A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Sun Mar 1 00:05:32 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lavage
X-Bonus: The young wish to give their elders the full benefits of their inexperience.
lav.age n. [F. fr. OF, fr. laver, to wash, fr. L lavare. See LAVE.]
A washing, especially of a hollow organ, such as the stomach or lower
bowel, with repeated injections of water.
David Aaronovitch, David Aaronovitch column., Independent, 03-29-1997,
pp 23.
"`You must have a weird sense of values if you see anything wrong with me
kissing a girl in the park," he told The Sun. It is indeed possible that
Piers treats everybody to this kind of internal lavage."
Marriage Season Leads to Mass Food poisoning in Ukraine., ITAR-TASS, 9
Oct 1997.
"Fortunately, the newlyweds, guests and hosts of the marriage survived.
Though it is true that following a sumptuous dinner and heavy drinking
session they had also to undergo a special course consisting of gastric
lavage."
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Date: Mon Mar 2 02:52:11 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--affluential
X-Bonus: This sentance has threee errors.
af.flu.en.tial adj. and n. [Blend of affluent and influential] Prominent or
socially influential on account of wealth; rich and powerful.
1994 Evening Standard 22 June 13/1
"The clientele will be very much as it is in America. That is, the
corporate male, very successful in his business, affluential. Not the
sort of people who can handle rejection."
A saying about the pace of change in computer industry goes that by the time
one unpacks a computer from the box it is obsolete. Perhaps the same can be
said of dictionary publishing. The English language is ever evolving -- new
words get coined, existing words develop new senses, words from other
languages are borrowed, and words fall into disuse and become archaic.
Compiling a dictionary is an arduous undertaking taking years and years of
effort and it is not possible to publish a new edition every couple of years.
The second edition of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was
published in 1989, and the third edition is expected to come out around 2010.
In the meanwhile, the Oxford University Press has been publishing OED
Additions Series to supplement the Second Edition. August 1997 marked the
publication of the third volume in OED Additions Series. This week we take
a peek at some of words introduced in this book. -Anu
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Date: Tue Mar 3 03:52:15 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mediocracy
X-Bonus: The world isn't worse. It's just that the news coverage is so much better.
me.di.oc.ra.cy n. [Blend of mediocre and -ocracy.] Government by the
mediocre; a system within which mediocrity is rewarded.
"1984 A. Hearnden Red Robert xiv. 254
"He had a sharp eye for the point at which a meritocracy becomes a
mediocracy."
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Wed Mar 4 00:05:07 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--luggable
X-Bonus: I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong.
lug.ga.ble a. [fr. lug + able] That can be lugged; barely portable; used esp.
to designate a computer which is designed to be portable but requires
considerable effort.
1994 Spy (N.Y.) Sept./Oct. 90/2
"Owning a luggable is like owning one of those small foreign convertibles."
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Thu Mar 5 00:04:57 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ableism
X-Bonus: It's not the load that breaks you down - it's the way you carry it.
a.ble.ism n. [fr. able + -ism] Discrimination in favour of able-bodied
persons; prejudice against or disregard of the needs of the disabled.
1985 S. E. Browne et al. With Power of each Breath 92
"Sexism and ableism work in concert to disqualify us from vast areas of
social life."
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Fri Mar 6 00:05:04 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--animatronics
X-Bonus: Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well. -La Rochefoucauld
an.i.ma.tron.ics n. [Shortened form of Audio-Animatronics;
anima(ted + elec)tronics] A technique of constructing robot models in
accurate likenesses of humans, animals, etc., which are programmed to
perform intricate, lifelike bodily movements in synchronization with a
pre-recorded soundtrack.
1992 A. Maupin, Maybe the Moon, v. 70
"To me, the kids looked like animatronics figures, robots from a ride at
Disneyland."
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Sat Mar 7 00:05:11 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exfiltrate
X-Bonus: Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child. -Ron Wild
ex.fil.trate v. [Back-formation from exfiltration] To withdraw (troops,
spies, etc.) from a dangerous position, usu. surreptitiously.
1991 J. le Carre, Secret Pilgrim iv. 101
"We can't exfiltrate thirty agents. We'd start a war."
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Sun Mar 8 00:05:06 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--maudit
X-Bonus: The trouble with political jokes is that they get elected.
mau.dit a. [Fr., pp.of maudire to curse, damn. Although maudit has various
senses in French, its uses in English seem to derive exclusively from (and
are often explicitly analogous with) the earlier borrowing poete maudit.]
Of creative artists or their work: insufficiently appreciated by
contemporaries; unsung, undeservedly neglected.
1991 Vanity Fair Sept. 162/3
It was the period when he was working with writer Charles Bukowski, the
maudit chronicler of marginal lives in American society.
This week's theme: New words from Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.
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Date: Mon Mar 9 00:10:18 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--suspiration
X-Bonus: Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam]
sus.pi.ra.tion n. [L. suspiratio.] The act of sighing, or fetching a long
and deep breath; a deep respiration; a sigh.
"That's why it was not cold: as though there lay supine and prisoned
between earth and mist the long winter night's suspiration of the sleeping
town in dark close rooms--the slumber and the rousing; the stale waking
thermostatic, by reheating heat-engendered: it lay like a cold grease upon
the steps and the wooden entrance to the basement and upon the narrow
plank walk which led to a shed building in the corner of the yard; upon
these planks, running and still carrying the scuttle of live ashes, Mrs.
Hait skated viciously."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard." Mrs. Hait lost her
not particularly valuable husband and gained $8500 in consequence of I. O.
Snopes' scheme to defraud the railroad by putting mules on the tracks. But
she has suffered for years from the invasions of Snopes' wild mules, one of
which runs amok in this story. Her house burns in the ensuing chaos but she
outwits Snopes at the end. Half the fun of the story is in the disjunction
between the highfalutin vocabulary of the narrator and the farcical
shenanigans of the story's characters and animals. Usage examples from the
story sometimes bring high and low diction together for condensed comic
effect, as here: "`Them sons of bitches,' Mrs. Hait said in a grim prescient
voice without rancor or heat." -William Clarkson (bclarksoATsewanee.edu)
(This week's Guest Wordsmith, Bill, is a Professor in the English Department
at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. -Anu)
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Date: Tue Mar 10 00:05:04 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--burlesque
X-Bonus: A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls. -US Vice President J. Danforth Quayle
bur.lesque a. [F. burlesque, fr. It. burlesco, fr. burla jest, mockery, perh.
for burrula, dim. of L. burrae trifles.] Tending to excite laughter or
contempt by extravagant images, or by a contrast between the subject and
the manner of treating it, as when a trifling subject is treated with mock
gravity; jocular; ironical.
bur.lesque v. i. To employ burlesque.
bur.lesque n. 1. Ludicrous representation; exaggerated parody; grotesque
satire. 2. An ironical or satirical composition intended to excite
laughter, or to ridicule anything. 3. A ludicrous imitation; a caricature;
a travesty; a gross perversion.
bur.lesque, v. t. To ridicule, or to make ludicrous by grotesque
representation in action or in language.
"He lay flat on his stomach, his head and shoulders upreared by his
outstretched arms, his coat tail swept forward by itw own arrested
momentum about his head so that from beneath it his slack-jawed face
mused in wild repose like that of a burlesqued nun."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Wed Mar 11 00:07:04 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--celerity
X-Bonus: May you live in interesting times. -Ancient Chinese Curse
ce.ler.i.ty n. [L. celeritas, from celer swift, speedy: sf. F. celerite.]
Rapidity of motion; quickness; swiftness.
"With that unhasteful celerity Mrs. Hait turned and set the scuttle down
on the brick coping of the cellar entrance and she and old Het turned the
corner of the house in time to see the now wraithlike mule at the moment
when its course converged with that of a choleric-looking rooster and
eight Rhode Island Red hens emerging from beneath the house."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Thu Mar 12 00:06:31 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apotheosis
X-Bonus: There must be more to life than sitting wondering if there is more to life.
a.poth.e.osis n. [L., fr. Gr. fr. apotheoun, to deify.] 1. The act of
elevating a mortal to the rank of, and placing among, ``the gods;''
deification. 2. Glorification; exaltation.
"Then for an instant its progress assumed the appearance and trappings of
an apotheosis: hell-born and hell-returning, in the act of dissolving
completely into the fog, it seemed to rise vanishing into a sunless and
dimensionless medium borne upon and enclosed by small winged goblins."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Fri Mar 13 00:06:34 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hap
X-Bonus: We cannot glimpse the essential life of a caged animal, only the shadow of [her] former beauty. -Julia Allen Field [Reflections on the Death of an Elephant]
hap v. t. [OE.happen.] To clothe; to wrap.
hap n. [Cf. {Hap} to clothe.] A cloak or plaid. [O. Eng. & Scot.]
hap n. [Icel. happ unexpected good luck.] That which happens or comes
suddenly or unexpectedly; also, the manner of occurrence or taking place;
chance; fortune; accident; casual event; fate; luck; lot.
hap v. i. [OE. happen. See {Hap} chance, and cf. {Happen}.] To happen; to
befall; to chance.
"It was her whole town-dwelling history as dated from that April dawn ten
years ago when what was left of Hait had been gathered from the mangled
remains of five mules and several feet of new Manila rope on a blind curve
of the railroad just out of town: the geographical hap of her very home;
the very component of her bereavement--the mules, the defunct husband, and
the owner of them."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Sat Mar 14 00:05:30 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--indomitable
X-Bonus: If you must cry over spilled milk then please try to condense it.
in.dom.i.ta.ble a. [L. indomitabilis; pref. in- not + domitare, intens. fr.
domare to tame.] Not to be subdued; untamable; invincible; as, an
indomitable will, courage, animal.
"She left the kitchen, not running exactly, yet with a kind of outraged
celerity, carrying the scuttle--a compact woman of forty-odd, with an air
of indomitable yet relieved bereavement, as though that which had relicted
her had been a woman and not a particularly valuable one at that."
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Sun Mar 15 00:05:10 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bucolic
X-Bonus: One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints. -Proverb
bu.col.ic a. [L. bucolicus, Gr. boukolikos fr. boukolos cowherd.] Of or
pertaining to the life and occupation of a shepherd; pastoral; rustic.
bu.col.ic n. A pastoral poem, representing rural affairs, and the life,
manners, and occupation of shepherds; as, the Bucolics of Theocritus and
Virgil.
Words from William Faulkner's story "Mule in the Yard."
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Date: Mon Mar 16 00:07:16 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chaos
X-Bonus: A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam]
chaos (KAY-os) noun
1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion.
2. A disorderly mass; a jumble.
3. Often Chaos. The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite
space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the
ordered universe.
4. Obsolete. An abyss; a chasm.
[Middle English, formless primordial space, from Latin, from Greek khaos.]
"But chaos is a condition of creativity, says Zarathustra - `one must have
chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.'"
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, Thus Spake Zarathustra: Part 1.
In many languages such as Spanish and (my native language) Hindi, words are
spoken just as they are spelled. Thus there is no concept of having separate
pronunciation information in the dictionaries. It is quite strange
experience for a person learning English as a second language to discover
this fact. To me it was as if someone was saying, "Hi, I'm Geoff but call
me Jeff."
The most often requested feature in AWAD is pronunciation information.
Beginning this week, we'll have ASCII pronunciation in email postings and
sound clip on the Web site ( https://wordsmith.org/words/today.html ).
The sound recording is thanks to Stuti Garg (stutiATwordsmith.org).
Without much further ado, let's see (and hear) some words and make it a week
of words that really beg pronunciation information. -Anu
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Date: Tue Mar 17 00:05:21 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--oeuvre
X-Bonus: The secret of man's being is not only to live but to have something to live for. -Dostoyevsky
oeuvre (OE-vruh) noun
1. A work of art.
2. The sum of the lifework of an artist, a writer, or a composer.
[French, from Old French uevre, work, from Latin opera, from plural of opus,
work.]
"Handsomely produced with ample margins, an inviting typeface, and clear
reproductions of old photographs, this new study for young readers is a
thoughtfully composed introduction to Whitman's work and life that neither
sensationalizes nor diminishes the controversial aspects of his oeuvre."
Burns, Mary M., Walt Whitman.(book reviews)., Vol. 71, The Horn Book
Magazine, 09-19-1995, pp 622(2).
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
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Date: Wed Mar 18 00:05:04 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--segue
X-Bonus: Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness. -Seneca
segue (SEG-way) intr. verb
1. Music. To make a transition directly from one section or theme to
another.
2. To move smoothly and unhesitatingly from one state, condition,
situation, or element to another.
[From Italian, there follows, third-person sing. present tense of seguire,
to follow, from Vulgar Latin sequere, from Latin sequi.]
"A simple example would be the image of Rabbit running to school, (165-6)
which segues into Buchanan's comment that the money Rabbit is lending him
will buy `a world of pencils'..."
Updike, John, Works of John Updike: Style., Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963.
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
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Date: Thu Mar 19 00:05:17 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rendezvous
X-Bonus: A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them fortune. -Richard Whately
rendezvous (RAN-day-voo) noun
1. A meeting at a prearranged time and place.
2. A prearranged meeting place, especially an assembly point for troops or
ships.
3. A popular gathering place: The cafe is a favorite rendezvous for
artists.
4. Aerospace. The process of bringing two spacecraft together.
rendezvous tr. and intr. verb.
To cause to assemble or to assemble at a prearranged time and place.
[French, from the phrase rendez vous, present yourselves, from Old French :
rendez, second person pl. imperative of rendre, to present; see RENDER +
vous, yourselves, you (from Latin vos, you]
WORD HISTORY: A word that refers to the process of bringing two spacecraft
together and to a meeting between lovers might be thought to have a source
having to do with connection. The history of rendezvous, however, had
originally to do with the process of getting to a meeting place. The French
word rendezvous, which English borrowed, is made up of the second person
plural imperative of the verb rendre, meaning in this case "to present or
betake," and vous, the second person plural reflexive pronoun meaning
"yourselves.: The word rendezvous in French denoted the place at which you
were supposed to present yourselves or the meeting you were to attend. The
first recorded use of the word in English (1591) is for a place where troops
are to assemble.
"For over half a century his home in St. James Place was a rendezvous for
poets and artists, statesment and musicians."
Samuel Rogers, A Tear., The World's Best Poetry on CD (tm), 03-20-1995.
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
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Date: Fri Mar 20 00:05:11 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--victual
X-Bonus: Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption. -John Stuart Mill
victual (VIT-l) noun
1. Food fit for human consumption.
2. victuals. Food supplies; provisions.
victual tr. verb
1. To provide with food.
victual intr. verb
1. To lay in food supplies.
2. To eat.
[Alteration (influenced by Late Latin victualia, provisions) of Middle
English vitaille, from Old French, from Late Latin victualia, provisions,
from Latin, neuter pl. of victualis, of nourishment, from Latin victus,
nourishment, from past participle of vivere, to live.]
"Wherefore, if the whole matter be well considered, it ought not to be
difficult for a prudent Prince, both at the outset and afterwards, to
maintain the spirits of his subjects during a siege; provided always that
victuals and other means of defence do not run short."
Machiavelli, Niccolo, Prince, The: Chapter X.
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
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Date: Sat Mar 21 00:05:17 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--contretemps
X-Bonus: Humor is just another defense against the universe. -Mel Brooks
contretemps (KON-truh-tan, kawn-truh-TAN) noun
An unforeseen event that disrupts the normal course of things; an
inopportune occurrence.
[French : contre-, against (from Latin contra- + temps, time (from Latin
tempus).]
"But the government doesn't have to outlaw words or images to silence its
citizens. It can also withdraw support or exact self-censorship as a
condition of sponsorship, as the National Endowment for the Arts
contretemps demonstrated."
Levinson, Nan, The right not to remain silent., Vol. XI, Women's Review of
Books, 04-01-1994, pp 1,3.
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
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Date: Sun Mar 22 00:05:10 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--knurl
X-Bonus: Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy, but how we make ourselves worthy of happiness. -Immanuel Kant
knurl (nurl) noun
1. A knob, knot, or other small protuberance.
2. One of a series of small ridges or grooves on the surface or edge of a
metal object, such as a thumbscrew, to aid in gripping.
knurl tr. verb
To provide with knurls; mill.
[Probably diminutive of knur.]
"Indeed, toolmakers have now created an air-driven gun that will spit out
`knurl nails' (which resemble screws) that are used with metal."
Leslie Earnest, Builders Brace for Change With Steel-Frame Homes;
Home Edition, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug 1996, pp. D-1.
This week's theme: words whose pronunciations differ a lot from their spellings.
To see a compilation of feedback on this week's words, please see AWADmail
Issue 8 at https://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail.html or get it by email by
sending a blank message to wsmith@wordsmith.org with the Subject line as:
awadmail 8
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Date: Mon Mar 23 00:07:01 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paragon
X-Bonus: Where there is a will, there is an Inheritance Tax.
paragon (PARE-uh-gohn) noun
1. A model of excellence or perfection of a kind; a peerless example:
a paragon of virtue.
2.a. An unflawed diamond weighing at least 100 carats.
b. A very large spherical pearl.
3. Printing. A type size of 20 points.
paragon tr. verb
1. To compare; parallel.
2. To equal; match.
[Obsolete French, from Old French, from Old Italian paragone, from
paragonare, to test on a touchstone, perhaps from Greek parakonan, to
sharpen : para-, alongside; see PARA-1 + akone, whetstone.]
"Continuing the 1909 emphasis on variety, `Paragon Rag' has the plantation
sound."
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"At his right hand stood winged Love, and on
His left sat smiling Beauty's paragon."
Keats, John, The poetical works of John Keats.
Scott Joplin was a Black American pianist and composer (1868-1917) who
perfected and popularized the controversial new style of music, called
ragtime, at the turn of the century. Luring musicians from both European
and African backgrounds, ragtime commingled the two musical traditions,
facilitating interracial partnership in its composition. Scott Joplin is
the most renowned of these ragtime masters, and among his collection of
piano scores are pithy titles with picturesque words, seven of which we'll
learn this week. -Christy Anderson (cxande3ATuswest.com)
(This week's Guest Wordsmith, Christy, is a graphic artist who likes to
play piano and confesses to having an "involuntary obsession" for languages,
philology, and speech habits. -Anu)
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Date: Tue Mar 24 00:05:33 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--euphony
X-Bonus: Night fell again. There was war to the south, but our sector was quiet. The battle was over. Our casualties were some thirteen thousand killed--thirteen thousand minds, memories, loves, sensations, worlds, universes--because the human mind is more a universe than the universe itself--and all for a few hundred yards of useless mud. -John Fowles [The Magus, 1965]
euphony (YU-fuh-nee) noun
Agreeable sound, especially in the phonetic quality of words.
euphonic (yu-FON-ik) adjective
[French euphonie, from Late Latin euphonia, from Greek, from euphonos,
sweet-voiced : eu-, eu- + phone, sound]
"Modestly subtitled `A Syncopated Two-Step,' `Euphonic Sounds' is far from
modest in intent or realization."
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"The absolute possessives, ours and yours, hers, mine and thine, (with
which the poetic or euphonic use of the last two before vowels has nothing
to do) are to be used only as pronouns or as predicative adjectives, not
as attributes to an expressed and following noun."
Fowler, H. W. 1908. The King's English: Formations.
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Wed Mar 25 00:05:23 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--heliotrope
X-Bonus: The best vitamin for making friends, B-1.
heliotrope (HEE-lee-uh-trope) noun
1.a. Any of several plants of the genus Heliotropium, especially H.
arborescens, native to Peru and having small, highly fragrant
purplish flowers. Also called turnsole.
b. The garden heliotrope.
c. Any of various plants that turn toward the sun.
2. See bloodstone.
3. Color. A moderate, light, or brilliant violet to moderate or deep
reddish purple.
[Middle English elitrope (from Old English eliotropus) and French heliotrope,
both from Latin heliotropium, from Greek heliotropion : helio-, helio- +
tropos, turn; see TROPE.]
heliotrope adjective
"Conforming with Joplin's propensity for floral, folial, and arboreal
titles, 'Heliotrope Bouquet' validates its name by the atmosphere of
[Louis] Chauvin's themes, clothed in his exquisitely personal harmony."
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"But their rainbow hues were unusual: acid and lime greens, lilacs,
heliotropes and tangerines."
Jane Ducas, House and Home: Putting a new spin on silk, The Sunday
Telegraph, 20 Jul 1997, pp. 25.
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Thu Mar 26 00:05:07 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--felicity
X-Bonus: We are only figments of God's imagination.
felicity (fih-LIS-ih-tee) noun
1.a. Great happiness; bliss.
b. An instance of great happiness.
2. A cause or source of happiness.
3.a. An appropriate and pleasing manner or style: felicity of expression.
b. An instance of appropriate and pleasing manner or style.
4. Archaic. Good fortune.
[Middle English felicite, from Old French felicite, from Latin felicitas,
from felix, felic-, fortunate.]
"The first two themes of `Felicity Rag' are almost surely by [Scott]
Hayden."
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"Now there's a few of 'em that seem to have some cultural background,
some intelligence and a good deal of literary felicity but they just
simply won't write honestly."
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. 1920. This Side of Paradise: Book 2, Chapter 2:
Experiments in Convalescence.
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Fri Mar 27 00:05:08 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kismet
X-Bonus: ...no battle is ever won...they are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and Victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. -William Faulkner [The Sound and the Fury]
kismet (KIZ-met) noun
Fate; fortune.
[Turkish, from Persian qismat, from Arabic qismah, lot, from qasama, to
divide, allot.]
"The final Joplin-[Scott] Hayden rag [was] 'Kismet Rag.'"
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"Who doesn't believe in kismet, happy fate, the lucky twist in the stars?"
Carlson, Ron, Some enchanted evening, Redbook, 1 Feb 1995, pp. 138(5).
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Sat Mar 28 00:05:10 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nonpareil
X-Bonus: Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
nonpareil (non-puh-REEL) adjective
1. Having no equal; peerless.
nonpareil noun
1. A person or thing that has no equal; a paragon.
2. A painted bunting: a small finch (Passerina ciris) of the southern
United States and Mexico, the male of which has brilliant multicolored
plumage.
3. A small, flat chocolate drop covered with white pellets of sugar.
[Middle English nounparalle, from Old French nonpareil : non-, non- +
pareil, equal (from Vulgar Latin *pariculus, diminutive of Latin par, equal]
"Of the four 1907 rags by Joplin alone, only 'Nonpareil'...looks back in
the main to the Sedalia-St Louis Years."
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
The Trocks' grand finale is led by Fifi Barkova - `a ballerina nonpareil,
whose pungency is indisputable'..."
Louise Levene, The full Monte, Independent. 09-13-1997.
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Sun Mar 29 00:05:11 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--augustan
X-Bonus: He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end. -Harry Emerson Fosdick
Augustan (aw-GUS-tuhn) adjective
1. Of or characteristic of Augustus or his reign or times.
2. Of or characteristic of English literature during the early 18th
century.
"In March 1901...three new Joplin works were published: 'Peacherine Rag,'
'Augustan Club Waltzes,' and a collaboration with Hayden, 'Sunflower Slow
Drag.'"
Rudi Blesh, The Complete Works of Scott Joplin; Black-American Classicist,
1971.
"I do not know where to find in any literature, ancient or modern, any
account which contents me of that Nature with which even I am acquainted.
You will perceive that I demand something which no Augustan nor
Elizabethan age, which no culture, in short, can give. Mythology comes
nearer to it than anything."
Thoreau, Henry David, Walking: Part II.
This week's theme: words from Scott Joplin's piano scores titles.
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Date: Mon Mar 30 00:07:07 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vim
X-Bonus: The only journey is the one within. -Rainer Maria Rilke
vim (vim) noun
Ebullient vitality and energy.
[Latin, accusative of vis.]
"The small pieces, especially, have a vim and vigour, a playfulness and
eroticism, that he has never sustained with such assurance."
John McEwen, The Arts: The good, the bad and the smelly Art,
The Sunday Telegraph, 1 Mar 1998.
Has it ever happened to you that a short quote you read somewhere made you
think more than that by spending several weeks with a heavy tome? Perhaps
that's what Friedrich Nietzsche had in mind when he said, "It is my ambition
to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book." In this spirit,
this week we feature seven short yet potent words. -Anu
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Date: Tue Mar 31 00:05:30 EST 1998
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fey
X-Bonus: If you're not afraid to face the music you may some day lead the band.
fey (fay) adjective
1.a. Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairylike aspect or
quality: "She's got that fey look as though she's had breakfast with a
leprechaun." (Dorothy Burnham).
b. Having visionary power; clairvoyant.
c. Appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell.
2. Scots. a. Fated to die soon.
b. Full of the sense of approaching death.
[Middle English feie, fated to die, from Old English fege.]
"If all this seems a little fey and politically correct, if it inspires
the urge to ask why they can't just get on with designing buildings with
four walls and a roof..."
Rowan Moore, The Arts: Smashing the glass ceiling Hard luck, boys,
The Daily Telegraph, 13 Nov 1997.
This week's theme: short words.