A.Word.A.Day --smatchet

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Today's Word

smatchet

PRONUNCIATION:

(SMACH-uht)

MEANING:

noun: An insignificant contemptible person.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of Scottish origin. Earliest documented use: 1582.

USAGE:

“Again he wondered how Mieka could be such an infuriating, impossible little smatchet one moment and so gentle and thoughtful the next.”
Melanie Rawn; Touchstone; Tom Doherty Associates; 2012.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 Oct 1869-1948)

America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught me -- they haven't gone anywhere. They're as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race, every faith. They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what's in here. That's what matters. And that's why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something uniquely our own. That's why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That's why our military can look the way it does -- every shade of humanity, forged into common service. That's why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end. -Barack Obama, 44th US President (b. 4 Aug 1961)

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