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AWADmail Issue 677A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language
Sponsor’s Message:
From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Create an Old Book (then scan it and OCR it and read it over the net)
Eight Pronunciation Errors that Changed Modern English
From: Sharon Mink (sharonmink gmail.com)
The [Nobel] prize is such an extraordinary honor. It might seem unfair,
however, to reward a person for having so much pleasure over the years,
asking the maize plant to solve specific problems and then watching
its responses. -Barbara McClintock, scientist, Nobel laureate (16 Jun 1902-1992) Thank you for sharing the quotation by Barbara McClintock. She was an amazing lady and magnificent scientist. I was honored to have met her. She and Rosalind Franklin are two of my favorite heroes. At least Dr. McClintock was recognized for her work.
Sharon Mink, Haifa, Israel
From: Gary Brown (revnor aol.com) You mentioned, in today’s post, the etymology of tenebrous from the Latin word tenebrae, which means “shadows” or “darkness”. This is a word familiar to many Christians, since there is an ancient service of Tenebrae still used in many churches today. This service is often used on the evening of Maundy Thursday during Holy Week (the week that leads from Palm Sunday to Easter), although it can also be used on Good Friday or Holy Saturday. The service can include the receiving of communion and various other worship elements, but it is primarily shaped around readings from the dramatic scripture story of Holy Week, combined with the extinguishing of candles and other lights until the worship space is totally dark, symbolizing the extinguishing of the life of Jesus on the cross. By the way, I also enjoyed your Thought for the Day from Euripides today, since I am a father growing old with a daughter who is very dear to me. I passed the words along to my daughter! I have enjoyed your posted words since a friend from Spain sent me a subscription.
Gary P. Brown (a retired pastor), Hammondsport, New York
From: Bruce A. Bateman (bbateman pticom.com) In the world of water chemistry, turbidity refers to particles of matter suspended in a body or column of water. Without getting overly technical I will say there are precise measurements and predetermined scales or levels of turbidity allowed in various water classes. While a muddy, turbid river is allowable, your friendly bottle of drinking water would likely lose sales appeal with the same amount of debris floating around in it. There are a number of ways to precipitate these particles out and clarify the once turbid brew.
Bruce Bateman, Saipan Island
From: Meredith McQuoid-Greason (mcquoidM si.edu) Turbidity is an important measure of water clarity in marine and freshwater environmental studies. As suspended particles in the water increase (higher turbidity), the amount of light able to pass through the water column is decreased, thus inhibiting photosynthesis important to sea grasses and phytoplankton. Higher turbidity also increases water temperature because suspended particles absorb more heat; that then reduces dissolved oxygen important to both plant and animal life. Suspended particles can also clog fish gills and smother bottom-dwelling organisms. Causes can be erosion of soil and stream banks, urban runoff or waste discharge, and high algal growth. Turbidity is typically measured visually with a Secchi disk. See more here.
Meredith McQuoid-Greason, Davidsonville, Maryland
From: Kaila Luttrell (kailax gmail.com) You wrote:
Again, these words are selected using a pseudo random number generator,
so don’t use them for divination or for life’s big decisions (Should I
marry him?).
I clicked the link to the random generator with “Should I marry him?” in mind, just for fun. The result? Bluebeard. A rather tenebrous answer. :)
Kaila Luttrell, Vancouver, Washington
From: Jim Saksa (james.f.saksa gmail.com) This week’s theme made me think of the usefulness of the term stochastic, which refers to a random variable in statistics or probability, and the broader, more casual use of random, which can mean something truly random or something done without forethought or planning. This week’s theme is random, but it isn’t stochastic.
Jim Saksa, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From: Bart Zoltan (bartzoltan gmail.com) You do not get a random number when you throw a pair of dice. There is only one way to get to 2 or 12, but there are many combinations that will yield, for example 7 (1&6, 2&5, 3&4, 4&3 (not the same as 3&4), 5&2, and 6&1).
Bart Zoltan, Old Tappan, New Jersey
From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Romance is a tenebrous mission.
-Steve Kirkpatrick, DDS, Olympia, Washington (stevekirkp comcast.net)
Three nights did I scour the dank whidden For bullion they claimed there was hidden And found but a shilling Plus a posh couple swilling On top of an old kitchen midden.
-Laurence McGilvery, La Jolla, California (laurence mcgilvery.com)
When you’re building the Navy a carrier The budget is never a barrier To make it a sure bid Submit numbers turbid Start work and then price it up scarier.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
My best-selling lim’ricks on Amazon Will have a first-class prolegomenon ‘Cause famous I am Like old Omar Khayyam Or I think so depending what drugs I’m on.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Three does found themselves never fructuous. They wondered, “What brings such bad luck to us?” At last they concluded that they’d been deluded. “It certainly looked like a buck to us!”
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)
From: Phil Graham (pgraham1946 cox.net) “We are a grumpy group of little Indians, all tenebrous.” “Swidden by chance be Old MacDonald’s place, would it?” The man with a cold said he was deturbid to clean the stagnant pond. “That awful punster has prolegomenonymous so no one will know his identity.” “Why fructuous?” asked the immigrant grape-pickers on pay day.
Phil Graham, Tulsa, Oklahoma
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words
when we have nothing else but words to do it with. -John Locke, philosopher
(1632-1704)
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