A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--omphaloskepsis This week's theme: There is a word for it. omphaloskepsis (om-fuh-lo-SKEP-sis) noun Contemplation of one's navel. [From Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination). Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which is also the ancestor of suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer), despise, espionage, telescope, spectator, and spectacles.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Readers whose main interest is literary how-to or criticism can look elsewhere, in places specifically dedicated to those matters. Doing too much of it here would smack of omphaloskepsis." Stanley Schmidt; About Science Fiction; Analog Science Fiction & Fact (New York); Jun 2001. X-Bonus Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. -Stephen King, novelist (1947- )

Subscribe: Sign up to receive A.Word.A.Day in your mailbox every day. "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace." -The New York Times Sponsored by: Give the Gift of Words Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Anu on Words: Writer Magazine SF Gate SF Gate Globe & Mail Interact: Bulletin board Wordsmith Talk Moderated Chat Wordsmith Chat Readers' Voice AWADmail