A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jan 2 00:01:05 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hark X-Bonus: Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (2 Jan 1920-1992) I was around 10 when I discovered Scrabble. My cousin's father had brought them this fascinating new board game where you made interlocking words on a grid. I didn't have the game at home so I played at my cousin's. I once added the hook LO. "Lo is not a word," My cousin objected. "It is!" "Dad, is lo a word, L-O?" he hollered. "No, it's spelled L-O-W," his father gave the verdict from the other room and continued doing whatever grown-up thing he was doing. I removed my letters from the board and we continued the game. You'd think the straightforward thing to do would be to look it up in a dictionary, but when I was growing up you didn't prove a grown-up wrong. After the game was over I came home, looked up the word in my dictionary, and forgot all about it. Live lightly -- don't hold grudges. Works for me. The following week I went to my cousin's for a few rounds of Scrabble. As I was leaving his dad handed me a box. "For you," he said. I opened it. Inside was a brand-new Scrabble. I have been fascinated with the game ever since. Last year I started wondering what if there's a way to arrange any text into a Scrabble-like grid. So I created Scrabalize https://wordsmith.org/scrabble . You give it any text, names of your family members or the full-text of "Romeo and Juliet". It will return you the words in a beautiful grid. Give it a try and let me know what you think. It's a work-in-progress so any bug reports and suggestions are most welcome. It works in dozens of languages https://wordsmith.org/scrabble/advanced.html . While you play with Scrabalize this week we'll feature a few miscellaneous words in A.Word.A.Day. hark (hark) verb intr. 1. To listen attentively. 2. Hark back: to allude to or return to a previous topic, time, event, etc. [From Old English heorcian (to listen). Earliest documented use: 1175. A variant is hearken https://wordsmith.org/words/hearken.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hark https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scrabble-hark.jpg "Such renamings often purport to hark back to an unsullied past, but are really exercises in nationalist mythmaking." A Guide to Renamed Cities; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 26, 2022. -------- Date: Tue Jan 3 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tarn X-Bonus: Still round the corner there may wait, / a new road or a secret gate. -J.R.R. Tolkien, novelist and philologist (3 Jan 1892-1973) This week's theme: Misc words tarn (tarn) noun A small mountain lake. [From Old Norse tjǫrn (small lake). Earliest documented use: 1400.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/tarn https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scrabble-hark-tarn.jpg "New Zealand is a supermodel of a nation ... Getting a full-frontal view of Taranaki Maunga* admiring his handsome reflection in an alpine tarn is the high point of this [hike.]" Lorna Thornber; To a Thrill; Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); Jan 13, 2022. *Taranaki Maunga = Mt. Taranaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Taranaki :) -------- Date: Wed Jan 4 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--topos X-Bonus: People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. -Max Eastman, journalist and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969) This week's theme: Misc words topos (TOH-pohs/pahs) noun A traditional theme, literary motif, etc. [From Greek koinos topos (common place) which also gave us the word topic. Earliest documented use: 1948.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/topos https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scrabble-hark-tarn-topos.jpg "That's not surprising since the patriarchy has chosen to suppress her terrible tale, an all too familiar topos." Peter Innes; The Man with the Grasshopper Mind; iUniverse; 2008. -------- Date: Thu Jan 5 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spiv X-Bonus: Fear prophets and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them. -Umberto Eco, philosopher and novelist (5 Jan 1932-2016) This week's theme: Misc words spiv (spiv) noun: An unscrupulous person or a petty criminal, especially one who is sharply dressed. verb intr.: To make a living unscrupulously. [Of obscure origin, perhaps from spiff/spiffy (smartly dressed). Earliest documented use: 1929.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/spiv https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scrabble-hark-tarn-topos-spiv.jpg "She attracts spivs, conmen, and losers like iron filings to a magnet." Sheila Riley; The Mersey Orphan; Boldwood Books; 2019. -------- Date: Fri Jan 6 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rive X-Bonus: The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities. -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (6 Jan 1883-1931) This week's theme: Misc words rive (ryv) verb tr.: To tear, split, fracture, etc. verb intr.: To become split or cracked. [From Old Norse rifa (to tear apart). Earliest documented use: 1250.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/rive https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scrabble-hark-tarn-topos-spiv-rive.jpg "There will come a time When rivers flow unchecked And the machines of humankind are red with rust There will come a time When trees no longer fall Riven by the chainsaw's eager blade." Restless; Glory Days; Earth First! (Tucson, Arizona); Winter 2022. -------- Date: Mon Jan 9 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--idiolatry X-Bonus: I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth -- and truth rewarded me. -Simone de Beauvoir, author and philosopher (9 Jan 1908-1986) One of the small joys of life is discovering a word for something, especially if it's something unusual, something uncommon. It may be a word to describe a sensation or lack of it. It could be a word for a phenomenon observed in nature or even a single word for something that happens every day, it's just that that single word isn't very common. This week we've assembled five such words. idiolatry (i-di-OL-uh-tree) noun Self worship. [From Greek idio- (one's own, personal) + -latry (worship). Earliest documented use: 1626. A synonym is autolatry https://wordsmith.org/words/autolatry.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/idiolatry "The idiolatry led to this ruin and the ruin of his race." Paul Collins; God's New Man; Bloomsbury; 2005. -------- Date: Tue Jan 10 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cynanthropy X-Bonus: All government -- indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act -- is founded on compromise and barter. -Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton), historian (10 Jan 1834-1902) This week's theme: There's a word for it cynanthropy (si-NAN-thruh-pee) noun A delusion in which one believes oneself to be a dog. [From Greek kyon (dog) + -anthropy (human). Earliest documented use: 1594.] NOTES: If you have to, better to believe yourself to be a dog than a god. People who play dog never harmed anyone. See yesterday's word idiolatry https://wordsmith.org/words/idiolatry.html . Also, watch the documentary "Secret Life Of The Human Pups" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dViIVCg0OpQ (36 min.). A still from the documentary "Secret Life of the Human Pups" https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cynanthropy_large.jpg Photo: Channel 4, UK "Our guides were two people with trembling tongues: mine a moribund old man whose tongue was hanging out like a tired dog's: a case of cynanthropy." Fernando del Paso (translation: Elisabeth Plaister); Palinuro of Mexico; Dalkey Archive Press; 1996. -------- Date: Wed Jan 11 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bolt-hole X-Bonus: When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. -Abraham Joshua Heschel, rabbi and professor (11 Jan 1907-1972) This week's theme: There's a word for it bolt-hole (BOLT-hol) noun 1. A place of escape, hiding, or seclusion. 2. A hole through which to escape when in danger. [From bolt + hole, from Old English bolt (a heavy arrow) + Old English hol (hole, cave). Earliest documented use: 1851.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bolt-hole "[New Zealand's] growing reputation among the superrich as a bolt-hole -- a place insulated from the perils of nuclear war or pandemic -- has probably helped to bolster that image." Natasha Frost; What a Job Posting That Went Viral Says About New Zealand; The New York Times; Nov 4, 2022. -------- Date: Thu Jan 12 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hyperacusis X-Bonus: People's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. -Haruki Murakami, writer (b. 12 Jan 1949) This week's theme: There's a word for it hyperacusis (hy-puhr-uh-KYOO-sis) noun A heightened sensitivity to sounds. [From Greek hyper- (over) + acousis (hearing). Earliest documented use: 1825.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hyperacusis "Too bad I have hyperacusis and can hear dog whistles. And secrets from men who kiss me in closets." Julia Kent; Shopping for a CEO; CreateSpace; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Jan 13 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yesternoon X-Bonus: To move freely you must be deeply rooted. -Bella Lewitzky, dancer (13 Jan 1916-2004) This week's theme: There's a word for it yesternoon (YES-tuhr-noon) noun The afternoon of the previous day. [From Old English giestran/gierstan (a time one period prior to the present period) + noon, from Latin nona hora (ninth hour [after sunrise]). Earliest documented use: 1850. Some related words are yestereve https://wordsmith.org/words/yestereve.html and yesternight https://wordsmith.org/words/yesternight.html .] "Yesternoon, whilst Annie was taking a catnap, I carried all the eggs over to the Smiths' like you told me." Cathy Marie Hake; Forevermore; Bethany House; 2008. -------- Date: Mon Jan 16 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--suede-shoed X-Bonus: Be kind to thy father, for when thou wert young, / Who loved thee so fondly as he? / He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, / And joined in thy innocent glee. -Margaret Courtney, poet (1822-1862) There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread; And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed. Don't judge someone until you have lived in her shoe, but still, that old woman wasn't very nice to the kids. Fortunately, that nursery rhyme is a work of fiction, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_was_an_Old_Woman_Who_Lived_in_a_Shoe though it is still a good argument for a strong social safety net. Also for easily available birth control. Why did she choose to live in a shoe? As if she had a choice. Oh, you don't want to know what these rhymesters make their characters go through for the sake of a mere rhyme! If only the old woman lived in modern times she could have traded her house for a hotel https://www.hainesshoehouse.com/ (Pennsylvania), a church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Heel_Wedding_Church (Taiwan), or a children's playhouse https://www.onlinetourguide.in/574-2/ (Mumbai). Maybe even a shoebox https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/adidas-originals-popup-shop (Barcelona). As you can tell, shoes are on our mind. All words this week have their origins in shoes, sometimes obvious, sometimes not. You may have to look inside. suede-shoed (SWAYD-shood) adjective Affecting smartness and respectability. [From the perceived preference of suede shoes by people supposedly smart and respectable. From suede (a soft leather), from French gants de Suède (Swedish gloves). Later the word suede was applied to the material, instead of the country. Earliest documented use: 1936. Also see white-shoe https://wordsmith.org/words/white-shoe.html .] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/suede-shoed_large.jpg Image: https://imgflip.com/i/1hjs4l "'We expect a lot of suede-shoed lobbyists from Washington to come in and try to convince the people of Florida that they need casinos,' Sowinski said." John Kennedy; Prominent Consultant Hired to Run Casino Campaign; Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida); Jun 28, 1994. -------- Date: Tue Jan 17 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--saboteur X-Bonus: Little Strokes, Fell great oaks. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (17 Jan 1706-1790) This week's theme: Shoes saboteur (sab-uh-TUHR) noun One who disrupts, damages, or destroys, especially in an underhanded manner. [From French saboter (to walk noisily, to botch), from sabot (wooden shoe). Earliest documented use: 1921.] NOTES: The popular story of disgruntled workers throwing their sabots into the machinery to jam it is not supported by evidence. Rather, it's that the workers typically wore sabots. See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/saboteur Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur" (1942) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/saboteur_large.jpg Poster: Universal Pictures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboteur_(film) "Yes, this saboteur has escalated the attacks." Case Lane; The Origin Point; Clane Media Books; 2016. -------- Date: Wed Jan 18 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--well-heeled X-Bonus: If I knew of something that could serve my nation but would ruin another, I would not propose it to my prince, for I am first a man and only then a Frenchman ... because I am necessarily a man, and only accidentally am I French. -Montesquieu, philosopher, lawyer, and writer (18 Jan 1689-1755) This week's theme: Shoes well-heeled (wel-HEELD) adjective Having plenty of money. [Alluding to a person who can easily afford to replace shoes often. Earliest documented use: 1871. The opposite is down-at-the-heel.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/well-heeled "Well Heeled" https://wordsmith.org/words/images/well-heeled_large.jpg Photo: Arthur Steel https://arthursteel.co.uk/product/well-heeled-platform-shoes-big-ben-westminster-bridge-london-rare-black-and-white-photograph/ "Italy insisted on a carve-out for luxury goods in the EU's [sanctions on Russia], lest well-heeled Muscovites go without their Gucci." The Economic Weapon; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 5, 2022. -------- Date: Thu Jan 19 00:01:02 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sneakernet X-Bonus: On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone. -Janis Joplin, singer-songwriter (19 Jan 1943-1970) This week's theme: Shoes sneakernet (SNEE-kuhr-net) noun The transfer of electronic information by physically moving it (storing it on a device and moving the device), instead of doing it over a computer network. [From sneaker (a shoe popular in everyday use) + net, alluding to someone carrying a disk, memory key, etc. from one computer to another. The shoes were called sneakers because their rubber soles made them very quiet. Earliest documented use: 1984.] NOTES: In the beginning, you put data on magnetic tapes and shipped it to wherever it needed to go. Then came computer networks which means no need to ship physical media. Not so fast! When moving large amount of data, even with today's gigaspeed networks, sometimes it's faster to copy data on a device and carry it to its destination. In "Computer Networks", one of the funniest textbooks I have ever used, the author computer scientist and professor Andrew Tanenbaum wrote: "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway." Even companies like Google and Amazon use sneakernets, transferring large amount of data in trucks. Amazon, for example, uses special semi-trucks they call Snowmobiles to transfer data from a customer site to their own cloud network. "We bollocks up the network. Jam the local signal. So they resort to a sneakernet." Peter Watts; Blindsight; Tor; 2006. -------- Date: Fri Jan 20 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--boot-faced X-Bonus: All art is autobiographical; the pearl is the oyster's autobiography. -Federico Fellini, film director and writer (20 Jan 1920-1993) This week's theme: Shoes boot-faced (BOOT-fayst) adjective Having a stern, angry, or sad expression. [From the expression "to have a seaboot face" (to have grim face), probably alluding to seaboots being worn on a ship in bad weather. Earliest documented use: 1925.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/boot-faced_large.jpg Photo: Alizoni https://alizoni.com/product/sad-face-converse-sneaker-shoes/ "Jacqueline Wilson says, 'Every time you see a librarian in a soap opera it's a boot-faced woman going 'Shush!' I've never come across a librarian like that.'" Jan Dalley; Turning Over a New leaf; Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 30, 2006. -------- Date: Mon Jan 23 00:01:02 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ikigai X-Bonus: The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same. -Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist (23 Jan 1783-1842) Reader Deborah Barber of Arlington, Virginia, wrote: "Last night I was explaining to my six-year-old that English is such a brilliant, expressive language because we borrow words from so many other languages. He replied, 'I don't think English borrows a word. I think the other language makes a copy of a word for us and keeps one for itself.'" That's a great way to describe the lending and borrowing that takes place when languages meet. We make a copy. We can consider it an analog copy, say, a photocopy + an audio cassette copy. Copies are faithful, more or less, but each copy introduces subtle changes, in pronunciation, spelling, or meaning. Sometimes all three. English has a whole bunch of words from languages such as Latin, Greek, and French. This week we'll feature words borrowed from some other languages, namely Japanese, Korean, Romani, Swedish, and Hindi. English has cast its net wide. If you speak English you know at least 100 different languages, small parts of them, because words from them have become a part of English. On a different note, have you found your ikigai? Share on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/ikigai.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Include your location (city, state). ikigai (I-ki-gai) noun 1. A sense of purpose or something that gives a sense of purpose; a reason for living. 2. Something that brings fulfillment or enjoyment. [From Japanese ikigai (a reason for being), from iki (life) + -gai (worth). Earliest documented use: 1972. The French equivalent is raison d'être.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/ikigai_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diagramo_de_Ikigajo_-en.svg Here's another take https://twitter.com/amelapay/status/1517195252611883018 "Have you found your ikigai? It's never too late to start on a better path to living." Harvey MacKay; Here's a Design for Living; Arizona Republic (Phoenix); Oct 10, 2022. -------- Date: Tue Jan 24 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chaebol X-Bonus: Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. -William Congreve, dramatist (24 Jan 1670-1729) This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages chaebol (CHAY/JAY-bol/buhl) noun A large conglomerate of businesses, tightly controlled by a person or a family. For example, Samsung has its hands in electronics, shipbuilding, insurance, construction, theme parks, retail, advertising, and more. [From Korean chaebol, from chae (wealth) + bol (faction), modeled after Japanese zaibatsu https://wordsmith.org/words/zaibatsu.html , by the use of Korean pronunciations of the two Chinese characters with which the word zaibatsu is formed. Earliest documented use: 1972.] Samsung headquarters, Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea https://wordsmith.org/words/images/chaebol_large.jpg Photo: Oskar Alexanderson https://www.flickr.com/photos/39610980@N05/3651368549 NOTES: A person or family doesn't necessarily own a chaebol or even own a majority stake in it. How do they control it then? See this article: "Chaebol 'owners' control groups with 0.9% shares" http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160707000812 "A chaebol of some two dozen oligarchs ... lorded over Armenia's privatization, rendering it into the most monopolized economy in the former USSR." Alexander Clapp; Prisoner of the Caucasus; The National Interest (Washington, DC); Mar/Apr 2017. "If there were true states' rights in this country, California wouldn't have to shell out for farm subsidies to Iowa, welfare to Kentucky, or security expenses for the Trump family chaebol." Liz Roth; Federal, State Taxes: Who Supports Whom?; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Jun 8, 2017. -------- Date: Wed Jan 25 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cosh X-Bonus: We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. -William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965) This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages cosh (kosh) noun: 1. A short, thick, heavy stick, used as a weapon. Also known as a truncheon, blackjack, bludgeon, etc. 2. An attack with, or as if with, such a weapon. verb tr.: To hit with, or as if with, such a weapon. [From Romani kosh, from koshter (stick). Earliest documented use: 1869.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cosh A display in Edinburgh Police Centre Museum https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edinburgh_police_truncheons_%2819thC%29.JPG Photo: Wikipedia "Steven Spielberg: We, too, felt the pain of the 2008 global financial crisis and were under the cosh." Sandeep Bamzai; Hollywood Idol Charms Bollywood's Best; India Today (New Delhi); Mar 25, 2013. "Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wrote a landmark paper explicitly warning that advertising-led search engines would be biased against the true needs of consumers. But their idealism was coshed by the dotcom crash of 2000-01, which forced them to turn a profit." Is Google an Evil Genius?; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 19, 2019. -------- Date: Thu Jan 26 00:01:02 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ombudsman X-Bonus: I learned compassion from being discriminated against. Everything bad that's ever happened to me has taught me compassion. -Ellen DeGeneres, comedian (b. 26 Jan 1958) This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages ombudsman (OM-buhdz/boodz-muhn/man) noun An official who investigates complaints by individuals against an organization. [From Swedish ombudsman (legal representative), from Old Norse umbodhsmadhr (deputy). Earliest documented use: 1824.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ombudsman NOTES: An ombudsman helps an individual with a grievance against a large organization where otherwise it'd be easy to become lost in bureaucracy, opaque rules, unresponsive management, etc. For example, an ombudsman may hear and investigate complaints by a citizen against a government, by a reader against a newspaper, an employee against an employer, a student against a university, and so on. "The dandy man stormed off, sulking and promising to take the matter to an ombudsman of some kind." Maurice Gray; Tannadee; Troubador; 2020. -------- Date: Fri Jan 27 00:01:02 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--toco X-Bonus: That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where nonconformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose. -Learned Hand, jurist (27 Jan 1872-1961) This week's theme: Words borrowed from other languages toco (TOH-koh) noun Chastisement; punishment; beatings. [From Hindi thoko, imperative of thokna (to strike or beat). Earliest documented use: 1823. Also see dekko https://wordsmith.org/words/dekko.html .] "Give him toco! ... Wallop him hard!" Malcolm Archibald; The Fireraisers; Next Chapter; 2019. "The old duffer must have fallen asleep. I'll give him a toco and wake him up." Malcolm Archibald; Windrush: Cry Havelock; Creativia; 2022. -------- Date: Mon Jan 30 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--churl X-Bonus: Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another. -Walter Savage Landor (30 Jan 1775-1864) If you look at this week's words, you'd think a word sale was going on. Two for the price of one. Even three or four for one. Each of this week's words has multiple meanings. Sometimes, it's because a word has developed multiple senses as it bounced around in the language for hundreds of years. At other times, we have two distinct words, having different origins, that happened to end up with the same spelling over time (and, sometimes, the same pronunciation). Whatever the cause, all of these week's words come with one or more bonus meanings. churl (chuhrl) noun 1. A rude person. 2. A miserly person. 3. A peasant. [From Old English ceorl (peasant). Earliest documented use: 800.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/churl "Either way, the thing is a gift horse, and, churl that I am, I mean to study its teeth." Joe Bennett; Start of My Golden Years; Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand) Mar 30, 2022. "The churls still have their money in their pouches, or hidden in the ground." Harry Harrison; The Hammer & The Cross; Tor; 1993. "A churl's farm on the London Road is falling into my hands because there are no heirs." Nerys Jones; Godiva; Pan Macmillan; 2008. -------- Date: Tue Jan 31 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dickey X-Bonus: Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you are capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy. -Thomas Merton, monk, writer (31 Jan 1915-1968) This week's theme: Words with multiple meanings dickey, dicky, or dickie (DIK-ee) noun: 1. A detachable shirtfront, collar, bib, etc. 2. A small bird. 3. A donkey. 4. The driver's seat or rear seat in a carriage. 5. The luggage compartment of a vehicle; also known as trunk or a boot. [A diminutive of Dick, a nickname for Richard. Earliest documented use: 1753.] adjective: 1. Not working properly. 2. In poor health. [Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1788.] https://amazon.com/dp/B09NQXK9F1/ws00-20 See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dickey "What she didn't realize was that she wasn't wearing a blouse, only a dickey." Jo James; Be Still My Heart; PublishAmerica; 2007. "Then he went to his bedroom and packed up ... and put this in the dickey of his car." H.G. Wells; Men Like Gods; Cassell; 1923. "And, despite a dicky heart and a brush with cancer, he's about to embark on nationwide tour." Rachael Bletchly; They Named Me Wilde But I Was Too Tired for Girls; The Daily Mirror (London, UK); Apr 13, 2019.