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A.Word.A.Day--hamartia Pronunciation: WAV or RealAudio hamartia (ha-mar-TEE-uh) noun Tragic flaw. [Greek, from hamartanein, to miss the mark, err.] "These minuses are meant to add up to the hamartia, the tragic flaw in Nixon's potentially heroic stature. To me, despite his foreign-policy accomplishments, Nixon always seemed to be a nontragic nonentity, and Kissinger, though clever, something rather worse. Simon, John, Nixon.(movie reviews), National Review, 12 Feb 1996. This week's theme: words from Greek. X-Bonus It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

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