A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Fri Nov 1 00:01:07 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--blatherskite X-Bonus: The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities. -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931) blatherskite (BLATH-uhr-skyt) noun 1. A person who babbles about inane matters. 2. Nonsense; foolish talk. [From Old Norse blathra (to chatter) + Scots dialect skate (a contemptible person).] What does today's word have in common with the following seemingly disparate words: bladder, flatus, blast, flavor, inflate, souffle, afflatus? They all are ultimately derived from the Indo-European root bhle- and involve the idea of blowing. -Anu "You can play it solo, but that bouncing, blatherskite of a compere keeps nagging at you to get a partner." Mark Butler, Movie Trivia an Interesting Cameo, The Australian (Sydney), May 27,1997. "We should perhaps clarify that we do not prefer lawmaking by politicians to lawmaking by judges because we have some unhealthy fondness for the blatherskites who every four years knock on your front door and want to put up a sign on the lawn." Ian Hunter, Judge-bashing is Here to Stay, National Post (Canada), Mar 30, 2000. This week's theme: words to describe people. -------- Date: Mon Nov 4 00:01:05 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cumshaw X-Bonus: I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) cumshaw (KUM-shaw) noun A gift or a tip. [From Chinese (Amoy/Xiamen dialect), literally, grateful thanks.] "An additional bit of cumshaw came on foreign press trips, in the old days at least, when the travel office people enabled the returning correspondents to bypass customs formalities." Richard Dudman, Connections, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jun 15, 1997. "Prisoners didn't make demands and politicians held their cumshaw down to peanuts but still found themselves out on their keesters if they were caught." Burton Z. Chertok Carlisle, Slide in Behavior, The Patriot - News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), Feb 12, 2001. "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." Those colorful words of writer James Davis Nicoll (1961- ) succinctly inform us of the tendency of English to profit from foreign imports. Luckily, there is no nanny called The English Academy to keep it honest and we are all the richer for it. While many of these "borrowed" expressions, which linguists call loanwords, eventually become naturalized, many retain their distinctly foreign character in spelling, pronunciation and grammar. In this week's AWAD we'll look at words borrowed from five languages (Chinese, Swedish, Persian, Tongan, and Japanese), words that are now indispensable part of the English language. -Anu Anu Garg will be on WOSU Radio (NPR's Columbus affiliate) tomorrow (Nov 5). For details and listing of other speaking and book-signing events, please see https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html -------- Date: Tue Nov 5 00:23:13 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--smorgasbord X-Bonus: Compassion is the basis of morality. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860) smorgasbord (SMOR-guhs-bord) noun 1. A buffet featuring various dishes, such as hors d'oeuvres, salads, etc. 2. A medley or miscellany. [From Swedish Smörgåsbord, from smörgås (bread and butter), from smör (butter) + gås (goose, lump of butter) + bord (table).] "The line-up has been settled for next month's Women in Voice season, with Katie Noonan from George making her first appearance at Brisbane's annual smorgasbord of music and cabaret." Noel Mengel, The Line-up, The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia), Apr 17, 2000. "Indeed this is a smorgasbord in which there is a comparison (and contrast) between Mexican and Indian artists and their reaction to America." Minakshi Raja, Indian Artists, Business India, May 13, 2002. This week's theme: words `borrowed' from other languages. -------- Date: Wed Nov 6 00:01:06 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--baksheesh X-Bonus: God never occurs to you in person but always in action. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) baksheesh (BAK-sheesh) noun A payment, such as a tip or bribe. [From Persian bakhshish, from bakhshidan, from baksh (to give).] "A certain favoritism, even in the absence of baksheesh-pocketing headwaiters, is indispensable to restaurants that expect to maintain a steady clientele - especially in New York, where every other big shot seems to demand the `best' table and, instead of something fabulous to eat, a custom-baked potato." Thomas McNamee, The Joy of Cooking: In the Kitchen of a Chic French Restaurant, The New York Times Book Review, Jun 23, 2002. "About 130 officials were fired for taking baksheesh, and the volume of tariff revenue that actually reached state coffers jumped by almost 50% in two years." Maturing Mozambique, The Economist (London) Dec 4, 1999. This week's theme: words `borrowed' from other languages. -------- Date: Thu Nov 7 00:01:06 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--taboo X-Bonus: A good heart is better than all the heads in the world. -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, writer (1803-1873) taboo (tuh-BOO, TAB-oo) noun Prohibition of a behavior, thing, person, etc. based on cultural or social norms. adjective Forbidden or banned. verb tr. To avoid or prohibit something as taboo. [From Tongan tapu or tabu (forbidden).] This word is found in several Polynesian languages but it was brought to English from Tongan by Captain Cook who first encountered it in 1777 and wrote about it in his journal... that would be a Cookbook? -Anu "It's one of the great mysteries of anthropology. Why does every society -- and they all do -- have a list of taboo foods?" Phillips Graham, Choosy Tastebuds Make The World Go Round, The Sunday Star Times (New Zealand), Sep 21, 1997. "This is, after all, the age of air bags, bicycle helmets, and drunk-driving taboos, of warning labels, coroner inquiries and consumer product testing." Leonard Stern, Calculating the Chances: How Safe is Safe Enough?, The Vancouver Sun (Canada), Oct 8, 2001. This week's theme: words `borrowed' from other languages. -------- Date: Fri Nov 8 00:01:07 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--honcho X-Bonus: We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. -Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997) honcho (HAWN-choh) noun One who is in charge of a situation; leader; boss. verb tr. To organize, manage, or lead a project, event, etc. [From Japanese honcho, from han (squad) + cho (chief).] "It picked up three awards, including best editor for head honcho Anthony Thornton ..." Owen Gibson, New Media Diary, The Guardian (London) Oct 14, 2002. "Believe it or not, you can buy a $6,000 shower curtain for your home. But why would you? Former Tyco International tycoon Dennis Kozlowski did. He also spent $2,200 on a wastebasket, nearly $3,000 on coat hangers and nearly $6,000 on sheets. ... `The prices are not out of line, but they're off the scale when it comes to priorities," says Bilhuber, whose client list includes ex-AOL Time Warner honcho Robert Pittman, Michael Douglas, David Bowie and his model wife, Iman, and designer Hubert Givenchy." Maria Puente, Tchotchkes of the Rich And Infamous, USA Today (McLean, Va.) Sep 27, 2002. (A tchotchke [CHACH-kuh] is a cheap trinket, a knickknack.) This week's theme: words `borrowed' from other languages. -------- Date: Mon Nov 11 01:21:09 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sequela X-Bonus: I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727) sequela (si-KWEL-uh) noun, plural sequelae (si-KWEL-ee) A pathological condition resulting from a previous disease or injury. [From Latin sequela (sequel).] "`To date, there have been few studies mentioning spinal injury in association with snowboarding and none have focused on paralysis as a sequela of this rapidly growing sport,' it (paper) says." Boarding's Ugly Spinal Injury Secret, Vancouver Sun (Canada), Feb 5, 2000. "Dr. Block: So no medical intervention is entirely without risk, and, therefore, we have to weigh the chances of your getting the disease against the chances of your coming down with some bad sequela as a result of the inoculation itself." Ira Flatow, Biological Terrorism, Talk of the Nation/Science Friday (NPR), Apr 6, 2001. The human body has been described as the most complex machine around. No wonder Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, said, "The life so short, the craft so long to learn." This complex machine has an equally bewildering number of terms to describe its various conditions, symptoms, cures, effects, and side-effects. This week we review five of them. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 12 00:01:08 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nosology X-Bonus: You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001) nosology (no-SOL-uh-jee) noun 1. The branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases. 2. A systematic classification or list of diseases. [From New Latin nosologia, from Greek nosos (disease) + New Latin -logia, -logy. Another term derived from the same root is nosocomial, used to refer to an infection acquired in a hospital.] No, you wouldn't go to a nosologist if you have nose trouble. The term for the branch of medicine that deals with the ear, nose, and throat is otorhinolaryngology (or otolaryngology), named so that one is forced to use all three to be able to pronounce it. -Anu "Marvin's Room (12) is so loaded up with terminal illness that it has as much nosology as narrative: there are paralysing strokes, mental illness, asphyxiation, leukaemia, senility and chronic back pain. Even the doctor's receptionist is on lithium. But above all, there' s the Big C - Crying." Matthew Sweet, Cinema: When DJ Just Stands For Dirty Jokes, Independent on Sunday (London), Jun 22, 1997. "Thus, (Sherwin) Nuland notes, `a new book, a new instrument, a new terminology, a new nosology, and a new philosophy of diagnosis had been introduced in two volumes of print which could be bought for 13 francs. For three francs more, the publisher threw in a stethoscope, very likely fashioned by the author himself on his own home lathe." John G Leyden, The Chance Invention That Changed Medicine, The Saturday Evening Post (Indianapolis, Indiana), May/Jun 2001. This week's theme: words from medicine. -------- Date: Wed Nov 13 00:01:07 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--idiopathy X-Bonus: Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value to its scarcity. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680) idiopathy (id-ee-OP-uh-thee) noun A disease of unknown origin or one having no apparent cause. [From New Latin idiopathia (primary disease), from Greek idiopatheia, from idio-, from idios (one's own, personal) + -patheia, -pathy (feeling, suffering).] "Beneath the complexity and idiopathy of every cancer lies a limited number of 'mission critical' events that have propelled the tumour cell and its progeny into uncontrolled expansion and invasion." Gerald I Evan and Karen H Vousden, Proliferation, Cell Cycle And Apoptosis in Cancer, Nature (London), May 17, 2001. Apoptosis is the word for a cell's death by suicide, also known as Programmed Cell Death (PCD). This week's theme: words from medicine. -------- Date: Thu Nov 14 00:01:08 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--placebo X-Bonus: Beware the fury of the patient man. -John Dryden, poet and dramatist (1631-1700) placebo (pluh-SEE-bo) noun 1. A substance having no medication (sugar pills, for example), prescribed merely to satisfy a patient or given in a clinical trial to compare and test the effectiveness of a drug. 2. Something (such as a remark or action) that is used to soothe someone but one that has no remedial value for what is causing the problem. [From Latin placebo (I shall please), from Latin placere (to please).] What does placebo have in common with placid, plea, pleasant, or complacent? All derive from Latin placere and refer to the sense of being agreeable. Here's a detailed article from the Washington Post about the placebo effect: http://tinyurl.com/2la0 -Anu "Pregnant women undergoing controversial Aids drug trials at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital are fully aware that they stand a one-in-four chance of receiving a placebo." Swapna Prabhakaran, Mothers Give Support to Placebo Trials Relevancy, Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg, South Africa), Oct 3, 1997. "It could only have happened in the South, where good manners are considered the highest form of virtue. The governor of Louisiana, Mike Foster, has decided that children these days don't show enough respect for their elders. His solution: pass a law to ban impoliteness. ... A law about conduct is just a sorry placebo for a host of deeply-rooted social problems." United States: And Sit Up Straight, The Economist (London), Jul 10, 1999. This week's theme: words from medicine. -------- Date: Fri Nov 15 00:01:04 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nyctalopia X-Bonus: Little Strokes, Fell great Oaks. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) nyctalopia (nik-tuh-LO-pee-uh) noun Night blindness: a condition in which vision is faint or completely lost at night or in dim light. [From Late Latin nyctalopia, from Greek nuktalops (night-blind), from nykt- (night) + alaos (blind) + ops, op- (eye).] An opposite of today's word is hemeralopia (day blindness), a condition where eyes can see well during night or in dim light but poorly or not at all during the day or in bright light. And finally, a word from medicine that sounds scary, but isn't: haplopia (normal vision). -Anu "Then there's Carsonogenous Monocular Nyctalopia, a case of left-sided night blindness caused by watching Johnny Carson and other TV lateniks from bed, with the right side of the face buried in the pillow." Victor Cohn, Odd Ailments: Symptoms of Modern Life, St. Petersburg Times (Florida), Mar 9, 1988. This week's theme: words from medicine. -------- Date: Mon Nov 18 01:04:07 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cataract X-Bonus: No mistake is more common and more fatuous than appealing to logic in cases which are beyond her jurisdiction. -Samuel Butler, writer (1835-1902) cataract (KAT-uh-rakt) noun 1. A large, steep waterfall from a precipice (as opposed to a cascade). 2. A downpour, deluge, flood. 3. Cloudiness in the lens of the eye resulting in blurry vision. [From Middle English cataracte, from Latin cataracta, from Greek katarraktes (waterfall, portcullis, floodgate), from katarassein (to dash down). The ophthalmological sense derives from figurative portcullis, the clouding of the lens that blocks the vision.] "The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep No more shall grief of mine the season wrong; I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng, The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep." William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood, 1802. Have you seen the poem about a solitary child, who, with a lantern in her hand, goes out in a snowstorm to light the path of her mother coming back from town? Later, her parents go out to look for her, following her footprints in the snow until they find "And further there were none!" My heart skipped a beat when I came across those five words. I'm talking about Lucy Gray ( http://bartleby.com/145/ww158.html ), a poem by William Wordsworth that I read many years ago. Later, study of math, science, and computers blotted out the world of poetry. I forgot the name of the poet and other details of the poem, but it had been haunting me ever since. Recently, I came across the poem again and realized it had never really left me. Is a favorite poem ever forgotten? What is it in poetry that moves us so much? Perhaps it's because, no matter how tough and worldly-wise we may be, or try to be, deep inside all of us lies the heart of a child. In this week's AWAD, I'll present words from some of my favorite poets. What are some of your favorite poets and poems? -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Nov 19 00:01:15 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dreary X-Bonus: When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950) dreary (DREER-ee) adjective 1. Dismal, gloomy. 2. Dull. [From Middle English drery, from Old English dreorig (bloody, sad), from dreor (gore).] "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake." Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Gitanjali, 1912. This week's theme: words from poetry. -------- Date: Wed Nov 20 00:09:05 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nosegay X-Bonus: A poem begins with a lump in the throat. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963) nosegay (NOZ-gay) noun A bunch of flowers; bouquet. [From Middle English, from nose + gay, from gai (ornament).] "My nosegays are for captives; Dim, long-expectant eyes, Fingers denied the plucking, Patient till paradise. "To such, if they should whisper Of morning and the moor, They bear no other errand, And I, no other prayer." Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 1924. This week's theme: words from poetry. -------- Date: Thu Nov 21 01:01:04 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--collyrium X-Bonus: The fact that astronomies change while the stars abide is a true analogy of every realm of human life and thought, religion not least of all. No existent theology can be a final formulation of spiritual truth. -Harry Emerson Fosdick, preacher and author (1878-1969) collyrium (kuh-LIR-ee-ehm) noun, plural collyria or collyriums An eye-salve or eyewash. [From Latin, from Greek kollurion (eye-salve), diminutive of kollura (roll of bread).] "Kabir, in my eyes reddened by love How can collyrium be applied?* Within them dwells my Beloved, Where is the place for anything else?" "(* Kajal, a type of lamp soot that is applied to the eyes by Indian women for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. When the eyes are inflamed or red, its use is given up until they become normal.)" Kabir (15th century), translated by V.K. Sethi in "Kabir, The Weaver of God's Name", 1994. This week's theme: words from poetry. Anu Garg will be reading and book-signing tonight (Nov 21, 7 PM) at Chapters bookstore in Vancouver, Canada. Details at https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html Stop by to chat about your favorite words, coined words, words you dislike or whatever is on your mind as it related to language. -------- Date: Fri Nov 22 01:01:06 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tarry X-Bonus: Without darkness there are no dreams. -Karla Kuban, novelist tarry (TAR-ee) verb intr. To delay, stay, or wait. verb tr. To wait for. noun A short stay; a sojourn. [From Middle English tarien/taryen (to delay).] tarry (TAR-ee) adjective Of, like, or smeared with tar. [From tar + -y.] "You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children, as living arrows, are sent forth." Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Prophet, 1923. This week's theme: words from poetry. -------- Date: Mon Nov 25 00:11:05 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--indolent X-Bonus: God, to me, it seems, is a verb, not a noun, proper or improper. -R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (1895-1983) indolent (IN-duh-lehnt) adjective 1. Lazy, lethargic, averse to exertion. 2. Painless or causing little pain; slow to develop or heal. Used in medicine, e.g. indolent ulcer. [From Late Latin indolent-, stem of indolens, from Latin in- (not) + dolens, present participle of dolere (to suffer, feel pain). Other words that derive from the same root (dolere) : condole, dole, dolor.] "He also disclosed that under the arrangement, indolent chairmen would be sacked, while hardworking ones would be commended and encouraged by government." David Owei, Bayelsa Threatens to Relocate Council Headquarters From Hostile Communities, The Guardian (Lagos, Nigeria), Jul 30, 2001. "The settlement of that province had lately been begun, but, instead of being made with hardy, industrious husbandmen, accustomed to labor, the only people fit for such an enterprise, it was with families of broken shop-keepers and other insolvent debtors, many of indolent and idle habits, taken out of the jails, who, being set down in the woods, unqualified for clearing land, and unable to endure the hardships of a new settlement, perished in numbers, leaving many helpless children unprovided for." Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin, 1793. Kangaroo words, that's what this week's words are named. Why do we call them Kangaroo words? Not because they originated in Australia. Rather these are marsupial words that carry smaller versions of themselves within their spellings. So "respite" has "rest", "splotch" has "spot", "instructor" has "tutor", and "curtail" has "cut". Sometimes a kangaroo word has two joeys: "feasted" has a pair, "fed" and "ate". Finally, two qualifications: the joey word has to have its letters in order within the parent kangaroo word, but if all the letters are adjacent, e.g. enjoy/joy, it doesn't qualify. This week's AWAD features more kangaroo words. How many of the joeys can you identify? (Hint: the joey of today's word makes an appearance in the second usage example.) -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) P.S.: I'll be speaking and signing copies of my book at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight (Nov 25, 7:30pm). If you live in or near Seattle, stop by to chat about your favorite words, words you dislike or anything else about language. Details at: https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html -------- Date: Tue Nov 26 02:11:05 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rapscallion X-Bonus: Please subdue the anguish of your soul. Nobody is destined only to happiness or to pain. The wheel of life takes one up and down by turn. -Kalidasa, dramatist (c. 4th century) rapscallion (rap-SKAL-yen) noun A rascal; rogue. [From alteration of rascallion, from rascal.] "Perhaps therefore it is not surprising that the politicians should tend to behave like knaves and rapscallions, anxious only to steal as much as possible as quickly as possible." Showdown in Pakistan, The Economist (London), Dec 6, 1997. "Versatile actor David Scully stars in this irreverent version of Moliere's comedy about a rapscallion servant meddling in romance while trying to stave off his nasty boss." Misha Berson, Lights Going Down, Curtain Going Up On Theater Season, The Seattle Times, Sep 13, 2002. This week's theme: kangaroo words, words that have a joey (a smaller word with a similar sense) within them. -------- Date: Wed Nov 27 00:02:05 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amicable X-Bonus: To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony. -William Henry Channing, clergyman, reformer (1810-1884) amicable (AM-i-kuh-buhl) adjective Characterized by goodwill; friendly. [From Middle English, from Late Latin amicabilis, from Latin amicus (friend). A few other words that share the same root as today's word are: amigo, amity, and enemy (in + amicus).] "The Government has called for an amicable solution to the misunderstandings in Buganda ..." Govt Calls For Amicable Solution, New Vision (Kampala, Uganda), January 20, 1999. "(Graham) Thorpe, after more heart-searching, has decided apparently that 2 1/2 months away from his family - specifically his young son and daughter, the subjects of a messy custody battle with his estranged wife - is too much, despite enthusiastic talk of a settlement as amicable as such things can be." Mike Selvey, Cricket: Thorpe Faces End of the Line, The Guardian (London), Sep 25, 2002. This week's theme: kangaroo words, words that have a joey (a smaller word with a similar sense) within them. Listen to Anu Garg on Rhona at Night (US and Canadian syndicated radio show) tonight (Nov 27, 10-11pm Pacific). To find your nearest station, please see: https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html -------- Date: Thu Nov 28 00:15:06 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--frangible X-Bonus: You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955) frangible (FRAN-juh-buhl) adjective Readily broken; breakable. [From Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin frangibilis, from Latin frangere (to break). The same Latin root is responsible for breaking in a number of other words, such as chamfer, defray, fraction, refract, infringe, and fracture.] The word "frangible" has three generations of kangaroos: its joey "fragile" which in turn has its own little one "frail". Can you think of other words like that? -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Wax discs are frangible: a lost flake is an irretrievable snippet of sonic memory." Alan Burdick, Now Hear This, Harper's Magazine (New York), Jul 2001. "I can never read reviews of my own movies. I'm terrified to find out what the barbaric world thinks of my trembly filmic dreams and, by extension, my overly frangible soul." Guy Maddin, Very Lush and Full of Ostriches, The Village Voice (New York), Aug 7, 2001. This week's theme: kangaroo words, words that have a joey (a smaller word with a similar sense) within them. Check out the story in today's New York Times: A Word of the Day Keeps Banality at Bay http://nytimes.com/2002/11/28/technology/circuits/28garg.html -------- Date: Fri Nov 29 00:25:09 EST 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scion X-Bonus: Each man carries within him the soul of a poet who died young. -Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, literary critic (1804-1869) scion (SY-ehn) noun 1. An heir or descendant. 2. A shoot or twig of a plant, cut for grafting. Also cion. [From Old French cion, of unknown origin.] The joey (or scion) for today's kangaroo word is: son. "One of the more lively moments at last week's get-together of a group of Iraqi dissidents was when Prince Hassan, Jordan's elder statesman, strode into their London meeting-place. He then embraced a scion of King Feisal, his murdered cousin and the last king of Iraq." A King For Iraq?, The Economist (London), Jul 2, 2002. "Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once the centre and circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, and that to which all science must be referred. It is at the same time the root and blossom of all other systems of thought; it is that from which all spring, and that which adorns all; and that which, if blighted, denies the fruit and the seed, and withholds from the barren world the nourishment and the succession of the scions of the tree of life." Percy Bysshe Shelley, Defence Of Poetry, (written 1821, published 1840). This week's theme: kangaroo words, words that have a joey (a smaller word with a similar sense) within them. Hello Portland! Anu Garg will be speaking and book-signing at Twenty-Third Avenue Books this Sunday (Dec 1, 3pm). If you live in or near Portland, OR, stop by to chat about your favorite words, words you dislike or anything else about language. Details at: https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html