A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 389

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AWADmail Issue 389

December 13, 2009

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Rhopalic headline contest

More than 500 readers from all five continents sent their entries for the Rhopalic Headline Contest. The headlines announced news items real and imaginary. Some rhopalics featured increasing word lengths, others shrinking, and a few went both ways.

The challenge was to find a right balance between meaning and length. Some readers sent long entries that made less and less sense as they became longer and longer.

The entries covered a wide range. From your entries I learned that my introduction "I am Anu Garg" is rhopalic. Golfer Tiger Woods attracted a lot of rhopalic attention. It was hard to select a couple from so many excellent entries.

First prize goes to Marie Ammerman of Burbank, California (ammermanm yahoo.com) for her rhopalic headline:

SPELLING TEACHER JUSTLY FIRED -- WON'T DOT AN I

She receives a copy of the board game WildWords, courtesy WildWords Game Company. A runner-up prize of "I'd Rather Be Grammatically Correct" T-shirt courtesy Uppityshirts goes to Lea Osborne of Zug, Switzerland (buttlea logic.bm) for the headline

"I AM NOT DEAD," TEXTS EDWARD KENNEDY

Dennis Burke of Phoenix, Arizona (burkephoenix gmail.com) imagined AWAD readers busy writing rhopalic headlines:

AN ODD WORD HOBBY CAUSES WRITERS' COMPLETE ISOLATION, ALIENATION, CORROBORATE PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

Read on for more rhopalic fun, a selection from the entries readers sent:

Historical:

I AM NOT SOME CROOK, STATES CORRUPT POLITICO ANSWERING ALLEGATION COMBATIVELY (Refer)
-Benjamin Littenberg, Burlington, Vermont (blittenberg comcast.net)

"UNSINKABLE" STEAMSHIP FOUNDERS, ICEBERG BLAMED
-Paul Many, Ottawa Hills, Ohio (paul.many utoledo.edu)

AL HAD IFFY CHADS, GEORGE COURTED SUPREMES; BUSHWORLD TRIUMPHANT
-Doak Bloss (dbloss ingham.org)

"I AM NOT LOST, WROTE DOCTOR" - VETERAN INTREPID NEWSHOUND EVENTUALLY DISCOVERING LIVINGSTONE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Refer)
-Matt Durcan, (matt.durcan btinternet.com)

"I DO SEE THAT SANTA EXISTS!" ASSERTS VIRGINIA (Refer)
-Brian Highland, San Diego, California (brianhighland cox.net)

"I AM NOT DEAD," TWAIN REBUTS ARTICLE ALLEGING OTHERWISE
-Brian Porter (b_porter yahoo.com)

I AM THE KING: ELVIS
-Maribeth Payne, Norwalk, Connecticut (mpayne pipeline.com)

"I DO," SAY DUKE, NEWLY MINTED DUCHESS FERGUSON, NUPTIALLY CONCLUDING WESTMINSTER CELEBRATIONS, FOREORDAINING PROGNOSTICATED DISILLUSIONMENT, INCOMPREHENSIBLE MISCOMMUNICATIONS, DEWINDSORIFICATION
-Charlie Alison, Fayetteville, Arkansas (charlie.alison gmail.com)

"I AM THE BEST BOXER," STATES CASSIUS
-Ron Gerard, London, UK (ron gerard.as)

"I BE BAD!" SAYS FAMED SINGER, FAILING AUDITION MISERABLY, EXPRESSING GRAMMATICAL BEFUDDLEMENT (Refer)
-Michael Malcolm, Sunnyvale, California (michael.malcolm gmail.com)

"E TU, TOO," SAYS JULES, WHILST STABBED BRUTALLY
-Tom Turney, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (wcturney comcast.net)

Topical:

AN ELF PUTS GIFTS BESIDE SEVERED CONIFERS OVERNIGHT, HOMEOWNERS UNDISTURBED SURPRISINGLY, JOLLIFICATION TRANSFORMATIVE
-Tom Riley, Pittstown, New York (triley osc.state.ny.us)

NEW PRES SENDS TROOPS HEADING EASTWARD: DECLARING INDEFINITE WITHDRAWALS, SIMULTANEOUS EXTRAMILITARY RESPONSIBILITY
-Leslie Cohen (lzcohen hotmail.com)

OBAMA BEGINS SENDING SOLDIERS, PACIFISTS BEWILDERED
-Travis Love (dr.t.love gmail.com)

WE GET SICK WHILE CLUMSY ELECTED CONGRESS POSTPONES HEALTHCARE DEVELOPMENT
-James Zimmerman, St. Paul, Minnesota, (james.zimmerman bsci.com)

VORACIOUSLY DIALOGUING RIGHTWARD, NEBRASKA SENATOR NELSON CURBS HOPE FOR US
I work in a hospital as a patient advocate, and your contest gave me a constructive way to work out some of my frustration with Senator Ben Nelson's efforts against healthcare reform.
-Tammy Hansen Snell, North Platte, Nebraska (tammy.hansensnell gmail.com)

OBAMA HEALTH REFORMS OVERHAUL SUCCEEDED
-David Phillips (david qxo.com)

AMERICAN DECIDER BARACK OBAMA WINS THE NP!
-Tom Stewart (tastewar alum.mit.edu)

IN THE NEWS TODAY: BARACK AWARDED ULTIMATE NORWEGIAN PEACEMAKER RECOGNITION, CELEBRATIONS REINVIGORATED COSMOPOLITANIST INTERNATIONALISM
-Karl Boyd-Nafstad (boydnafstad gmail.com)

PRESIDENT NOBELIST REMINDS: BEFORE PEACE CAME WAR, NO?
-Susan Walker, Flowery Branch, Georgia (susanw elliottwave.com)

"CO₂ CURB COULD CHANGE CLIMATE CAULDRON" CONCLUDES COPENHAGEN
-Martin Wakefield, London, UK (martin.wakefield gmail.com)

COPENHAGEN: COUNTRIES CONSIDER CLIMATE CHANGE; CLASH OVER CAP ON C
-Mike Wagner, La Quinta, California (mikewagner33 gmail.com)

NO CO₂ SAYS COP15, GLOBAL LEADERS' APPROVAL UNANIMOUS
-Tracy Blues, Cape Town, South Africa (blues.tracy gmail.com)

WE ALL MUST FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING
-Stan Hingston, Rosetown, Saskatchewan, Canada (sghingston sasktel.net)

INCREASINGLY OPINIONATED SCIENTISTS: UNUSUALLY DRAMATIC CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS SEEN FOR US; WE CAN HELP SOLVE CRISIS THROUGH CREATING INTENSIVE INCENTIVES
-Linda Alpert Karell, Mamaroneck, New York (lalpertesq aol.com)

COPENHAGEN DISCUSSES CLIMATES: HOTTEST, HOTTER, TEPID - BEAT GAS!
-Carlos Holger Wenzel Flechtmann, Sao Paulo, Brazil (chwflech esalq.usp.br)

KEEN OBAMA SECRET SERVICE EMPLOYEE DISCOVERS, APPREHENDS UNDOUBTEDLY ENTHUSIASTIC PARTY-CRASHERS
-Anil Srinivasan (anilksri yahoo.com)

PRESIDENTIAL SPECULATION INCREASING FOLLOWING FRIENDLY MIDWEST PACKED PALIN TOUR
-Kristina Schmidt, Oak Forest, Illinois (kschmidt gmail.com)

"I AM ONE FOXY MAMMA!" FORMER ALASKAN GOVERNOR CONFESSES
-Irene Wrenner, Essex, Vermont (Imwren aol.com)

I DO NOT WANT PEACE SHOUTS TALIBAN MINISTER
-Clayton Doak, Cincinnati, Ohio (cbd1 cdc.gov)

BIG BOMB BLAST BURIES BAGHDAD
-David Attoe (dattoe optonline.net)

"I AM NOT WEAK": OBAMA DEFIES NEOCONS CLAIMING PRESIDENT DISREGARDS INTREPIDITY, FEARLESSNESS DETERMINATION
-Alex Perlin, Washington, DC (ajperlin gmail.com)

"I DO" FOR GAYS DRAWS HEATED REBUFFS: ALLOWING COMMITTED HOMOSEXUAL PARTNERSHIP AGGLOMERATES BELLICOSITIES
-Sylvia Whitman, Arlington, Virginia (sylvia.whitman gmail.com)

"I AM NOT THAT CRAZY," CLAIMS PATRICK, REFUSING HIBERNIAN ENGAGEMENT INDIGNANTLY, PROTESTINGLY, RHETORICIZING FEMINISTICALLY
Governor Patrick of Massachusetts refusing to speak at the Clover Club, an Irish men's club, because women are not permitted at their meetings
-Chuck Hall (chuckhall aol.com)

NOTWITHSTANDING FRANCOPHOBIACS, LESMISERABLES THEATRE-GOERS UNASHAMEDLY, FREQUENTLY APPLAUDED VALJEAN'S TEARFUL, SOFTLY MUTED SONG "WHO AM I?"
-Peter Sedgwick (psedgwick expensereduction.com)

"GLOBAL WARMING FANCIFUL," SCIENTIST CHALLENGES GOVERNMENTS
-Devashish Sarkar, Singapore (devashish.sarkar gmail.com)

VAMPIRES DELIGHT! TWEENS/TEENS ACHE FOR ED!
(The movie Twilight: New Moon released)
-Ashlea Smith, Virginia (ashlea.n.smith gmail.com)

A BY THE BOOK MOVIE: MEYER'S VAMPIRE DRAINING
-Michael Trainer (trainerm tesd.net)

ON THE WARS, OBAMA CLAIMS CHENEY'S PRESSURE NULLIFIED
-Julieta Valls Noyes, Vatican City (noyesjv state.gov)

I AM NOT "YOUR DAILY BEGGAR", CAROLER EXCLAIMS!
This is a seasonal one, taken from "Here We Come A-caroling"...
-Bernstein Steve (sbernstein me.com)

A NO-FLY ZONE PLANE FLIGHT CAUSING MILITARY COMMANDER TREMENDOUS TREPIDATION INVESTIGATED
-Alfred Jay Spielmann, Fremont, California (al_spielmann yahoo.com)

THE WORD OBAMA UTTERS BECOMES CURRENCY
-Krishna Kumar, Mumbai, India (kk conceptindia.com)

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT, CONGRESS SCORNED; PUBLIC DEEMS BOTH GET AN 'F'
-Ken Giesbers, Burien, Washington (addressomitted comcast.net)

TO GET MORE MONEY, GREEDY BANKERS STEALING AMERICANS' PROPERTIES
-Craig Smith, Agua Dulce, California (craigsmith mac.com)

ALL HOPE FADES: GLOBAL WARMING QUARRELS FRUSTRATE COPENHAGEN DELEGATIONS. CATASTROPHES UNPREVENTABLE!
-Tom Priestly, Edmonton, Canada (tpriestl shaw.ca)

"IN ALL BEST CASES, EARTH'S WARMING SCENARIO AVOIDABLE," SCIENTISTS ERRONEOUSLY HYPOTHESIZED
-Guy Kuttner, Arcata, California (kuttner humboldt1.com)

GLOBAL WARMING SPEECHES AWAKENING COPENHAGEN CONSCIENCES
-Janine Cloarec, France (janecloarec wanadoo.fr)

ICE, SNOW CAUSE TRAVEL WORRIES: SHOPPING, CHRISTMAS THREATENED
-Barb Drenth, New Hope, Minnesota (bdrenth paddocklabs.com)

Misc.

I DO - MAN WEDS WOMAN
-Todd Norby, Seattle, Washington (todd.norby continentalmills.com)

"I DO NOT CARE", AVOWS SHRINK HEARING PATIENT'S TESTIMONY DESCRIBING PSYCHIATRIC INCOMPETENCE, INSENSITIVITY
-Deborah Troner, Miami, Florida (dtroner bellsouth.net)

SCRABBLE TOURNEY RUINED: FINAL GAME HAS NO 'X'
-Rob Meyerson, Orange County, California (rob.meyerson gmail.com)

A IS THE BEST VOWEL: SURVEY
-Nathan Horwitz (n_horwitz yahoo.com)

A US BOY GETS EATEN WITHIN FAMILY'S AQUARIUM
-Di MacGregor, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada (dimacg ns.sympatico.ca)

PRISONER WRONGLY JAILED: ERROR WITH DNA
-Jenny Samphier, Melbourne, Australia (jenny_samphier hotmail.com)

"I AM THE LAST ALIVE PERSON," CLAIMED SURVIVOR EXCITEDLY
-George Harder (gharder aec-radiation.com)

"I AM GOD," SAYS OBAMA
-Katie Carpenter, New York, New York (krrc bahatiproductions.com)

SNOW FALLS ACROSS COUNTRY, BLIZZARD SHROUDING CONTINENTS
-Michael K., one of many students who came up with rhopalic headlines in 5th and 6th grade classes of Michael Buist, Chandler, Arizona (buist.michael chandler.k12.az.us)

A BI CAN DATE EVERY FRIEND
(in alphabetical order too)
-Barry Poupard, Flushing, Michigan (poupardetc aol.com)

I DO, SHE DOES: BASIC CHORES SHARING IMPROVES LONG-TERM MARRIAGE, OVERALL STRESS DROPS FROM SIX TO 1
A recent Stanford study shows that couples sharing their housekeeping obligations tend to show a better overall relationship health in the long run.
-David Garcia Valls, Barcelona, Spain (davidgvalls yahoo.es)

MIKE HAIRY JUNIOR SMASHED PUMPKINS
We are a study skills class at Providence Middle School. This is a special education class with students who have learning disabilities. We have been practicing writing rhopalics this week and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Here is our favorite one to submit to the contest.
-Carrie R. Horton, Providence Middle School, Chesterfield, Virginia (carrie_horton ccpsnet.net)

A MA FOR ONLY WEEKS, FABLED STARLET ABANDONS OFFSPRING, RENOUNCING BIRTHRIGHTS
-Wendy Shimada, Duvall, Washington (wshimada verizon.net)

"I DO," SAY AREA WOMEN. LOCALS DECIDED STATUTES RATIFYING HOMOSEXUAL UNIFICATION UNPREJUDICED; INCONTESTABLY CONSTITUTIONAL
-Emily Centola & Tara O'Loughlin, Asheville, North Carolina (ecentola haywood.k12.nc.us)

Tiger Woods:

BY THE TAIL, TIGER CAUGHT, AFFAIRS A-PLENTY
-Melissa VanRaden (mvanraden q.com)

A NO WIN HOLE SENDS TIGER'S POPULAR APPROVAL ASSUREDLY PLUMMETING
-Shirley Mosher, Carmichael, California (cgmosher1 gmail.com)

"I AM NOT PURE!" TIGER ADMITS WITHOUT SERENELY DISPUTING PRODIGIOUS ALLEGATIONS
-Graham Bunn, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada (bunner007 hotmail.com)

A SO FAR TAME TIGER SUBTLY LAMENTS AFFAIRES INVOLVING WAITRESSES, RELUCTANTLY ACKNOWLEDGED UNENLIGHTENED TRANSGRESSIONS DISAPPOINTINGLY
-Mark A. McGillivray, Gurnee, Illinois (mark.mcgillivray allstate.com)

"I AM HOT, GIRL," TIGER
-Kevin Schmidt, South Africa (kevin.schmidt live.com)

IN NEW BOOK, TIGER ADMITS ILLICIT LIAISONS, ASHAMEDLY RECOUNTING INDULGENCES
-Len Yaeger, Minneapolis, Minnesota (yaege033 umn.edu)

IN HIS LIFE, TIGER LOSING CONTROL, SCRUTINY ESCALATES RUTHLESSLY, COMPATRIOTS CONJECTURING TITILLATINGLY!
-Rob Richardson, Reston, Virginia (robr3 yahoo.com)

TIGER'S "CHEETAH" DISGUISE
-Charline Profiri, Tucson, Arizon (luvz2rite4kidz aol.com)

I AM NOT SURE TIGER WANTED MARITAL PROBLEMS EXPOUNDED NATIONALLY PRACTICALLY CONTINUOUSLY
a headline for an op-ed piece
-Mark Barbour, Fairfax, Virginia (mark.barbour comcast.net)

"I AM THE BEST PRIMO GOLFER DESPITE ABERRANT BEHAVIORS"
-Amy Jane Leifer, Albany, New York (amyjane39us yahoo.com)

"I AM GAY," SAYS TIGER DURING GOLFING MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
-Tom Pearsall, Staten Island, New York (ttrains169 aol.com)

AS THE ONCE "TIGER" SPIRIT CRASHES, WOODS SEES ADS GO
-Michael Novak, Waterbury, Connecticut (mnovak stmh.org)

Meta:

A MR ANU GARG DARES PUBLIC: PRODUCE RHOPALIC HEADLINES
-Robert A. Barbato (brbarbato yahoo.com)

O MY! ANU GARG MAKES SUPERB CONTEST -- RHOPALIC NEWSPAPER HEADLINERS -- STIMULATING COMPOSITIONS
-Ross Morgan, Butler, Pennsylvania (rossm westminsterpca.com)

I AM NOT SURE, WOULD ANYONE COMPOSE RHOPALIC SENTENCES?
-Joel Dippold, Portland, Oregon (joeld hevanet.com)

WE MAY FIND QUICK SOLACE SEEKING RHOPALIC SYMBOLISM, SPECIFYING MEANINGLESS, CONCATENATED PHRASEOLOGIES
-Lynn Maack, Richmond, California (l.maack comcast.net)

"I DO NOT WANT DROSS WITHIN EMAILED RHOPALIC SENTENCES," DESIGNATES CYBERSPACE'S INCOMPARABLE LEXICOGRAPHER
-Zachary Hudson, Troutdale, Oregon (z.t.hudson gmail.com)

AS ANU GARG URGES, MYRIAD CUNNING RHOPALIC HEADLINES -- BESPEAKING INNUMERABLE INTELLECTUAL MANIPULATIONS -- SUBSTANTIALIZE, LEXICOLOGICALLY CIRCUMAMBULATING COMPREHENSIBILITY
-Bill Dortch, Seattle, Washington (bill.dortch gmail.com)

ANU GARG MAKES BANNER CONTEST RHOPALIC!
-Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Torrance, California (sudhir.krishnaswamy yahoo.com)

RHOPALIC SENTENCES INFILTRATE PLAINSPOKEN CONVERSATION: CONTAMINATION UNCONTROLLABLE!
Here's a page I created with some more rhopalic sentences.
-Rudi Seitz, Boston, Massachusetts (rudi quadrivialquandary.com)

ANU GARG SCANS MYRIAD READERS' RHOPALIC HEADLINES
-Colin Develin, Downingtown, Pennsylvania (cdevelin leasedirect.com)

DC MAN SETS WORLD RECORD, BEATING RHOPALIC WORDSMITH WUNDERKIND
-Michael Lisman, Washington DC, (mlisman gmail.com)

US GAL WINS, SENDS CLEVER CONTEST RHOPALIC HEADLINES
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

ANU GARG FINDS WORLD'S KEENEST RHOPALIC COMPOSING CONTESTANT
-Kristina Schmidt, Oak Forest, Illinois (kschmidt gmail.com)

CULTIVATED WORDSMITH REWARDED CONTEST WINNER BOARD GAME: 'IT'S NO T'
-Roy Greene, Milford, Massachusetts (hadleyct hotmail.com)

I AM THE TWIT WHOSE EFFORT TOWARDS RHOPALIC SENTENCES COMPETITION TRANSGRESSES SENSIBILITIES, OBSCURANTICISM NOTWITHSTANDING
-David Scoins, ZhaoQing, China (david.scoins me.com)

HI ANU, THIS EMAIL OFFERS CONCISE RHOPALIC GRATITUDE. -WORDSMITH'S ENTHUSIASTS
-Dr. Noga Friedman and Dr. Moti Friedman, Israel (brightn zahav.net.il)

If you haven't had your fill of real and imaginary headlines, check out the results of a univocalic headline contest from last year. Thanks to all who participated. I'll sign off with this headline, sent by Harriot Massey (hhmassey cox.net)

PEACE BRINGS EARTHLY PARADISE

Misc comments:

I never knew there was a word for it, but my daughter and son-in-law have rhopalic daughters: Vayda, Violet, Valerie and Victoria! (They were followed by a surgical procedure which follows both rules.)
-Sally Keefe (sally4keefe roadrunner.com)

I don't have a newspaper headline, but the contest reminded me of a rhopalic poem that captured my imagination years ago, I can't remember who wrote it, but here goes:
I
Id
Did
Died
(A life, no frills!)
-Jude Killip, Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK (judekill123 googlemail.com)

Though not strictly rhopalic at all, I find the accumulative effect of gradually longer words can be very powerful. An example is seen in the first two lines of the Hymn 'Immortal, Invisible [God only wise, in light] Inaccessible...' I am convinced that this order is not accidental.
-J.M. Sharman (jmsharman tiscali.co.uk)

From: Kay Haugaard (kayhaugaard earthlink.net)
Subject: Rhopalic compositions

I can't resist entering this "concrete" poem which in prosodic terminology is one in which the arrangement of the words and lines make a physical picture. In this case it is a Christmas tree. I know, also that at the trunk which is depicted by the names of Chinese poets, the lines diminish in length and therefore may not qualify as rhopalic although one could adjust that by cutting off the last four lines.

     AI
    POE
    GRAY
   DANTE
   HORACE
  KHAYYAM
  KALIDASA
 SOPHOCLES
 BAUDELAIRE
 SHAKESPEARE
     LI
     TU
     SU
ARISTOPHANES

Q. What is this curious list I see?
A. The answer is plainly, "Poet - tree".

The Poet Tree is composed of poets who not only have names of different lengths but who represent different cultures, namely:
Ai - Japanese, Poe - American, Gray - English, Dante - Italian, Horace - Roman, Khayyam - Persian, Kalidasa - Indian, Sophocles - Greek, Baudelaire - French, Shakespeare - English, Li - Chinese, Tu - Chinesei, Su - Chinese, Aristophanes - Greek

From: Valerie Martinez (val-nicasio_mtz kastanet.org)
Subject: periphrastic
Def: 1. Using a roundabout form of expression; wordy. 2. Formed by the use of two or more words instead of inflection.

And I thought my sons just talked funny from being bilingual! I didn't know there was a word for using "the brother of her" instead of "her brother"--I thought they just carried it over from Spanish where "el hermano de ella" is perfectly normal. Now I can say they are periphrastic instead of weird. Thanks for making them "normal".

From: Robert Berend (tactile8888 yahoo.com)
Subject: Periphrastic

Let us not forget the horrible expression: "at this point in time". Oh, if only they would say "now" instead!

From Mike Olshan (mikemovie hotmail.com)
Subject: monepic
Def: Composed of a single word or single-word sentences.

Here in New York, we have whole sentences as single syllables, such as "Chout!"=Watch out! and "Djeet?"=Did you eat?

From: Martha de Forest (deforest pacificwarriors.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--monepic

In other words, texting.

From: Kathleen Beattie (kathleenbeattie1302 hotmail.com)
Subject: ploce
Def: The repetition of a word or phrase for rhetorical emphasis or for extended meaning.

Perhaps one of most renowned ploce that immediately comes to mind is "Rose is a rose is a rose", a line of poetry written in Paris early in the 20th century by that great American wordsmith, Gertrude Stein. Of course it is evocative of Shakespeare's oft quoted line, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", which surely Gertrude intended. In common usage, Stein's line has come to mean, de facto, something is what it is -- period.

From: Jil Wrinkle (jilwrinkle yahoo.com)
Subject: ploce

Two good words related to "ploce" are "anaphora" and "epiphora", which are the repetition of, respectively, the beginning of a sentence or the end of a sentence for effect.

See the "I Had A Dream" speech for a good example of anaphora, and the "Yes We Can" speech for a good example of epiphora.

From: Pete Dunne (dunnesgarden comcast.net)
Subject: Ploce

Might a more current example be:
"We didn't go shopping shopping. We just looked at some things." Or "It wasn't a party party. Some folks just stopped over."

From: Mary Nell Murphy (mmurphy uchicago.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ploce

I was not familiar with this word, but have greatly enjoyed its use in literature. When I saw the definition, I immediately thought of the last line of James Joyce's The Dead: His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground. -Noah Webster, lexicographer (1758-1843)

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