped with hundreds of different kinds of the things ..." Poseur Index: Rubber Place Mats; The Guardian (London, UK); Mar 20, 1998. "Just as important, the flood damage inspired Congress to earmark almost $200 million to get Yosemite back into shape, finally making it possible to take action on the General Management Plan. Central to the agency's blueprint for the postdiluvian Yosemite is the phased removal of private automobiles, starting by requiring reservations for parking inside the valley boundaries and eliminating day-use auto touring." B.J. Bergman; Yosemite Turns a Corner; Sierra (San Francisco, California); May/Jun 1998. This week's theme: yours to discover. -------- Date: Fri Jun 13 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plausive X-Bonus: If a triangle could speak, it would say, that God is eminently triangular, while a circle would say that the divine nature is eminently circular. -Baruch Spinoza, philosopher (1632-1677) plausive (PLO-ziv, -siv) adjective Applauding. [From Latin plaus-, past participle of plaudere (to applaud). Other words that derive from the same Latin root are: plaudit, plausible, and explode. The word "explode" appears out of place here until we realize that it literally means "to drive out by clapping", from ex- (out) + plaudere (to clap).] "Forty businessmen met at the Pittsburgh Hotel to complete plans for next week's voluntary Downtown cleanup campaign. Store owners who helped by maintaining their sidewalks would receive plausive signs for their front doors." On This Date; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Jun 2, 1998. "For first-year volunteers and visitors to the Santa Fe Indian Market's artist competition Friday at the Sweeney Convention Center, wide-eyed amazement and plausive sentiments were the most common responses." John T. Huddy; Awe of the Beholder; The Albuquerque Journal; Aug 17, 2002. This week's theme: yours to discover. Send your solution to (garg AT wordsmith.org). This week's words: extemporize, impresario, macroscopic, postdiluvian, plausive. -------- Date: Mon Jun 16 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--meed X-Bonus: The course of true love never did run smooth. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616) meed (meed) noun Reward; recompense; wage. [From Middle English mede, from Old English med.] "He saw that at once; he took that also as the meed due his oil wells and his Yale nimbus, since three years at New Haven, leading no classes and winning no football games, had done nothing to dispossess him of the belief that he was the natural prey of all mothers of daughters." William Faulkner; Collected Stories of William Faulkner; Vintage Books; 1995. "Nor to have worked with patient brain In senate or in mart, To have gained the meed which those attain Who have played their part, -- Effort is fair, success is sweet, But leave life incomplete. Lewis Morris; At the End; The Works of Sir Lewis Morris; 1902. You won't find words like "facilitate" in many poems. While such Latin words give a touch of formality to diction, words from Old English (also known as Anglo-Saxon) convey a feeling of directness. On one side we have polysyllabic Latinate terms and on the other short, plain words that quickly get the idea across. Compare the verbosity of "interrogate" with the brevity of "ask". Or perspiration vs. sweat. This week's AWAD features words from Old English. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Jun 17 01:01:20 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lief X-Bonus: Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986) lief (leef) adverb Willingly; gladly; readily. adjective 1. Dear, beloved. 2. Willing. [From Old English leof.] "Lord Salisbury would have as lief taken advice from his party conference as from his valet." Edward Pearce; The Stretford End of Reason; The Guardian (London, UK); Apr 2, 1994. "If I have a choice, I'd as lief be killed by an atom bomb as by a hand grenade or a flame thrower." Katherine Anne Porter; The Future is Now; The Days Before; New York, Harcourt, Brace; 1952. This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words. -------- Date: Wed Jun 18 01:01:06 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fain X-Bonus: Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) fain (fayn) adverb 1. Willingly; gladly. 2. Rather. adjective 1. Pleased. 2. Obliged. 3. Eager. [From Middle English, from Old English faegen (glad).] "... for Europe was where they fain all would be." Katherine Anne Porter; The Days Before; 1952. "So the delay continued, and Martimor was both busy and happy at the Mill, for he liked and loved this damsel well, and was fain of her company." Henry Van Dyke; The Mill. This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words. -------- Date: Thu Jun 19 00:01:11 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wight X-Bonus: A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against its government. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989) wight (wyt) noun 1. A living being. 2. A supernatural being. [From Middle English, from Old English wiht.] adjective Strong and valiant, especially in war. [From Middle English, from Old Norse vigt.] "Was there any other thing in which I could procure myself to be ignominiously repulsed by this lean, penniless wight?" Herman Melville; Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, 1853. "In this by place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, `tarried,' in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity." Washington Irving; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; The Sketch Book; 1819/1820. This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words. -------- Date: Fri Jun 20 00:01:06 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fen X-Bonus: Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) fen (fen) noun 1. Low land covered with water. 2. A marsh. [From Middle English, from Old English fen or fenn.] "In the Netherlands, large tracts of former intensively cultivated arable land has been returned to fen." Peter Marren; Science and Nature: Water World; Independent (London, UK); Sep 16, 2002. "Central Park and the city have long since rebounded. But Olmsted & Vaux's masterpiece of earthwork art -- 843 acres of painstakingly carved forests, dales, lakes and grottos now celebrating its 150th anniversary -- has often been torn between beauty and the beast, a once-stinking fen refashioned into a resplendent oasis and yet still prey to despoliation and nightmarish crime." Ralph Blumenthal; Gun-Toting Sea Lions And Other Park Tales; The New York Times; May 23, 2003. This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words. -------- Date: Mon Jun 23 00:01:16 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--muggle X-Bonus: The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826) muggle (MUHG-uhl) noun 1. An ordinary person, one with no magical powers. 2. A clumsy or unskilled person. [From a series of children's novels by JK Rowling.] "Of course, the team has had less magic than a muggle this year, with a 3-9 record, even with its new star player." Lloyd Grove; The Reliable Source; The Washington Post; Nov 27, 2001. "If a muggle stumbles on a cache, they sometimes take all the contents of the cache since they are uninformed on geocacher etiquette." Jessica Valdez; Players Try to Unearth Hidden Treasures in Game of Geocache; The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland); Apr 17, 2003. With the fifth Harry Potter book out last weekend, the young wizard continues his magic on children and adults alike. It's a sign of his hold on popular culture that muggle, a word coined by the author of the series, recently made it into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). To be precise, the word muggle has been a part of the dictionary for a long time, even before Harry was born. The OED lists a number of senses for this word (resembling a fish tail; a young woman; marijuana) spanning the 13th to 20th century. But Harry Potter books gave a new meaning to the term. And that's how a language grows. Old words die - or take on a new life. New words appear. Language wordstock is replenished, refreshed, and the language remains vibrant and serviceable, ready to describe new concepts, ideas, and objects. Many language purists object to this way of growth. But we have to remember that just as yesterday's liberal is often tomorrow's conservative, in many cases, what was considered slang in the past, eventually acquires respectability. This week we'll look at some slang and informal terms. -------- Date: Tue Jun 24 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gearhead X-Bonus: I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642) gearhead (GEER-hed) noun A technology enthusiast, e.g. a person with a deep interest in the inner working of computers, automobiles, etc. [From gear, from Middle English gere (equipment) + head, from Middle English, from Old English heafod.] "(Mark) Pauline and his compatriots were true hard-core gearheads: they loved the oily complexities of machines, and understood the internal mechanics that are, to the rest of us, an inscrutable mesh of wires and servos." Brad Stone; Gearheads; Simon & Schuster, New York; 2003. http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743229517/ws00-20/ "I might as well conclude with a gearhead's account of how to shut off splash-screen displays, even though it's probably more trouble than it's worth." James Coates; Windows 95 Software Works With XP Wizard; Chicago Tribune; May 3, 2003. This week's theme: slang/informal terms. -------- Date: Wed Jun 25 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fress X-Bonus: Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? -Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president (1809-1865) fress (fres) verb intr. To eat without moderation; to pig out. [From Yiddish fresn (to devour) or German fressen (to eat, when referring to eating by an animal).] "We didn't do what you'd call legendary fressing that night, but both of us left contented." Max Jacobson; Modest Cafe Offers Big Array of Mideast Dishes; The Los Angeles Times; Mar 21, 1996. "We're still doing OK on the fressing front. In Esquire's Nov. issue, food critic John Mariani does his annual number, `America's Best New Bars and Restaurants'." Herb Caen; Smilin' Through; San Francisco Chronicle; Oct 21, 1987. This week's theme: slang/informal terms. -------- Date: Thu Jun 26 00:01:07 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vibe X-Bonus: There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the sinners who believe themselves righteous. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662) vibe (vyb) noun 1. Vibration. 2. An emotional feeling, aura, or atmosphere from someone or something. [Short for vibration, from vibrate, from Latin vibratus, past participle of vibrare (to move to and fro).] "The Saxon sound system from London, England, kept the vibes flowing nicely." Rocking Reggae Shakes Germany; The Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica); June 18, 2003. "To him (Robert Mirabal), Tokyo appears to be a big village inhabited by another tribe, and he finds its vibe quite different than that of his homeland." Miki Takashima; Traditional Musicians Strike a New, Innovative Beat; The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo, Japan); June 18, 2003. This week's theme: slang/informal terms. -------- Date: Fri Jun 27 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bumf X-Bonus: It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us. -Peter De Vries, novelist (1910-1993) bumf (bumf) noun 1. Toilet paper. 2. Printed matter of little importance: documents such as corporate memos, governmental forms, junk mail, promotional pamphlets, etc. [Short for bum fodder.] "A statement last week from Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa wasn't your usual bumf." Note to the CE; Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong); May 10, 2001. "More products or services may have to be offered with the kind of legalistic bumf that is now attached to computer software." The End of Privacy: The Surveillance Society; The Economist (London, UK); May 1, 1999. This week's theme: slang/informal terms. -------- Date: Mon Jun 30 00:01:14 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--telic X-Bonus: When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (1822-1895) telic (TEL-ik, TEE-lik) adjective Tending toward a goal; expressing purpose. [From Greek telikos, from telos (end). The word telephone comes from the same root.] "Operation Telic" is the name of the British mission in the second Gulf War. "A telic motivation starts with isolating a need and then feeling anxious about resolving it." James B Twitchell; Needing the Unnecessary; Reason (Los Angeles, California); Aug/Sep 2002. "As there is a semblance to Orwell's Animal Farm, one might call the work an allegory, but where Orwell designed a telic action with specific goals set for well-defined characters, `A Book of Pigs' forces upon its hero too many purposeless meanderings." Alfreds Straumanis; Cuku Gramata; World Literature Today (Norman, Oklahoma); Sep 1, 1996. Have you ever taken a vacation that's planned to every nanosecond? At 9:37 we visit the Garden of Standonburg and spend an hour and 18 minutes there, then we reach the Pamponi Museum at 11:09, and then .... Well, that's not a vacation, is it? Sometimes it's best to let yourself roam through what may come, with no plan, no schedule, no rules, no aim and nothing to guide except a free mind and open heart. This week's AWAD is prepared in just that spirit. A word tickles our fancy and leads us to some others that bring forth new sights. We skip some of them, move ahead or perhaps take a leisurely stroll through the dictionary. There is nothing common among the words selected--at least as far as we know. There is no theme to constrain our word choices during the next five days. Or maybe that's the theme. Well, you decide. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org)