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Sep 24, 2008 This week's theme Words from geology and geography. This week's words archipelago monadnock shoal col isthmus Today's word in Visual Thesaurus Shoal Yasawa Islands, Fiji (Image source: Wikipedia) Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg shoal PRONUNCIATION: (shol, rhymes with hole) MEANING: noun: 1. A shallow area in a body of water. 2. A sandbank or sandbar in the bed of a body of water, constituting a navigation hazard. ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English shold, from Old English sceald (shallow). The homonym shoal, referring to a school of fish or a crowd, has a different origin, probably from Dutch schole (band or troop). USAGE: "[Thomas] Jefferson says, 'I've found the art of living is avoiding the shoals and the rocks. But the truth of the matter is none of us can avoid the shoals and the rocks.'" Joe Kovac Jr.; This I Know: Max Cleland; Macon Telegraph (Georgia); Sep 14, 2008. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us? -Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (b. 1949)

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