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Dec 4, 2008
This week's theme
Americanisms

This week's words
skedaddle
absquatulate
discombobulate
flummadiddle
hornswoggle
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

flummadiddle or flumadiddle

PRONUNCIATION:
(FLUHM-uh-did-l)

MEANING:
noun: 1. Nonsense. 2. Something worthless.

ETYMOLOGY:
Of uncertain origin, apparently from flummery (a dessert; nonsense).

USAGE:
"Gilly talks to hear his head rattle. He passes the time with flummadiddles. I learned right away that he says things without giving any thought to them."
Dorothy Garlock; Larkspur; Warner Books; 1997.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What is philosophy but a continual battle against custom? -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)

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