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Jun 2, 2021
This week’s theme
Gold

This week’s words
Fort Knox
hallmark
midas
golden parachute
pyrite

Midas
Midas’s daughter turns to gold
Illustration: Walter Crane, in A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls (1892) by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

midas

PRONUNCIATION:
(MY-duhs)

MEANING:
noun:
1. One with the ability to easily turn anything profitable.
2. One who is extremely wealthy.

ETYMOLOGY:
After the legendary King Midas who was given the power that anything he touched turned into gold. Earliest documented use: 1584. Also see: Midas touch and Midas-eared.

JOKE:
A king once prayed and prayed and prayed.
“Why did I even make these creatures? Always begging for something,” God muttered to Himself. “Even kings! Especially kings! Next time I’m shutting evolution down right after chimps.”

“What is it?” He finally said in His booming voice.
“I want everything I touch to turn into gold.”
“You have really thought this through, haven’t you? But what do I care, My job is to answer prayers.”

God granted his wish, but it didn’t turn out so well. So the man prayed again.
“What is it now?”
“God, everyone is social distancing from me, like I have Covid. Take it back, please!”
“There’s no undo button on My celestial console. But, as a consolation I’ll make you a word in the language. Very few have that honor, actually.”

USAGE:
“Which show created by TV midas David Croft wasn’t a hit?”
Jack Seale; Be Kind, Don’t Rewind; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 30, 2016.

See more usage examples of Midas in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The business of the poet and the novelist is to show the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things. -Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (2 Jun 1840-1928)

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