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A.Word.A.Day--fen fen (fen) noun 1. Low land covered with water. 2. A marsh. [From Middle English, from Old English fen or fenn.] "In the Netherlands, large tracts of former intensively cultivated arable land has been returned to fen." Peter Marren; Science and Nature: Water World; Independent (London, UK); Sep 16, 2002. "Central Park and the city have long since rebounded. But Olmsted & Vaux's masterpiece of earthwork art -- 843 acres of painstakingly carved forests, dales, lakes and grottos now celebrating its 150th anniversary -- has often been torn between beauty and the beast, a once-stinking fen refashioned into a resplendent oasis and yet still prey to despoliation and nightmarish crime." Ralph Blumenthal; Gun-Toting Sea Lions And Other Park Tales; The New York Times; May 23, 2003. This week's theme: Anglo-Saxon words. X-Bonus Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

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