A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Tue Dec 1 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ursiform X-Bonus: What the tongue has promised, the body must submit to. -Rex Stout, novelist (1 Dec 1886-1975) This week's theme: Illustrated words ursiform (UHR-suh-form) adjective Having the form or appearance of a bear. [From Latin ursus (bear). Earliest documented use: 1791.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/ursiform_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "The cuddly ursiform creatures return in a new animated tale ['Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!']." Summer Movie Sneaks; Los Angeles Times (California); May 6, 2007. -------- Date: Wed Dec 2 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--leptodactylous X-Bonus: Science does correct itself and that's the reason why science is such a glorious thing for our species. -Nigel Calder, science writer (2 Dec 1931-2014) This week's theme: Illustrated words leptodactylous (lep-tuh-DAK-tuh-luhs) adjective Having slender fingers or toes. [From Greek lepto- (thin) + -dactyl (toed, fingered). Earliest documented use: 1855.] NOTES: If you are still stuck to those tired words to describe your sweetie, here is a new one for you. Leptodactylous means having fine, slender digits. No, not digits on a bathroom scale or on a bank account. Here, digit means a toe or a finger. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/leptodactylous_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "The Triaenopus ... has besides three leptodactylous toes pointing forwards, a fourth extending backwards in a remarkable way." John C. Warren; Remarks on some Fossil Impressions in the Sandstone Rocks of Connecticut River; Outlook Verlag; 2018. -------- Date: Thu Dec 3 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zaftig X-Bonus: A belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. -Joseph Conrad, novelist (3 Dec 1857-1924) This week's theme: Illustrated words zaftig (ZAF-tik, -tig) adjective Full-figured; pleasingly plump; buxom. [From Yiddish zaftik (juicy), from German saftig (juicy), from Saft (juice). Earliest documented use: 1921.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/zaftig https://wordsmith.org/words/images/zaftig_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "One year the zaftig look was in among models, the next year the waif was all the rage." Eric Van Lustbader; Second Skin; Gallery Books; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Dec 4 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--noctilucent X-Bonus: Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions. -Samuel Butler, writer (4 Dec 1835-1902) This week's theme: Illustrated words noctilucent (nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt) adjective Shining at night. [From Latin nocti- (night) + lucent (shining). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leuk- (light), which also gave us lunar, lunatic, light, lightning, lucid, illuminate, illustrate, translucent, lux, lynx, pellucid https://wordsmith.org/words/pellucid.html , lutestring https://wordsmith.org/words/lutestring.html , lustrate https://wordsmith.org/words/lustrate.html , lucubrate https://wordsmith.org/words/lucubrate.html , limn https://wordsmith.org/words/limn.html , and lea https://wordsmith.org/words/lea.html . Earliest documented use: 1691.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/noctilucent The term is often used of clouds that are luminous at night: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud https://wordsmith.org/words/images/noctilucent_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "But it was the noctilucent clouds that made the deepest impression on [Samantha Cristoforetti] -- wispy clouds that form high in the atmosphere and that the sun illuminates from below." Guy Chazan; "We Could Be Gone and the Earth Would Keep on Moving"; Financial Times (London, UK); Aug 29, 2020. -------- Date: Mon Dec 7 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--brazen X-Bonus: Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below. -Noam Chomsky, linguistics professor and political activist (b. 7 Dec 1928) If you have ever wondered whether the words mettle and metal have any connection, the answer is yes. Earlier, mettle was simply another spelling of the word metal, as in this line from 1672: "My sword, That is made of the mettle so fine." Over time, mettle took on a metaphorical sense of character or temperament. This branching off happens more often than you'd think. The words discrete/discreet and flour/flower (literally, the finest part of meal; finest/prime part of a plant) are some examples. Well, let's put the pedal to the metal. This week we are going heavy metal. Not heavy metal as in rock music.* And not heavy metal as in the periodic table.* But heavy metal, as in this week it's all about metal, from day one to day five. *Though you might see both if you wait till Friday. brazen (BRAY-zuhn) adjective: 1. Shamelessly bold. 2. Made of or relating to brass. verb tr.: To face an embarrassing or difficult situation in a shamelessly bold manner. [From Old English braes (brass). Earliest documented use: 1000.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/brazen A brazen die https://wordsmith.org/words/images/brazen_large.jpg Photo: Maksim/Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Brass#/media/File:Brass.jpg "[Trump] denied, despite hard evidence, that he ever supported the Iraq war. Pundits were dismayed. But his supporters love him all the more for his brazen adherence to the integrity of his 'brand' over minor details like the truth." Lee Siegel; The Selling of Donald J. Trump; The New York Times; Sep 10, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/10/opinion/campaign-stops/the-selling-of-donald-j-trump.html -------- Date: Tue Dec 8 00:01:01 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--auricomous X-Bonus: The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be. -Louis de Bernieres, novelist (b. 8 Dec 1954) This week's theme: Words derived from metals auricomous (au-RI-kuh-muhs) adjective Relating to golden hair. [From Latin auricomus, from aurum (gold) + coma (hair). Earliest documented use: 1864.] "The amber-haired women -- palpably indebted to auricomous fluids for the colour of their tresses -- objected to the dark burnished gold of Violet Tempest's hair." Mary Elizabeth Braddon; Vixen; Maxwell; 1879. "He had seen too much of that class of beauty during his London experiences, to be caught by the auricomous tangles of one." Mary Elizabeth Braddon; Complete Works; Musaicum Books; 2019. -------- Date: Wed Dec 9 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--philargyry X-Bonus: The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. -John Milton, poet (9 Dec 1608-1674) This week's theme: Words derived from metals philargyry (fil-ARJ-uh-ree) noun The love of money; greed. [From Greek phil- (love) + argyros (silver). Ultimately from the Indo-European root arg- (to shine; white) that is also the source of argue (from Latin arguere, to make clear), argillaceous (clayey) https://wordsmith.org/words/argillaceous.html , and French argent (money). The word also appears in the chemical symbol for silver (Ag) and in the name of the country Argentina (where flows Rio de la Plata, Spanish for "river of silver"). Earliest documented use: 1529.] "The Popes (labouring daily more and more with this incurable disease of philargyry)." William Lambarde; A Perambulation of Kent; Henrie Middleton; 1576. -------- Date: Thu Dec 10 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tinpot X-Bonus: There is no frigate like a book / To take us lands away, / Nor any coursers like a page / Of prancing poetry. -Emily Dickinson, poet (10 Dec 1830-1886) This week's theme: Words derived from metals tinpot (TIN-pot) adjective Unimportant; of little worth. [Alluding to a tin pot, in quality or sound, broadly from a reference to tin as a base metal compared to precious metals. Earliest documented use: 1838.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/tinpot "Every little prince and duke and archbishop up there is a lord of his own domain, with a tinpot army and his own coins and postage stamps and custom inspectors." Harry Turtledove; Through Darkest Europe; Tom Doherty Associates; 2018. -------- Date: Fri Dec 11 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lead balloon X-Bonus: Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle. -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008) This week's theme: Words derived from metals lead balloon (led buh-LOON) noun A complete failure. [From lead (a heavy metal), from Old English lead + balloon, from Italian dialectal ballone (large ball), augmentative of balla (ball). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to blow or swell), which also gave us ball, boll, bole, bulk, bowl, boulevard, boulder, ballot, folly, and fool. Earliest documented use: 1924.] NOTES: If something fails, in British English it goes down like a lead balloon, in American English it goes over like a lead balloon. Either way, it's a flop. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/lead_balloon_large.jpg Cartoon: Adam Zyglis / The Buffalo News "The band’s name was pinched from Keith Moon, The Who's drummer, who had suggested in 1966 that a potential group involving him and Mr Page, without a quality singer, would go down like a lead balloon. Mr Page kept a note of "Led Zeppelin", and thought it was perfect for a new band that would combine music heavy and light." Fifty Years on, Led Zeppelin Are Still Idols for Aspiring Rock Stars; The Economist (London); Aug 9, 2018. -------- Date: Mon Dec 14 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--irrefutable X-Bonus: In its original literal sense, "moral relativism" is simply moral complexity. That is, anyone who agrees that stealing a loaf of bread to feed one's children is not the moral equivalent of, say, shoplifting a dress for the fun of it, is a relativist of sorts. But in recent years, conservatives bent on reinstating an essentially religious vocabulary of absolute good and evil as the only legitimate framework for discussing social values have redefined "relative" as "arbitrary". -Ellen Jane Willis, writer (14 Dec 1941-2006) Have you ever fallen down a wikihole? You search for something and land on a Wikipedia page. You start reading the page and click on something else in the article. Before you know it, you have spent a perfectly good hour or evening or day acquiring new knowledge you didn't even know existed. It can happen with dictionaries too. You look up a word and go down the lexiconhole. This week we fell into that hole, as you'll see. If you have never enjoyed the pleasure of wikiholing, here are a few starting points: List of common misconceptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions List of cognitive biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases List of paradoxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paradoxes (Disclaimer: We are not responsible for the time lost or knowledge gained.) irrefutable (ir-ih-FYOO-tuh-buhl, ih-REF-yuh-tuh-buhl) adjective Impossible to deny or disprove; indisputable. [From Latin in- (not) + refutare (to rebut). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhau- (to strike), which also gave us refute, beat, button, halibut, buttress, confute https://wordsmith.org/words/confute.html , prebuttal https://wordsmith.org/words/prebuttal.html , and surrebuttal https://wordsmith.org/words/surrebuttal.html . Earliest documented use: 1620.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/irrefutable "Irrefutable evidence of the worst trait of modern Hawthorn: its propensity to go into meltdown when heat is applied and sustained." Mike Sheahan; Heat's on the Hawks; The Mercury (Hobart Town, Australia); Apr 14, 2003. -------- Date: Tue Dec 15 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amnesia X-Bonus: The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -Muriel Rukeyser, poet and activist (15 Dec 1913-1980) This week's theme: One thing leads to another ... amnesia (am-NEE-zhuh) noun Loss of memory or a gap in one's memory. [From Latin amnesia, from Greek amnesia (forgetfulness), from a- (not) + mimneskesthai (to remember). Ultimately from the Indo-European root men- (to think), which also gave us mind, mental, mention, automatic, mania, money, praying mantis, monument, music, amnesty, mantra https://wordsmith.org/words/mantra.html , remonstrate https://wordsmith.org/words/remonstrate.html , monish https://wordsmith.org/words/monish.html , and mantic https://wordsmith.org/words/mantic.html . Earliest documented use: 1786.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/amnesia "'Maybe I didn't believe you had amnesia before. But voluntarily performing for a crowd?' He tilted his fork toward her plate. 'Not devouring chocolate cake? I believe now. You've shown irrefutable evidence of a total personality shift.'" Rachelle Paige Campbell; Love Overboard; Wild Rose; 2020. -------- Date: Wed Dec 16 00:01:01 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--psychogenic X-Bonus: No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (16 Dec 1901-1978) This week's theme: One thing leads to another ... psychogenic (sy-kuh-JEN-ik) adjective Originating in the mind (having a psychological rather than a physiological cause). [From Greek psycho- (mind) + -genic (producing). Earliest documented use: 1897.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/psychogenic "'Turns out I don't really have amnesia, I'm just hysterical.' His gaze whipped to hers, fierce, indignant. 'Psychogenic amnesia is no less real than organic. It's a self-preservation mechanism.'" Catherine Mann & Olivia Gates; Escaping with the Billionaire; Harlequin; 2015. -------- Date: Thu Dec 17 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--polydipsia X-Bonus: For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "It might have been!" -John Greenleaf Whittier, poet (1807-1892) This week's theme: One thing leads to another ... polydipsia (paw-lee-DIP-see-uh) noun Excessive or abnormal thirst. [From Greek poly- (much, many) + dipsa (thirst). Earliest documented use: 1661.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/polydipsia "Patients with psychogenic polydipsia were driven to drink excessively: Sinks had to be disabled. Toilets drained. In the worst cases, like this one, the heart failed due to fluid overload." Dustin Thomason; 12.21: A Novel; Dial Press; 2012. -------- Date: Fri Dec 18 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--propensity X-Bonus: Art should be like a holiday: something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view. -Paul Klee, painter (18 Dec 1879-1940) This week's theme: One thing leads to another ... propensity (pruh-PEN-suh-tee) noun An inclination to behave in a particular way. [From Latin pro- (toward) + pendere (to weigh). Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which also gave us pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, spontaneous, vilipend https://wordsmith.org/words/vilipend.html , pendulous https://wordsmith.org/words/pendulous.html , filipendulous https://wordsmith.org/words/filipendulous.html , equipoise https://wordsmith.org/words/equipoise.html , perpend https://wordsmith.org/words/perpend.html , pensive https://wordsmith.org/words/pensive.html , and floccipend http://wordsmith.org/words/floccipend.html . Earliest documented use: 1550.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/propensity "Mackenzie also mentions an infant of three who had polydipsia from birth and drank daily nearly two pailfuls of water. At the age of twenty-two she married a cobbler, unaware of her propensity, who found that his earnings did not suffice to keep her in water alone, and he was compelled to melt ice and snow for her." George M. Gould & Walter L. Pyle; Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine; W.B. Saunders; 1897. -------- Date: Mon Dec 21 00:01:04 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--misocainea X-Bonus: The tragedy in the lives of most of us is that we go through life walking down a high-walled lane with people of our own kind, the same economic situation, the same national background and education and religious outlook. And beyond those walls, all humanity lies, unknown and unseen, and untouched by our restricted and impoverished lives. -Florence Luscomb, architect and suffragist (1887-1985) Imagine you have a fully constructed Lego project. When you start taking it apart, you misunderstand where one brick ends and another begins and you break a brick into two. Combining forms are the Legos of word construction. This misinterpreting of boundaries of pieces happens with language sometimes. The word helicopter is constructed with helico- (spiral) + -pter (wings). People broke the word into heli- + -copter and formed new words such as helipad and quadcopter. This week's words are also made with building blocks, known as combining forms. If you get curious and decide to explore individual blocks, please do not break them in the wrong place. We even give you the parts we have used in building them, so no excuses: miso- (hate), poly- (many), audio- (sound), deont- (obligation), silvi- (wood), and -cainea (new), -gyny (woman), -phile (love), -logy (study), -colous (inhabiting). On second thought, if you did break them in the wrong place, what new words could you make? Share your linguistic inventions on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/misocainea.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org . Our apologies to the English language in advance for whatever mishandling you might be subjecting it to with our encouragement. misocainea (mis-oh-KY-nee-uh, mi-soh-) noun A hatred of new ideas. [From Greek miso- (hate) + -cainea (new). Earliest documented use: 1938.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/misocainea "A crucial objective of our program is to remove any innate misocainea 'hatred of new ideas', and replace it with the entrepreneurial principle of 'change is an opportunity to create competitive advantage'." Bill Weaver; Change for the Better; Scientific Computing & Instrumentation (Morris Plains, New Jersey); Jan 2005. -------- Date: Tue Dec 22 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--polygyny X-Bonus: Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors. And this I will tell you as well: One cannot seek to uphold honor in a being that has none. -Charles de Lint, writer (b. 22 Dec 1951) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms polygyny (puh-LIH-juh-nee) noun The practice of having two or more female partners. [From Greek poly- (many) + -gyny (woman). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gwen- (woman), quean, banshee, zenana, gynecology, and gynophobia (the fear of women) https://wordsmith.org/words/gynophobia.html . Earliest documented use: 1780.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/polygyny NOTES: A counterpart of this term is polyandry, the practice of having two or more male partners. The generic term is polygamy, having two or more partners. "King Maha Vajiralongkorn's critics say his naming of a consort represents the return of polygyny to the royal court." Shashank Bengali; A Royal Consort's Charm Offensive; Los Angeles Times; Nov 18, 2020. -------- Date: Wed Dec 23 00:01:04 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--audiophile X-Bonus: One can be ignorant without being bigoted, but one can't be bigoted without being ignorant. -Dale Robert Greenley, microbiologist (b. 23 Dec 1946) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms audiophile (AW-dee-oh-fyl) noun One who has a keen interest in high-fidelity sound reproduction. [From Latin audio- (sound) + -phile (love, lover of). Earliest documented use: 1951.] "'Ronald was an audiophile,' Nancy replied. 'He was constantly buying new equipment and tinkering with it to get the best sound possible.'" Andrea Kane; The Silence That Speaks; MIRA Books; 2015. -------- Date: Thu Dec 24 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--deontology X-Bonus: Habit with him was all the test of truth, / It must be right: I've done it from my youth. -George Crabbe, poet and naturalist (24 Dec 1754-1832) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms deontology (dee-ahn-TAH-luh-jee) noun The theory or study of duty and obligation, with a focus on the right action as determined by a set of rules, irrespective of the consequences of the action. [From Greek deont- (obligation) + -logy (study). Earliest documented use: 1829.] "What is the right thing to do? How do we decide what is right? Philosophers had the question to themselves for centuries. Utilitarianism versus deontology. John Stuart Mill against Kant in the ultimate cage match." Liam Durcan; Garcia's Heart; McClelland & Stewart; 2009. https://wordsmith.org/words/utilitarian.html -------- Date: Fri Dec 25 00:01:01 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--silvicolous X-Bonus: The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. -Rod Serling, writer of the science fiction TV series "The Twilight Zone" (25 Dec 1924-1975) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms silvicolous (sil-VIK-uh-luhs) adjective Living or growing in woods. [From Latin silvi- (wood) + -colous (inhabiting). Earliest documented use: 1906.] "The four-camera survey method was the only method to completely detect the ground-dwelling silvicolous community (bobcat, coyote, eastern gray squirrel, eastern wild turkey, Virginia opossum, raccoon, white-tailed deer)." Brent S. Pease, et al; Single-Camera Trap Survey Designs Miss Detections; PLoS ONE (San Francisco, California); Nov 30, 2016. -------- Date: Mon Dec 28 00:01:03 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bounder X-Bonus: Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. -Rose Franken, author and playwright (28 Dec 1895-1988) A caddie is not necessarily a cad, even though caddie is the source of the word cad. A caddie is not necessarily a young man either, even though it came from the word cadet. A cadet came from Latin capitellum (small head). In this instance, we can say it's true as a young man would generally have a smaller head. A lot can, and does, happen as a word travels through time and morphs into another. The moral of the story is that, while it's good to know a word's ancestry, a word is not obligated to be what its mom or dad was. A word is its own thing, let it be. Don't tie it to its ancestry and insist that it continue to be what its heritage dictates. That said, this week let's look at words to describe people. bounder (BAUN-duhr) noun An ill-bred, vulgar man. [From bound (to leap or jump), from French bondir (to bounce), from Latin bombitare (to hum), from Latin bombus (humming), from Greek bombos (booming, humming). Earliest documented use: 1842.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bounder "Bad manners, shoddy behavior toward women, gambling debts, cheating at cards, drunkenness, and despicable behavior in general, gave a man a bad reputation, earned him the names of blackguard, bounder, cad, and worse." Barbara Taylor Bradford; The Heir; St. Martin's Press; 2007. "'You bounder, you.' She leaped off her horse and ran for him. 'I knew you'd come!' Stanhope laughed. 'I take great exception to being called a bounder, madam. I have not yet reached that lofty status,' he said, and greeted her enthusiastic hug with one of his own." Julia London; The Scoundrel and the Debutante; HQN Books; 2015. -------- Date: Tue Dec 29 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--toplofty X-Bonus: The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? -Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (29 Dec 1876-1973) This week's theme: Words to describe people toplofty (TOP-lof-tee) adjective Haughty; pretentious. [From top + loft (upper floor, attic), from Old English loft (air, sky), from Old Norse loft (air, sky, upper room). Earliest documented use: 1859.] "'You hired me, and until we get to Tampico, take note. I give the orders and you follow them. Comprende?' 'You are certainly toplofty for a hired hand.' Martha Hix; Wild Sierra Rogue; Lyrical Press; 2016. -------- Date: Wed Dec 30 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--worrywart X-Bonus: The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. -L.P. Hartley, writer (30 Dec 1895-1972) This week's theme: Words to describe people worrywart (WUH-ree-wahrt) noun One who worries excessively and unnecessarily. [From worry, from Old English wyrgan (to strangle) + wart, from Old English wearte. The word wart was apparently chosen for alliteration. Earliest documented use: 1929.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/worrywart "When Biden takes the presidential oath in January, many will write articles scolding those who expressed concern about a coup as worrywarts." Zeynep Tufekci; "This Must Be Your First"; The Atlantic; Dec 7, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/trumps-farcical-inept-and-deadly-serious-coup-attempt/617309/ -------- Date: Thu Dec 31 00:01:02 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--airling X-Bonus: The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (31 Dec 1880-1959) This week's theme: Words to describe people airling (AIR-ling) noun A carefree, thoughtless person. [A combination of air, from Latin aer (air) + -ling (small, young, inferior). Earliest documented use: 1611.] "'Does that mean he is short a few marbles upstairs?' Matthew asked. ... he knocked on his own head and said, 'Airling,' which got them all laughing." Sylvia Abolis Mennear; Enchanted Castle On The River; Xlibris; 2015.