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A.Word.A.Day--simon-pure simon-pure (SY-muhn PYOOR) adjective 1. Genuinely pure; also used to describe an amateur as opposed to a professional. 2. Pretentiously or hypocritically virtuous. [From the phrase the real Simon Pure, after a character named Simon Pure who was impersonated by another in the play A Bold Stroke for a Wife, by Susannah Centlivre (1669-1723).] "We get some perverse joy in pulling all but the most simon-pure heroes back into the muck with us." Bruce Dowbiggin; Bailey-bashing Fashionable, But Undeserved; Calgary Herald (Canada); May 28, 2001. "Those of us who live Simon-pure lives don't like to admit it, but most of us turn out pretty well only because we were born with the advantage of a normal home life and a reasonably happy childhood." Bill Hughes; Why I Oppose The Death Penalty; Oakland Post (California); Mar 2, 1994. This week's theme: contranyms, words with opposite meanings. X-Bonus Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

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