A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Wed Oct 1 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amok X-Bonus: Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992) amok (uh-MUK) adverb 1. In a murderous frenzy. 2. In a confused manner. adjective Wild with murderous frenzy. [From Malay amok.] "With Lorna Joyce and Niamh Fahy running amok and Helena Lohan often stranded in no-man's-land with no-one to mark ..." Hanging In; The Mayo News (Mayo Ireland); Sep 16, 2003. "Saucer-eyed heroines and samurai-fighting teens will run amok in Times Square this weekend." Joe Neumaier; Daily News (New York); Anime Fest is a Big Draw; Aug 29, 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Southeast Asian countries. -------- Date: Thu Oct 2 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--boondocks X-Bonus: Learning is acquired by reading books; but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading man, and studying all the various editions of them. -Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (1694-1773) boondocks (BOON-doks) noun 1. An uninhabited area filled with thick brush. 2. A rural area; backwoods. [From Tagalog bundok (mountain).] "Once in the boondocks following the slump in industrial activity in the last few years, the company is now on its way back to profitability." Cookie Combat; Business Standard (New Delhi, India); Sep 18, 2003. "Even if upstart Espoo has taken over the mantle of the second-largest city in Finland, Tampere has at least been faring better than Turku and the other West Coast cities, let alone those places in the boondocks and in Northern Finland, many of which are suffering negative growth." Saska Snellman; All Rise, Please, For the Creative Classes; Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki, Finland); Aug 26, 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Southeast Asian countries. -------- Date: Fri Oct 3 00:01:07 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--batik X-Bonus: He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own. -Confucius (c. 551-479? BC) batik (buh-TEEK, BAT-ik) noun 1. A technique of dyeing fabrics that involves covering parts of it with wax, dyeing the exposed part and then removing the wax with boiling water. 2. A fabric dyed with this method. [From Javanese batik (painted).] "The center, according to her would be used to train children in batik and tie dye making as well as basketry." Rachael Amakye; Gov't Supports Women; Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra, Ghana); Sep 5, 2003. "The batik cotton dresses she wore were the color of the sun in a child's drawing, and her neighbors could always spot her coming from several blocks away." Kevin Brockmeier; The Brief History of the Dead; New Yorker; Sep 8, 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Southeast Asian countries. -------- Date: Mon Oct 6 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sextant X-Bonus: A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight. -Robertson Davies, writer (1913-1995) sextant (SEK-stuhnt) noun A navigational instrument having a 60-degree arc, for measuring altitude of stars and planets. [From New Latin sextans, sextant-, from Latin sextus (sixth part, the instrument's arc is a sixth of a circle), from Latin sex (six).] Latin sex is also the source of such words as semester, from Latin (cursus) semestris (course) of six months; senary, of or relating to the number six; sestina, a verse form that includes six-line stanzas; sextet, a composition for or a group of six musicians; and sextodecimo, a page size when a printer's sheet is folded into sixteen leaves. "In a passage where she likens her own journey as an author to two of the Polaris explorers, (Sheila) Nickerson is compelling: `This is dangerous work requiring a correction in course, but I have no tools. I am worse off than Meyer who had a sextant and ice-horizon, but no nautical almanac. I am worse off than Tyson, who had no equipment at all but depths of experience. I have neither, only an obsessive desire to find the truth.'" Kimberly B. Marlowe; An Unlikely And Forgotten Heroine of the Arctic (Book review: Midnight to the North: The Untold Story of the Inuit Woman Who Saved the Polaris Expedition); The Seattle Times; Mar 31, 2002. "McCoy smiled soothingly, but the captain glared about him like a madman, fetched his sextant, and took a chronometer sight." Jack London; The Seed of McCoy; 1909. This week's Guest Wordsmith, Stewart Edelstein (stewartedelsteinATsbcglobal.net), writes: When confused, we are "at sixes and sevens"; when at a disadvantage, we are "behind the eight ball"; when elated, "in seventh heaven" and "on cloud nine"; and when perfected, "a ten". When we discard, we "deep six" or "86"; when we get all gussied up, we dress "to the nines"; and when we do it all, we go "the whole nine yards". In this last quarter of the year, when our months are named for the seventh through tenth months of the ancient Roman calendar (it began in March), it is timely to consider words based on the numbers six through ten, even though in ancient Rome Sextilis was renamed Augustus, in honor of Augustus Caesar. (Stewart Edelstein is an attorney and the author of Dubious Doublets: A Delightful Compendium of Unlikely Word Pairs of Common Origin, from Aardvark/Porcelain to Zodiac/Whiskey: http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471227641/ws00-20/ . Anu Garg is traveling.) -------- Date: Tue Oct 7 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--septentrion X-Bonus: Assumptions are the termites of relationships. -Henry Winkler, actor (1945- ) septentrion (sep-TEN-tree-on) noun The north. [From Latin septentrionalis, from septentrio, singular of septentriones, originally septem triones, the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, from septem (seven) and triones (a team of three plow oxen). These are the principal stars of the Great Bear, which is located in the region of the north celestial pole. These stars are more commonly perceived as the Big Dipper.] Some other words based on septem are septemfluous, flowing in seven streams; septemplicate, one of seven copies of a document; septenary, pertaining or relating to the number seven, or forming a group of seven, as in the number of days in the week; septenate, growing in sevens, having seven divisions; and Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, from Latin septem via septuaginta, seventy, for the traditional number of translators. "The sky is one great emerald from south to septentrion." Paul Fort; Selected Poems And Ballads; Duffield and Company; 1921. (Translator: John Strong Newberry) "Washed by the southern sea, and on the north To equal length backed with a ridge of hills That screened the fruits of the earth and seats of men From cold Septentrion blasts." John Milton; Paradise Regained; 1671. This week's theme: words based on numbers by guest wordsmith Stewart Edelstein (stewartedelsteinATsbcglobal.net). -------- Date: Wed Oct 8 00:01:10 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--octothorpe X-Bonus: Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the sense shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness. -Helen Adams Keller, lecturer and author (1880-1968) octothorpe (OK-tuh-thorp) noun The symbol #. [The symbol # is derived from a shorthand way of writing lb, the abbreviation for the Latin libra (balance), just as $ is a shorthand way of writing US. Octothorpe is an alteration, influenced by octo-, of earlier octalthorpe, probably a humorous blend of octal (an eight-point pin used in electronic connections) and someone whose last name was or ended in "thorpe", and whose identity is subject to speculation. It may be James Edward Oglethorpe, an eighteenth century English philanthropist, but more likely it is an Olympic athlete, Jim Thorpe. In the early 1960s, Bell Labs introduced two special keys in its innovative touch-tone telephone keypads, "#" and "*", for which it needed fresh names. Having eight points, "octo-" was an obvious first element. Since the engineer involved in introducing this innovation was active in a group seeking the return of Jim Thorpe's medals from Sweden, he whimsically added "-thorpe", creating octothorpe. (Jim Thorpe was disqualified because of his professional status, but his medals were restored posthumously.) The "#" is also known as a pound sign, crosshatch, number sign, sharp, hash, crunch, mesh, hex, flash, grid, pig-pen, gate, hak, oof, rake, fence, gate, grid, gridlet, square, and widget mark.] Some other eight-based words, other than the obvious octagon, octave, and octopus, are octamerous, having eight parts or organs; octane, a type of hydrocarbon in fuel and solvents; octant, the eighth part of a circle; octonare and octapody, a verse of eight feet; and octonary, pertaining to the number eight. "In Boise, Idaho, US West is testing a system it calls Voice Interactive Phone, or VIP. By dialing the octothorpe (#) and 44, then saying 'Messages,' a subscriber can retrieve voice mail." Gene Bylinsky and Alicia Hills Moore; Fortune (New York); At Last! Computers You Can Talk to; May 3, 1993. This week's theme: words based on numbers by guest wordsmith Stewart Edelstein (stewartedelsteinATsbcglobal.net). -------- Date: Thu Oct 9 00:01:13 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ennead X-Bonus: If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome; if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent; if you believe the military, nothing is safe. -Lord Salisbury, British prime minister (1830-1903) ennead (EN-ee-ad) noun A group of nine. [From Greek enneas, ennead-, from ennea (nine).] Few words in our lexicon, such as noon and novena, are nine-based, but we do have some curious nine-based expressions. The origin of "the whole nine yards" (everything, the works) is an etymological conundrum. This phrase, which dates at least to the 1950s, has been attributed to a full cement mixer load of nine cubic yards (but few are this large), the amount of material for a three-piece suit (but nine yards is too much), the sail yardage on a three-masted ship (but nine yards is not enough), a reference to the mystical number nine, and an expression from World War II. This last theory is based on the nine-yard long ammunition belt fed into machine guns in the Supermarine Spitfire, a British plane that went into service in 1938 and was flown by the Allies, including Americans and Canadians, in that war. When the pilot used up all his ammunition, he had "shot the whole nine yards". "Dressed to the nines" and "on cloud nine" are likewise of uncertain origin, but theories abound for each. "Finally, an ennead of gorillas--four bachelors on one side of a waterfall, a family of five safely on the other--scuff their knuckles as they proudly prowl." Richard Corliss; Beauty and the Beasts Stocked With Real Creatures And Fantastic Images; Time (New York); Apr 20, 1998. "To the east of them I beheld another ennead. Nine branchy, curly manes upon them. Nine grey, floating mantles about them: nine pins of gold in their mantles. Nine rings of crystal round their arms." The Destruction Of Da Derga's Hostel; The Harvard Classics; P.F. Collier & Son, 1909-1914; (Translation: Whitley Stokes). This week's theme: words based on numbers by guest wordsmith Stewart Edelstein (stewartedelsteinATsbcglobal.net). -------- Date: Fri Oct 10 00:01:10 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--doyenne X-Bonus: There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind. -Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (1689-1762) doyenne (doi-EN) noun A woman who is the eldest or senior member of a group or profession. [From Late Latin decanus (chief of ten), via Old French deien and Middle French doyenne. Her male counterpart is a doyen.] Another word derived from decanus is dean, which originally referred to a chief of ten men, then leader of ten monks and, finally, to the administrative head of a cathedral or college. A few other non-obvious ten-based words are decussate, intersected or crossed to form an X; dicker, probably from Latin decuria, parcel of ten, with reference to the bundle of ten animal hides Caesar's legions used as a unit of trade; decimate; decibel; and the names of currencies used in various countries, including the qindarka (Albania), stotinka (Bulgaria), and dinar (various Eastern European and Mid-Eastern countries). "The music of Girija Devi, the doyenne of the Banaras gharana, irradiates soul." Pia Ganguly; A Voice of the Soul; India Currents (San Jose, California); Mar 31, 1994. "The Philadelphia Flower Show will host the international debut of the bud known as geranium phaeum `Samobar,' which has come to be viewed as a symbol of courage and perseverance since being discovered by British plant doyenne and gardening author Elizabeth Strangman." Noni Bookbinder; U.S. Flower Show Puts Yugoslav Geranium in Spotlight; The Toronto Star (Canada); Mar 5, 2000. This week's theme: words based on numbers by guest wordsmith Stewart Edelstein (stewartedelsteinATsbcglobal.net). -------- Date: Mon Oct 13 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--furphy X-Bonus: A book is a story for the mind. A song is a story for the soul. -Eric Pio, poet furphy (FUR-fee) noun A rumor; false story. [From John Furphy, an Australian blacksmith and engineer, who designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels, displaying the name FURPHY in large letters. In World War I the Army bought many Furphy water and sanitation carts for camps in Palestine, Egypt. and Australia. When soldiers gathered around them, the carts became centers of gossip. The word scuttlebutt originated in a similar way.] "Bookmakers are confident in the integrity of the AFL and the security used to guard the Brownlow Medal votes, believing any leaks are mere gossip and unfounded. Centrebet spokesman Gerard Daffy said last week's leak tipping St Kilda midfielder Robert Harvey winning a third Brownlow was a furphy." Darren Cartwright; Voss Still Brownlow Favourite; Fox Sports; Sep 18, 2003. "If it is proved that the bugs originated from space, then the damage to the ozone layer may also have originated from space. This will render the ozone theory a furphy." Rob Horne; Bugs in Space?; The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia); Aug 3, 2001. This week's guest wordsmith Eric Shackle writes: When British naval officer and explorer Captain James Cook landed at Botany Bay, near Sydney, in 1770, Australia's indigenous people, the Aborigines, had never seen a white man. Numerous tribes spoke a wide variety of languages, many now extinct. Kangaroo was the first and best-known borrowing of an Aboriginal word into English, according to the Australian National Dictionary Centre: "In 1770, when Captain Cook was forced to make repairs to the Endeavour in north Queensland, he and his party saw a number of large marsupials. From the local Aborigines Cook elicited kangaroo or kanguru as the name of one of the animals. This was in the Guugu Yimidhirr language of Cooktown. The Aborigines gave the name for a species of kangaroo - the large black or grey kangaroo Macropus robustus. Cook mistakenly thought that this was a general or generic term for all kangaroos (and even wallabies), and this is how the word came into English." This week, we'll discuss five other words that originated in Australia. (This week's Guest Wordsmith, Eric Shackle, is a retired journalist who has written for the New York Times, the Straits Times (Singapore), the Sydney Morning Herald, and many other newspapers. He is also copy editor for AWAD, and lives near Sydney, Australia. Anu Garg is traveling in Asia.) -------- Date: Tue Oct 14 00:01:13 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fossick X-Bonus: Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. -Stanley Horowitz fossick (FOS-sik) verb intr. To search for mineral deposits, usually over ground previously worked by others; to search for small items. verb tr. To search; ferret out. [British (Cornish) dialect: fossick, troublesome person; fussick bustle about, from fuss + -ick.] "But you need not fossick through old documents for examples." Apostrophically Your's; The Economist; May 11, 1996. "This is, admittedly, not Ackroyd's field; he much prefers to fossick around with ecclesiastical architecture and cross-dressing at early-medieval festivals." Christopher Hitchens; That Blessed Plot, That Enigmatic Isle; The Atlantic Monthly; Oct 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Australia. -------- Date: Wed Oct 15 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wowser X-Bonus: The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all. -Voltaire, philosopher and writer (1694-1778) wowser (WOU-zuhr) noun A person regarded as excessively puritanical; a killjoy. adjective Being or relating to a wowser. [Of obscure origin. One theory attributes the term to dialectal wow (to howl). Also, according to a popular unsubstantiated story, the term is an acronym of We Only Want Social Evils Remedied, a slogan invented by John Norton, eccentric owner of Truth newspaper.] "Sydney's St Andrew's Cathedral became a hand-clapping hillbilly heaven and a minister many call a wowser led the singing of A Pub With No Beer. There could be no greater metaphor for the influence of Slim Dusty than the fact that the congregation of St Andrew's - from the Prime Minister to the pall bearers - could sing as one, without a script." Sydney Morning Herald; Sep 26, 2003. "Forget that relaxing glass of wine, unless you want the neo-wowsers screaming 'bad role model.' There is a certain type of person ever present in Australian life, devising ways to deny pleasure to the rest of the population. In Norman Lindsay's day wowsers were churchgoers purse-lipped about nudity. But now that the churches are empty and their moral restraints cast aside, today's wowsers have had to find fresh fun to eradicate, like alcohol, cigarettes, Big Macs, vanilla Coke, cars and air-conditioning." Miranda Devine; Served Along With Any Fun: A Dose of Guilt; Sydney Morning Herald; Aug 21, 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Australia. -------- Date: Thu Oct 16 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yabber X-Bonus: To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations--such is a pleasure beyond compare. -Kenko Yoshida, essayist (1283-1352) yabber (YAB-uhr) verb tr. intr. To talk; converse. noun (also yabberer) Talk; conversation. [Australian pidgin, probably from aboriginal yaba.] "Is it French or Queensland's blacks' yabber? Blest if I can understand a word of it." Rolf Boldrewood; Robbery Under Arms; 1888. "Floating between Australia and England as the Centre does, 'yabber' seems to suit our positioning. We invite any contributions to this column devoted to conversing and sharing news about things Australian." Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, University of London, Newsletter, Dec 1999. This week's theme: words originating in Australia. -------- Date: Fri Oct 17 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dinkum X-Bonus: But man, proud man, / Drest in a little brief authority, / Most ignorant of what he's most assured, / His glassy essence, like an angry ape, / Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven / As make the angels weep. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616) dinkum (DING-kuhm), also dinky-di, fair dinkum, adjective True; honest; genuine. [Probably derived, like many other Australian words, from English dialect. The counties of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire had a word dinkum or dincum meaning "work; a fair share of work." The word was first recorded in Australia in Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms (1888): "It took us an hour's hard dinkum to get near the peak."] "You TFF readers are a fair dinkum clever bunch, and you have responded magnificently to my request to send in your best 'I am so old' one-liners. Peter Meadowfair, for example, claims to be so old that, 'I can remember when England could play cricket. And I can remember when the English cared whether England could play cricket.'" Peter FitzSimons; A Snapshot of Life in the Land of the Magpies; Sydney Morning Herald; Sep 27, 2003. "A fair dinkum dictionary. Cobbers everywhere are saying send her down Hughie - but people outside of Australia have no idea what it means. A new book released by the National Museum of Australia today hopes to give overseas visitors an insight into the national lingo. Words such as cobber, and terms such as send her down Hughie and put the moz on are explained in the book." A Fair Dinkum Dictionary; AAP Report in The Age, Melbourne, Australia; Jan 24, 2003. This week's theme: words originating in Australia. -------- Date: Mon Oct 20 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lorgnette X-Bonus: The tears of strangers are only water. -Russian proverb lorgnette (lorn-YET) noun A pair of eyeglasses or opera glasses on a handle. [From French, from lorgner (to have a furtive look), from Middle French lorgne (squinting).] Pictures of lorgnettes: http://propspecs.com/glasses/lorgnette.htm "But my detention and my massive stain, And my distortion and my Calvary I grind into a little light lorgnette Most sly: to read man's inhumanity. And I remark my Matter is not all." From the poem "Riders to the Blood-red Wrath" Book: Selected Poems, 1963. This week's guest wordsmith Rita Moe (rita_moeATacml.com) writes: Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), American poet, was the first African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Her poetry ranges from traditional rhyming and metered ballads and sonnets to the most experimental of free verse. She is known both as a documentarian of urban black life, particularly of Chicago's South Side, and as a protest poet. While she often wrote about people with the barest of educational opportunities, living restricted, unglamorous, often oppressive lives, her characters are vital and complex. Brooks's language, too, is pungent and vital; her vocabulary is dense, rich and precise, infusing her often ordinary subjects and characters with dignity and complexity. (Rita Moe's poetry has been published in Water~Stone, Poet Lore, and other literary print journals and can be seen on-line at threecandles.org and thediagram.com. She has been chosen to participate in the 2003-2004 Loft Mentor Program and recently received her MFA in creative writing from Hamline University. She works full-time for an investment management firm. Anu Garg is traveling in Asia.) -------- Date: Tue Oct 21 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--garniture X-Bonus: I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. -Marshall McLuhan, cultural historian and communications theorist (1911-1980) garniture (GAR-ni-chur) noun Something that garnishes; decoration. [From French, from Old French, from garnir (to garnish).] "Don Lee wants not a various America. Don Lee wants a new nation under nothing; a physical light that waxes; he does not want to be exorcised, adjoining and revered; he does not like a local garniture nor any impish onus in the vogue; is not candlelit but stands out in the auspices of fire and rock and jungle-flail; wants new art and anthem; will want a new music screaming in the sun." From the poem "In the Mecca", Book: In the Mecca, 1968. This week's theme: Words from the Works of Gwendolyn Brooks. -------- Date: Wed Oct 22 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--occlude X-Bonus: Trees are not known by their leaves, nor even by their blossoms, but by their fruits. -Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) occlude (uh-KLOOD) verb tr. 1. To close, obstruct, or to shut out. 2. To absorb or adsorb (in physical chemistry). verb intr. 1. To close such that the cusps (of the upper and lower jaws) fit together (in dentistry). 2. To force air aloft, as when a cold front overtakes a warm front, resulting in an occluded front (in meteorology). [From Latin occludere, from ob- + claudere (to close).] "Hush. An agitation in the bush. Occluded trees. Mad life heralding the blue heat of God snickers in a corner of the west windowsill." From the poem "In the Mecca" Book: In the Mecca, 1968. This week's theme: Words from the Works of Gwendolyn Brooks. -------- Date: Thu Oct 23 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dolor X-Bonus: The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of his time each day. -M. Grundler dolor (DO-luhr), also dolour, noun Sorrow; grief. [From Middle English dolour, from Old French, from Latin dolor (pain), from dolere (to feel pain). A related word is dol, the unit of pain.] "Leads her to a lowly room. Which she makes a chapel of. Where she genuflects to love. All the prayerbooks in her eyes Open soft as sacrifice Or the dolour of a dove. Tender candles ray by ray Warm and gratify the gray." From the poem "The Anniad" Book: Annie Allen, 1949. This week's theme: Words from the Works of Gwendolyn Brooks. -------- Date: Fri Oct 24 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--platitudinous X-Bonus: If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself. -Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE) platitudinous (plat-i-TOOD-n-uhs) adjective Characterized by or resembling a platitude (a trite remark). [From platitude, from French plat (flat). A related word is plate.] "Yet, there I totter, there limp laxly. My Uncomely trudge To Plateau That and platitudinous Plateau Whichever is no darling to my grudge- Choked industry or usual alcohol. From the poem "A Man of the Middle Class" Book: The Bean Eaters, 1960. This week's theme: Words from the Works of Gwendolyn Brooks. -------- Date: Mon Oct 27 00:01:09 EST 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--karma X-Bonus: It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. -William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) karma (KAHR-ma) noun 1. In the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain religions, a person's action (bad or good) that determines his or her destiny. 2. Destiny; fate. 3. An aura or atmosphere generated by someone or something. [From Sanskrit karma (deed, work). The word Sanskrit comes from the same Indo-European root.] "Is Edwards messing with the Jets' karma, jeopardizing their already-slim playoff chances ..." Rich Simini; Simms OK With Jet QB Juggle; New York Daily News; Oct 22, 2003. "In his introduction to the new service last week, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs said those who give up their illegal download habit and use iTunes will be rewarded with `good karma,' as they are supporting artists." Katie Dean; PC User Whistles a Happy ITunes; Wired News; Oct 21, 2003. Namaste (greetings) from India, the last stop in my trip in Asia. This week I've selected words originating in the ancient Indian language, Sanskrit. The word Sanskrit literally means refined or perfected. When we talk about a software guru or an economics guru, we're invoking a word from this classical language. The word "guru" came to English from Sanskrit via Hindi. It literally means "venerable" or "weighty". Going farther back, it descended from the same Indo-European root that gave us "gravity", "engrave", "grave" and "aggravate" to name a few. Look for more words from Sanskrit this week. In November, I'll be speaking at Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and New Delhi. If you live in either of these places, you're welcome to attend. Details are at: https://wordsmith.org/awad/speaking.html -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Oct 28 00:01:07 EST 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--avatar X-Bonus: If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963) avatar (AV-uh-tahr) noun 1. A manifestation of a deity in Hinduism. 2. An embodiment of a concept. 3. A representation of a person or thing in computers, networks, etc. [From avatar (descent, as of a god from heaven to the earth), from ava- (away) + tarati (he crosses).] "Nearly forgotten today, Downing was a national avatar of taste, a sort of cross between Martha Stewart and Frank O. Gehry and was the likely choice ..." Kevin Baker; The Daily, Death-Defying Commute; The New York Times; Oct 18, 2003. "The idea was to demonstrate the levels of service on Alaska Airlines by contrasting them with an avatar of how not to run an airline." Airline Fires Back at Low-cost Rivals; International Herald Tribune (France); Oct 19, 2003. This week's theme: words derived from Sanskrit. -------- Date: Wed Oct 29 00:01:07 EST 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nirvana X-Bonus: If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him. -Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) nirvana (nir-VAH-nuh) noun 1. Freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death and related suffering, in Hindu and Buddhist religions. 2. An idealized state or place free of pain, worries, etc. [From Sanskrit nirvana (blowing out, extinguishing, extinction), from nis- (out) + vati (it blows). The word wind derives from the same root.] "`Hawaii looks like nirvana' compared to the rest of the country, said Emily Friedman, a Chicago-based health policy analyst who authored a history on the island health care system." Matt Sedensky; Hawaii's Uninsured Population; Star Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii); Oct 22, 2003. "To have those two incredible finishes -- involving these two particular franchises, Cubs and Red Sox -- on back-to-back nights was baseball nirvana." David Sheinin; Major League Baseball; Washington Post; Oct 21, 2003. This week's theme: words derived from Sanskrit. -------- Date: Thu Oct 30 00:01:07 EST 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pundit X-Bonus: If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play. -John Cleese, comic actor (1939- ) pundit (PUN-dit) noun also pandit 1. A learned person. 2. A person who offers commentary or judgments as an expert on a certain topic. [From Hindi pandit, from Sanskrit pandita (learned).] "According to a top psychologist, the brain starts working the moment you're born and never stops until you become a TV football pundit. I understand our psychologist actually reached his conclusion, having studied Mercy Green, the most famous pundit in the history of punditry. Mercy Green is not the real name; it's an anagram I'm using so as not to get on the wrong side of him." Grant Us Mercy; Daily Record (Glasgow, UK); Oct 22, 2003. "This is not entirely unheard of among political columnists, but the typical Washington pundit is stupefyingly uninformed about economics, a field in which Krugman is exceedingly well informed." Russell Baker; The Awful Truth; The New York Review of Books; Nov 6, 2003. This week's theme: words derived from Sanskrit. -------- Date: Fri Oct 31 00:01:07 EST 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--juggernaut X-Bonus: In order for something to become clean, something else must become dirty. -Imbesi's Law of Conservation of Filth juggernaut (JUG-uhr-not) noun 1. Anything requiring blind sacrifice. 2. A massive relentless force, person, institution, etc. that crushes everything in its path. [From Hindi jagannath (a title of Krishna, a Hindu god), from Sanskrit jagannath, from jagat (world) + nath (lord). A procession of Lord Jagannath takes place each year at Puri (India). Devotees pull a huge cart carrying the deity. Some have been accidentally crushed under the wheels (or are said to have thrown themselves under them).] A picture of the procession: http://srijagannath.org/puri/r_yatra.jpg "Sergio Cragnotti, the Lazio chairman, had spent some £200 million to assemble the juggernaut squad that won the title in the 1999-2000 season." Lazio Become a Shining Example; The Times (London, UK); Oct 19, 2003. "While Apple Computer has finally made its long-anticipated move to license Macintosh technology to computer manufacturers, this is only the beginning of its strategy to challenge the Microsoft juggernaut." IT Digest; Jan 19, 1995. This week's theme: words derived from Sanskrit.