A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Mar 2 00:01:03 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--canker-blossom X-Bonus: We have come to a point where it is loyalty to resist, and treason to submit. -Carl Schurz, revolutionary, statesman, and reformer (2 Mar 1829-1906) A sawbones https://wordsmith.org/words/sawbones.html (a surgeon) and a mountebank (a quack) https://wordsmith.org/words/mountebank.html may be poles apart, but they have something in common. Something other than medicine. A skinflint (a miser) https://wordsmith.org/words/skinflint.html and a spendthrift (one who is wasteful with money) https://wordsmith.org/words/spendthrift.html also have something in common. Something other than money. All four words are what we call tosspot words. The word tosspot literally means a drunkard, but the word itself is an example of a tosspot word. A tosspot is a word coined by combining a verb and a noun, but the important thing is that the noun is the object of the verb. So pickpocket is a tosspot word because a pickpocket picks pockets; repairman is not, because a repairman does *not* repair a man, unless you call your doctor a repairman (better to call them sawbones). This week we'll see five tosspot words in A.Word.A.Day. What tosspot words have you coined? Share them on our website at https://wordsmith.org/words/canker-blossom.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. canker-blossom (KANGK-uhr-blos-uhm) noun One who destroys good things. [From canker (to decay, infect, or corrupt), from Old English cancer (crab, tumor) + blossom (the mass of flowers on a plant). Earliest documented use: 1600, in "A Midsummer Night's Dream".] "Remember when Eric Clapton wasn't such an frothy, knotty-pated, https://wordsmith.org/words/knotty-pated.html canker-blossom?" Making a Mix - Sean Beirne; New Haven Register (Connecticut); Feb 3, 2006. "HERMIA: O me! (to HELENA) You juggler! You canker-blossom! You thief of love! What, have you come by night And stol'n my love's heart from him?" William Shakespeare; A Midsummer Night's Dream; 1600. -------- Date: Tue Mar 3 00:01:03 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cure-all X-Bonus: If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind. -William Godwin, philosopher and novelist (3 Mar 1756-1836) This week's theme: Tosspot words cure-all (KYOOR-awl) noun A remedy to any problem. [From Latin cura (care or concern) + eall/all (all). Earliest documented use: 1793.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cure-all "In December 2017 Hongmao Yaojiu, a popular traditional tonic from Inner Mongolia that has long billed itself as a cure-all for the elderly, was denounced online by a doctor as ineffective and harmful." Spin Doctors; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 16, 2019. -------- Date: Wed Mar 4 00:01:04 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wantwit X-Bonus: When I listen to love, I am listening to my true nature. When I express love, I am expressing my true nature. All of us love. All of us do it more and more perfectly. The past has brought us both ashes and diamonds. In the present we find the flowers of what we've planted and the seeds of what we are becoming. I plant the seeds of love in my heart. I plant the seeds of love in the hearts of others. -Julia Cameron, artist, author, teacher, filmmaker, composer, and journalist (b. 4 Mar 1948) This week's theme: Tosspot words wantwit (WANT-wit) noun A fool; one lacking good sense. [From want + wit, from Old Norse vanta (be lacking) + Old English wit (mind). Earliest documented use: 1449.] "You silly wantwit, you've shut down all their ovens, haven't you? Right in the middle of mainmeal." Desmond Ellis; The Undergardeners; Orca; 2013. -------- Date: Thu Mar 5 00:01:03 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--know-it-all X-Bonus: Sometimes they seem like living shapes, / The people of the sky, / Guests in white raiment coming down / From heaven, which is close by. -Lucy Larcom, teacher and author (5 Mar 1824-1893) This week's theme: Tosspot words know-it-all (NO-uht-ahl) noun One who acts as if they know everything, dismissing others' ideas or advice. [From Old English cnawan (to recognize, identify) + hit (it) + eall/all (all). Earliest documented use: 1873.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/know-it-all "Sorry, you are out of refills for your Knowitall prescription. Looks like you're gonna have to shut up." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/know-it-all_large.png Image: https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/sorry-were-out-of-refills-for-your-knowitall-prescription-looks-like-youre-gonna-have-to-shut-up-093af/ "He shakes his head smiling. 'Still an insufferable know-it-all.' She gives him a taut, bitter grin. 'And you're still so smugly, blithely ignorant.'" Robert Jackson Bennett; City of Stairs; Crown; 2014. -------- Date: Fri Mar 6 00:01:04 EST 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--makepeace X-Bonus: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. -Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (6 Mar 1806-1861) This week's theme: Tosspot words makepeace (MAYK-pees) noun One who reconciles persons at odds with each other; a peacemaker. [From make + peace. From Old English macian (to make) + Old French pais, from Latin pax (peace). Earliest documented use: 1513.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/makepeace "However, I promise, as a makepeace, to introduce, for their amusement and instruction, two or three traditionary tales from my collection of Highland Wonders." Superstitions of Highlanders and Londoners; The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal; 1822. "With a little prodding from Max she'd also picked out a strand of pearls for herself and a beaded handbag for Lorna as a makepeace gesture." Jill Marie Landis, Jo Leigh, Jackie Braun; Destination: Marriage; Harlequin; 2008. -------- Date: Mon Mar 9 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quidditative X-Bonus: Why should a poet pray thus? poets scorn / The boundaried love of country, being free / Of winds, and alien lands, and distances, / Vagabonds of the compass, wayfarers, / Pilgrims of thought. -Vita Sackville-West, poet and novelist (9 Mar 1892-1962) Time passes slowly and in spurts. You have a baby and before you know it, she's walking and then in high school, college, and beyond. I started something on March 14, 1994, that became Wordsmith.org and this week we're celebrating the 26th anniversary. Dictionaries do not list a word for a 26th anniversary but we can coin one: sexvicennial, from Latin sex (six) + vicennial (20th anniversary). Thank you for being with us, whether you joined us last week or you have been with us for years or decades. Yes, we still have readers with us who joined back in the 1990s. (Find out when you joined by sending a blank email to wsmith@wordsmith.org with the word "howlong" in the Subject line.) CONTEST: To celebrate we are holding a contest and giving away prizes. The prizes are not as elaborate as what we offered for our 25th anniversary celebration last year https://wordsmith.org/awad/25years.html , but still fun. We usually announce the theme of each week's word selections, but this week you get to determine it on your own. It could be words coined after someone (also known as eponyms https://wordsmith.org/words/solon.html), or even words borrowed from a language (from Yiddish, for example http://wordsmith.org/words/verklempt.html). What is this week's theme? HOW TO ENTER: When you think you have figured out what's common among this week's words, email us your answer to contest@wordsmith.org (include your location). One answer per person, please. PRIZES: There are two prize categories. One for the first person to send the correct answer. And the other for an individual randomly selected from everyone who sent correct answers. Each of the two winners will get to pick from either of these two prizes: Wise Up!, https://www.oldscoolcompany.com/products/wise-up-the-wicked-smart-party-card-game a game, courtesy of Old's Cool Company; or a signed copy of any of my books https://wordsmith.org/awad/books.html . quidditative (KUI-di-tay-tiv) adjective Relating to the essential nature of something or someone. [From Latin quid (what), which also gave us quidnunc https://wordsmith.org/words/quidnunc.html , quid pro quo https://wordsmith.org/words/quid_pro_quo.html , and quiddity https://wordsmith.org/words/quiddity.html . Earliest documented use: 1600.] "And if a butterflying pair of wings can precipitate disaster at the other edge of the world, are those not the real angels to oppose God? Aren't they the ones who can never be allowed into heaven? And isn't that why they have beauty that nothing shares, totally quidditative?" Alec McGuire; Luther; demiHorse Books; 2009. -------- Date: Tue Mar 10 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--microcephalic X-Bonus: All that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome. -Kate Sheppard, suffragist (10 Mar 1847-1934) This week's theme: Yours to discover microcephalic (my-kro-suh-FA-lik) adjective 1. Having an abnormally small head. 2. Small-minded. [From Greek micro- (small) + -cephalic (having a head), from kephale (head). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghebh-el- (head), which also gave us the word gable. Earliest documented use: 1857. The opposite of today's word is macrocephalic.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/microcephalic "The dwarves weren't infants, they had beards, though that one -- Sleepy? Dopey? -- seemed microcephalic, with a tiny pointed head and huge ears." Tama Janowitz; They Is Us; HarperCollins; 2016. "Olga was amazed. What imbeciles men were! A country at the mercy of this microcephalic uncle of hers." Rufino Blanco-Fombona (Translation from Spanish by Isaac Goldberg); The Man of Gold; Brentano's; 1920. "Mr Hay's letter today is symptomatic of the microcephalic xenophobia which characterises the debate (or lack of it) on entry to the EEC." Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland); May 20, 1971. -------- Date: Wed Mar 11 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chrysocracy X-Bonus: All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well supported in logic and argument than others. -Douglas Adams, author (11 Mar 1952-2001) This week's theme: Yours to discover chrysocracy (kri-SAH-kruh-see) noun Rule by the wealthy. [From Greek chryso- (gold) + -cracy (rule). Earliest documented use: 1828. A synonym is plutocracy https://wordsmith.org/words/plutocracy.html .] "[The] television show 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' is a ritzy, glitzy, ironyfree chronicle of the nouveau riche. The programme, aired on the US cable channel E!, is avidly watched in this country. In some respects it is a salutary demonstration of how the British aristocracy have been well and truly supplanted by the international chrysocracy." Judith Woods; Class vs Trash; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Sep 26, 2014. -------- Date: Thu Mar 12 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lachrymogenic X-Bonus: It is the hardest thing in the world to be in love, and yet attend to business. A gentleman asked me this morning, 'What news from Lisbon?' and I answered, 'She is exquisitely handsome.' -Richard Steele, writer and politician (bap. 12 Mar 1672-1729) This week's theme: Yours to discover lachrymogenic (lak-ruh-muh-JEN-ik) adjective Inducing tears. [From Latin lacrima (tear) + -genic (producing). Earliest documented use: 1907. Two related words are lachrymose https://wordsmith.org/words/lachrymose.html and lachrymal https://wordsmith.org/words/lachrymal.html .] "For there is no more lachrymogenic experience than the school Nativity play -- to see one's little darling, enrobed in tea-towel/pashmina, clutching toy sheep/live special breed etc." Gill Hornby; Hankies at the Ready as the Nativity Season Arrives; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 12, 2009. -------- Date: Fri Mar 13 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pleniloquence X-Bonus: The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a glowing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing, it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident. -Hugh Walpole, writer (13 Mar 1884-1941) This week's theme: Yours to discover pleniloquence (ple-NIL-uh-kwens) noun Excessive talking. [From Latin pleni- (full) + -loquence (speaking). Earliest documented use: 1838. The opposite is breviloquence https://wordsmith.org/words/breviloquence.html .] "Their debate has become increasingly embroiled in pleniloquence over minutiae, as they dispute the actual number of lawyers in Germany, Korea, etc." Frank B. Cross; Lawyers, the Economy, and Society; American Business Law Journal (Oxford, Ohio); Summer 1998. -------- Date: Mon Mar 16 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--razzle-dazzle X-Bonus: Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects? -James Madison, 4th US president (16 Mar 1751-1836) Reduplicate, reduplicate, reduplicate! That's what this week's words seem to believe in. It's not enough to say it once. No, oncey-woncey! Do it again and then we have a winner: a reduplicative, a word coined by repeating the word, but usually changing it in some way, a letter or a syllable, for example. That's how we get teeny-tiny, hoity-toity, and blah-blah. https://wordsmith.org/words/hoity-toity.html This week we feature five more reduplicatives. What reduplicatives have you coined? Share on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/razzle-dazzle.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Include your location. razzle-dazzle (RAZ-uhl daz-uhl) noun Noisy excitement, showy display, or extravagant actions, especially when executed in an effort to distract or confuse. [A reduplication of dazzle, frequentative of daze, from Old Norse dasa (weary). Earliest documented use: 1885.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/razzle-dazzle "Donal Keating, a physicist who leads Microsoft's forensics work, has turned the lab into an anti-piracy playpen full of microscopes and other equipment used to analyze software disks. ... The grand question surrounding Microsoft's anti-piracy razzle-dazzle is whether it's worth the cost." Ashlee Vance; Chasing Pirates: Inside Microsoft's War Room; The New York Times; Nov 6, 2010. -------- Date: Tue Mar 17 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hobnob X-Bonus: We open our mouths and out flow words whose ancestries we do not even know. We are walking lexicons. In a single sentence of idle chatter we preserve Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a museum inside our heads, each day we commemorate peoples of whom we have never heard. -Penelope Lively, writer (b. 17 Mar 1933) This week's theme: Reduplicatives hobnob (HOB-nob) verb intr. To associate socially, especially with people of higher status. [From the earlier phrase hobnob or hob-or-nob, used by two people to toast or drink to each other. It's apparently from habnab meaning "give or take" or "hit or miss" from hab nab meaning "to have or have not". Earliest documented use: 1761.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hobnob "I salivated at the mouth-watering prospect of hobnobbing with the big shots." Gideon Nkala; Surviving a Spinal Cord Injury; Mmegi (Gaborone, Botswana); Mar 14, 2011. -------- Date: Wed Mar 18 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--artsy-fartsy X-Bonus: There is no doubt that I have lots of words inside me; but at moments, like rush-hour traffic at the mouth of a tunnel, they jam. -John Updike, writer (18 Mar 1932-2009) This week's theme: Reduplicatives artsy-fartsy (art-see FART-see) also arty-farty, adjective Pretentiously artistic or sophisticated. [From reduplication of art, from Latin ars (art), as fart + pejorative diminutive suffix -sy. The word fart is from Old English feortan, ultimately from the Indo-European root perd- (to fart), which also gave us partridge and futz https://wordsmith.org/words/futz.html . Earliest documented use: 1962.] NOTES: In Japan, there's a 33-foot long scroll depicting various scenes of fart competitions. In Japanese, it's called he-gassen (fart fight). Really! It's an enlarged and revised edition (the original was done by an unidentified painter in 1680) made by Fukuyama Soran in 1846. See the full scroll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-gassen and read more https://allthatsinteresting.com/he-gassen . He-Gassen (Japanese for "Fart fight") https://wordsmith.org/words/images/artsy-fartsy_large.jpg Detail from a scroll Artist(s) unknown "He isn't serving arty-farty flourishes of distilled wotnot to attract food snobs." Grace Dent; The Packhorse Inn; The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 5, 2019. "An optimist will say that we may be entering a new golden age of accessible and activist poetic writing, one that actually, unlike artsy-fartsy poetry, serves a political function." Russell Smith; Poetics in the Age of the Twitter Rant; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jan 19, 2019. -------- Date: Thu Mar 19 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--flimflam X-Bonus: Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism. -Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (19 Mar 1891-1974) This week's theme: Reduplicatives flimflam (FLIM-flam) noun: 1. Nonsense. 2. Deception. verb tr.: 1. To deceive. 2. To swindle. [A reduplication, probably of the Old Norse flim (mockery). Earliest documented use: 1538.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/flimflam "James Stewart, a business columnist for The Times, noted that Citigroup's flimflam made 'Goldman Sachs mortgage traders look like Boy Scouts.'" Thomas Friedman; Did You Hear the One About the Bankers?; The New York Times; Oct 29, 2011. -------- Date: Fri Mar 20 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lardy-dardy X-Bonus: The sheep have gone on strike / they are demanding better slaughtering conditions. -Dinos Christianopoulos, poet (b. 20 Mar 1931) This week's theme: Reduplicatives lardy-dardy (LAHR-dee DAHR-dee) adjective Pretentious; affected; dandyish. [Reduplication of la-di-da https://wordsmith.org/words/la-di-da.html which is imitative of affected pronunciation. Earliest documented use: 1861.] "Gov was too lardy-dardy with them, Gov had made my sisters too superior to breathe." Ursula Holden; Tin Toys; Methuen; 1987. -------- Date: Mon Mar 23 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--horse marine X-Bonus: The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980) Years of horse riding has given us words that now we don't even realize have connections with horses. A constable is, literally, a count of the stable. Someone named Philip is, literally, a horse lover, from Greek philo- (love) + hippos (horse). There are idioms, such as beating a dead horse (to try to revive interest in something that has lost its relevance) and trojan horse (something or someone placed in order to subvert from within) https://wordsmith.org/words/trojan_horse.html . As the author Alice Walker once wrote, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men." Horses have served us for millennia and now it's time to give them a rest. If you disagree, check out this interview with Ren Hurst, a former horse trainer and the author of "Riding on the Power of Others" https://www.bitesizevegan.org/vegan-is-for-everyone/learning-to-love-horses-one-trainers-journey-away-from-riding/ Meanwhile, enjoy this week's five terms having origins in horses. horse marine (hors muh-REEN) noun 1. Something imaginary. 2. Someone out of their element; a misfit. 3. A marine part of a cavalry or a cavalryman doing marine duty. [From horse, from Old English hors + marine, from Latin mare (sea). Earliest documented use: 1823.] NOTES: It sounds ridiculous that a soldier mounted on a horse would be of much use on water and that's the idea behind the term horse marine. As unbelievable as it sounds, there have been horse marines in practice; there have been some famous horses in the US Marine Corps. Meet Staff Sergeant Reckless https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant_Reckless https://wordsmith.org/words/images/horse_marine_large.jpg Image: insima/Adobe Stock "Elizabeth: He's never even kissed me. Arnold: I'd try telling that to the horse marines if I were you." W.S. Maugham; Circle; Heinemann; 1921. -------- Date: Tue Mar 24 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chevalier X-Bonus: Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, revolution in our hearts. -Dario Fo, actor, playwright, theater director, Nobel laureate (24 Mar 1926-2016) This week's theme: Terms originating in horses chevalier (shev-uh-LEER, shu-VAL-yay, -VAHL-) noun A chivalrous man, one having qualities of courtesy, honor, bravery, gallantry, etc. [From Anglo-Norman chevaler, from Old French chevalier, from Latin caballarius (horseman), from caballus (horse). Earliest documented use: 1377.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/chevalier "You have procured us a dish of great excellence, which will last for several days, and have conducted yourself like a true chevalier, without fear and without reproach." Johann D. Wyss; The Swiss Family Robinson; Penguin; 2007. -------- Date: Wed Mar 25 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--unhorse X-Bonus: A pedestal is as much a prison as any small space. -Gloria Steinem, activist, editor (b. 25 Mar 1934) This week's theme: Terms originating in horses unhorse (uhn-HORS) verb tr. 1. To dislodge from a horse. 2. To unseat from a position of power. [From un- (not) + horse, from Old English hors. Earliest documented use: 1390.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/unhorse https://wordsmith.org/words/images/unhorse_large.jpg Photo: Andrew Newman https://www.flickr.com/photos/126771727@N04/25677272585 "But unlike the 1992 campaign in which Clinton rode a US recession to unhorse George Bush, there's no consensus on what this election is all about." Jack Knox; Readers Tell Us What Matters to Them in Election; Times-Colonist (Victoria, Canada); Sep 19, 2019. -------- Date: Thu Mar 26 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hippocrene X-Bonus: We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. -Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (26 Mar 1905-1997) This week's theme: Terms originating in horses Hippocrene (HIP-uh-kreen, -kree-nee) noun Poetic or literary inspiration. [In Greek mythology, Hippocrene was a spring on Mt. Helicon and was created by a stroke of Pegasus's hoof. From Greek hippos (horse) + krene (fountain, spring). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ekwo- (horse), which also gave us equestrian, equitant https://wordsmith.org/words/equitant.html , hippodrome https://wordsmith.org/words/hippodrome.html , and hippology https://wordsmith.org/words/hippology.html . Earliest documented use: 1598.] Story of Minerva - The Muses Showing Minerva Hippocrene Waters of the River that Brings Out Pegasus, 1696 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/hippocrene_large.jpg Art: René-Antoine Houasse "But, instead of merely serving as bistros for coffee and cake connoisseurs, these cafés also serve as a Hippocrene of sorts for writers to brew up inspiration." Nida Sayed; Riverside Rendezvous; The Times of India (New Delhi); Jun 14, 2015. -------- Date: Fri Mar 27 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--horse sense X-Bonus: History is a novel whose author is the people. -Alfred de Vigny, poet, playwright, and novelist (27 Mar 1797-1863) This week's theme: Terms originating in horses horse sense (HORS sens) noun Common sense. [From horse, from Old English hors + sense, from Latin sensus (faculty of feeling). Earliest documented use: 1832.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/horse%20sense NOTES: Why horses in this idiom, as opposed to, say, foxes? Perhaps it's the association of horses with the country and the sound practical judgment shown by an unsophisticated country person. Or maybe it's an allusion to a horse's sense in staying out of trouble. Also, in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satire "Gulliver's Travels", Houyhnhnms is a race of horses endowed with reason, contrasted with Yahoos (boorish humans). Compare the term horsefeathers (nonsense). "'There’s so much more to it than that, just dealing with personalities in the room, reading the room, conversations, and then just good, old-fashioned horse sense.'" Bruce Miles; Maddon Wants More for Established Managers; Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois); Aug 23, 2019. -------- Date: Mon Mar 30 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Olympian X-Bonus: The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. -Vincent van Gogh, painter (30 Mar 1853-1890) The English language has many mountain-related idioms, because there have been mountains for at least as long as there has been language. One may make a mountain out of a molehill (exaggerate a minor problem), face a mountain of paperwork (a huge amount), or have a mountain to climb (an extremely difficult or impossible task). There's also the idiom older than the hills (extremely old).* In this week's A.Word.A.Day we have identified five mountains or hills that have become words in the English language. *It would appear that mountains or hills have been around forever, but most are relatively young. Take the Himalayas, for example, they are only about 50 million years. Compare that with the age of the Earth, about 4.5 billion years. Another way to understand this is that if the Earth were a human, the Himalayas would be a one-year-old baby. As the lawyer and orator Robert Green Ingersoll once said, "In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds." Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains in South Africa are the oldest on Earth: about 3.6 billion years. Olympian (oh-LIM-pee-uhn, uh-) adj.: 1. Lofty; surpassing others. 2. Like an Olympian god: majestic or aloof. 3. Of or relating to the Olympic Games. 4. Of or relating to Mount Olympus or gods and goddesses believed to be living there. noun: 1. A person of great achievement or position. 2. A contestant in the Olympic Games. 3. A native or inhabitant of Olympia, Greece. 4. One of the ancient Greek gods. [Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, was believed to be an abode of the gods in Greek mythology. Also, Olympia, a plain in ancient Greece, was the site of the ancient Olympic Games. Earliest documented use: 1487.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Olympian Mount Olympus from Litochoro: http://wordsmith.org/words/images/olympian_large.jpg Photo: Eugene Zagidullin http://www.flickr.com/photos/e_asphyx/5419828689/ "Many of their decisions, such as giving every state two senators regardless of population, were the product not of Olympian sagacity but of grubby power-struggles and compromises." The Perils of Constitution-Worship; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 23, 2010. "As a modern woman and mother, with her children backstage, Ms. McCartney understands the Olympian task of dressing for what life throws at you." Suzy Menkes; Stella McCartney's Olympian Task; The New York Times; Mar 5, 2012. -------- Date: Tue Mar 31 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--balkanize X-Bonus: But at my back I always hear / Time's winged chariot hurrying near; / And yonder all before us lie / Deserts of vast eternity. -Andrew Marvell, poet (31 Mar 1621-1678) This week's theme: Words coined after mountains and hills Balkanize or balkanize (BAWL-kuh-nyz) verb tr. To divide a region, group, etc., into small, often hostile, entities. [From allusion to the breakup of the Balkan Peninsula following the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The Peninsula is named after Balkan Mountains, which are named after a Turkish word for mountains: balkan. Earliest documented use: 1917.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Balkanize History of Central Europe and the Balkans from 1796 to 2008 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/balkanize_large.gif Image: Esemono/Wikimedia "The governor balkanized the Kano Emirate by creating four other emirates." Emir Sanusi and Goje -- What Happened to Their Probes?; This Day (Lagos, Nigeria); Jun 14, 2019.