A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Mar 1 00:26:23 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ailurophile X-Bonus: When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] ailurophile (eye-LOOR--uh-fyle, ay-LOOR-) noun One who loves cats. [Greek ailouros, cat + -phile.] "It's said in publishing that no cat book ever loses money. Maybe it's true: bibliophiles tend to be ailurophiles, and both are tenacious breeds." Toth, Emily, Meow mix, Women's Review of Books, 1 Jul 1995. One good way to learn words is to remember their roots and affixes. If you have ever prepared for one of those homogenized, normalized, standardized tests where they quiz you on your vocabulary to predict your aptitude for college, chances are you have already done this. Once you know the senses of prefixes and suffixes, it becomes rather easy to derive the meaning of a word. This week's AWAD features seven words derived from the following suffixes: -phile (love), -mania (excessive interest), -phobia (abnormal fear), -mancy (divination), -gamy (marriage), -logy (study), and -cracy (rule). -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 2 00:04:25 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pyromania X-Bonus: Life is life--whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage. -Sri Aurobindo pyromania (pie-roe-MAY-nee-uh, -MAYN-yuh) noun An uncontrollable impulse to start fires. "Admitting to a `streak of pyromania,' Columbia's astronauts set small fires aboard the space shuttle yesterday to help NASA design better smoke detectors and extinguishers for use in weightlessness." Nation Briefs, Newsday, 03 Mar 1996. This week's theme: words derived by adding suffixes. -------- Date: Wed Mar 3 00:04:28 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--acarophobia X-Bonus: Every child comes with the message that God is not yet tired of the man. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet (1861-1941) acarophobia (ak-uh-ruh-FOE-bee-uh) noun An abnormal fear of mites, other small insects, or worms. "The Little Book of Phobias, by Joe Kohut, lists more than 200 different phobias alphabetically. It begins with acarophobia, which is the fear of skin infestation by mites or ticks, and concludes with xerophobia, an abnormal fear of dryness and dry places, like deserts." Erwin, Melanie, Fear Can Turn Into Life-changing Phobias, Intelligencer Journal Lancaster, 18 Apr 1996. -------- Date: Thu Mar 4 03:04:33 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--geomancy X-Bonus: Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more. -Franz Kafka, while admiring fish in an aquarium geomancy (JEE-uh-man-see) noun Divination by means of lines and figures or by geographic features. [Middle English geomancie, from Medieval Latin geomantia, from Late Greek geomanteia, divination by signs from the earth : Greek geo-, geo- + Greek manteia, divination.] "Artist Wang Po Shu Has created an outdoor sculptural arrangement utilizing geomancy and feng shui, two ancient earth sciences, at the Delridge Community Center in West Seattle. ... Geomantic artwork is defined as random figures formed when a handful of earth is thrown on the ground or when lines are formed at random." Dean Wong, In tune with nature, International Examiner, 20 Dec 1994. This week's theme: words derived by adding suffixes. -------- Date: Fri Mar 5 00:46:23 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--misogamy X-Bonus: It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others. -Michel De Montaigne misogamy (mi-SOG-uh-mee) noun Hatred of marriage. "Unfortunately, Coward couldn't resist a bit of `socially acceptable' misogamy. The domestic violence at the end of the second act was a bit unsettling, the more so because so many in the audience found it amusing. Goff, Nadine, `Private Lives' Needs Something of Jump Start, Wisconsin State Journal, 7 Jan 1995. This week's theme: words derived by adding suffixes. -------- Date: Sat Mar 6 00:46:27 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--agrostology X-Bonus: You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. -Oliver Goldsmith agrostology (ag-ruh-STOL-uh-jee) noun The study of grasses. [Greek agrostis, a kind of wild grass (from agros, field.) + -logy.] "In 1936 she succeeded Hitchcock, with whom she had collaborated closely, and became the principal scientist for agrostology. ... Chase was particularly responsible for work in modernising and extending the national collection of the grass herbarium that had been part of the United States National Herbarium, although it was incorporated into the Smithsonian Institution in 1912." Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869-1963), The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 01-01-1998. This week's theme: words derived by adding suffixes. -------- Date: Sun Mar 7 00:46:20 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kleptocracy X-Bonus: To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. -Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) kleptocracy (klep-TOK-ruh-see) noun A government characterized by rampant greed and corruption. [Greek kleptein, to steal + -cracy.] "Daniel and President Kabila are from the same town and tribe. The Congo was a great traditional kleptocracy, made that way under colonial rule, with Mobutu Sese Seko as its last, most grotesque beneficiary." John Kennedy, Natural disasters versus man-made volcanoes, Independent, 30 Aug 1997, pp 15 This week's theme: words derived by adding suffixes. -------- Date: Mon Mar 8 00:06:37 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--piacular X-Bonus: Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. -Henri Bergson piacular (pie-AK-yuh-luhr) adjective 1. Making expiation or atonement for a sacrilege. 2. Requiring expiation; wicked or blameworthy. [Latin piacularis, from piaculum, propitiatory sacrifice, from piare, to appease, from pius, dutiful.] "Dogs were also favourite piacular victims, as in the Lupercalia (February 15)." Foot Moore, George, History Of Religions: Chapter I, History of the World, 1 Jan 1992. What is the most famous number in history? The irrational one that is also transcendental, and pursued since ancient times in Babylon, Egypt, India, and beyond, the one with a feature film made around it, the one that appeared in the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial, the one that has been calculated to billions of decimal digits? Of course, we are talking about pi, everyone's favorite number that continues to consume both countless hardcore mathematicians as well as ordinary mortals! March 14 (3.14) is Pi Day. Need some ideas to celebrate this happi day? Point your browser to http://www.winternet.com/~mchristi/piday.html and pick a few pi songs. Grab any instrument, a piano, pipe, or a piccolo, and pirouette away on those pithy compositions. Bake a pie, pita, or a pizza (but don't pig out, leave a few pieces for others) and organize a picnic at the pier, gather your pigments and paint a picture at the piazza, or pen some picaresque prose. O pioneers, piffle not for even a picosecond, come celebrate this week with a pierian pilgrimage to pi by picking up a few words beginning with pi. -Anu P.S. March 14 also marks AWAD's fifth anniversary! -------- Date: Tue Mar 9 00:06:27 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--picante X-Bonus: Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. -Gladys Bronwyn Stern, writer (1890-1973) picante (pi-KAN-tay) adjective Prepared in such a way as to be spicy; having a sauce typically containing tomatoes, onions, peppers, vinegar, and other condiments. [Spanish, present participle of picar, to bite, prick.] "This picante black bean pizza dip can be prepared in advance, then popped into the oven before kickoff and positioned within easy reach of the spectators." Super Bowl Menu Takes a Hot Dip, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 25 Jan 1993. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Wed Mar 10 00:06:28 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pizzicato X-Bonus: A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side. -Anne Morrow Lindberg pizzicato (pit-si-KA-toe) adjective Played by plucking rather than bowing the strings. pizzicato noun A pizzicato note or passage. [Italian, past participle of pizzicare, to pluck, from pizzare, to prick, from pizzo, point.] "The band employs a violinist and accordionist, and both are masters of their instruments' diverse qualities - a gentle middle-Eastern drone here, some pizzicato offbeat there." Andy Gill, Music: Jazz chops and gravy, Independent, 20 Nov 1998. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Thu Mar 11 00:06:26 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--piddle X-Bonus: Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) piddle (PID-l) verb tr. To use triflingly; squander. verb intr. 1. To spend time aimlessly; diddle. 2. Informal. To urinate. [Origin unknown.] "Maybe there are a few civilizations out there that have decided to stay home, piddle around and send out some radio waves once in a while." Annette Foglino, Space: Is Anyone Out There? Most astronomers say yes, Life, 1 Jul 1989. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Fri Mar 12 00:06:25 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pianissimo X-Bonus: Knowing all truth is less than doing a little bit of good. -Albert Schweitzer [The Thoughts of Albert Schweitzer] pianissimo (pee-uh-NIS-uh-moe) adverb, adjective In a very soft or quiet tone. Used chiefly as a direction. noun A part of a composition played very softly or quietly. [Italian, superlative of piano, soft.] "You could hear a pin drop in the usually chatty venue, as Sykes ended the grand spiritual on a majestic, yet barely audible sustained pianissimo." Jubilant Sykes is a hit at Zanzibar: Classical baritone combines, Philadelphia Tribune, The, 12 Jun 1998. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Sat Mar 13 00:06:22 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pissoir X-Bonus: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand Russell pissoir (pee-SWAR) noun A public urinal located on the street in some European countries. [French, from Old French, from pissier, to urinate.] "... Duchamp proclaimed, the only legitimate works of art were the products of engineering - skyscrapers, suspension bridges, or plumbing fixtures like the pissoir which he exhibited in 1917 and entitled `Fountain'. Peter Conrad, Art: not even as good as God, Independent on Sunday, 6 Apr 1997. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Sun Mar 14 00:06:22 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pilose X-Bonus: There is more to life than increasing its speed. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) pilose (PIE-loas) also pilous (-luhs) adjective Covered with fine, soft hair. [Latin pilosus, from pilus, hair.] "Because the heavily forested blonds have thin hairs, and the less abundantly pilose redheads have thick, coarse hairs, the total weight of all the hairs on their heads is about the same." Segell, Michael, The bald truth about hair, Esquire, 1 May 1994. This week's theme: pi words to mark Pi Day (March 14). -------- Date: Mon Mar 15 00:06:35 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--algolagnia X-Bonus: Goodness is the only investment which never fails. -Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) algolagnia (algoe-LAG-nee-uh) noun Sexual gratification derived from inflicting or experiencing pain. [New Latin : algo- + Greek lagneia, lust (from lagnos, lustful).] "Nurse Wolf was my name for this queen of algolagnia - of pleasure from pain. She gave pleasure by inflicting it, she got pleasure from causing it." Paul Theroux, Chastise and consent, Independent on Sunday, 19 Jul 1998. You knew this was coming, didn't you? After previous week's words produced by adding suffixes, it's time for giving equal opportunity to the other affix, so let's look at some prefixed words. The prefixes that appear this week are: algo- (pain), miso- (hatred), phil- (love), megalo- (large), geo- (earth), pyro- (fire, heat), cosmo- (world). -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 16 00:06:24 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--misoneism X-Bonus: If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell misoneism (mis-uh-NEE-izm) noun Hatred or fear of change or innovation. [Italian misoneismo : Greek miso-, miso- + Greek neos, new.] The proclamation announcing Asbridge's new post praises his `guidance, intelligence, misoneism {and} zetetic nature.' For readers without an Oxford English Dictionary handy, Asbridge offers that misoneism means aversion to change while zetetic is investigative." Altimari Daniela, The Defender of Farmington Avenue Asbridge Stepping Down as Task Force Chairman, The Hartford Courant, 15 Sep 1998. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Wed Mar 17 00:06:24 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--phillumenist X-Bonus: If fortune turns against you even jelly will break your tooth. -Persian Proverb phillumenist (fuh-LOO-muh-nist) noun One who collects matchbooks or matchboxes. [Phil (o)- + Latin lumen, light.] "Clearly, we don't have room for a matchbox collection. Not that `collection' is quite the word. Janet - let's be clear about this - is no phillumenist." Newnham, David, Lastword: Obsessions: Put those lights out, The Guardian 10 Oct 1998. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Thu Mar 18 00:06:22 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--megalopolis X-Bonus: If I were to choose between the power of writing a poem and the ecstasy of a poem unwritten, I would choose the ecstasy. It is better poetry. But you and all my neighbors agree that I always choose badly. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] megalopolis (meg-uh-LOP-uh-lis) also megapolis (mi-GAP-uh-lis, me-) noun A region made up of several large cities and their surrounding areas in sufficient proximity to be considered a single urban complex. [Megalo- + Greek polis, city.] "The biggest reason for LA's continuing lack of civic pride is the sheer sprawl of the place. Angelenos tend to be intensely loyal to their own neighbourhoods but indifferent to the surrounding megalopolis." Los Angeles: The sum of its parts?, The Economist, 12 Jul 1997. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Fri Mar 19 00:06:25 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--georgic X-Bonus: First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes the man. -Japanese proverb georgic (JOR-jik) adjective also georgical (JOR-ji-kuhl) Of or relating to agriculture or rural life. noun A poem concerning farming or rural life. [Latin georgicus, from Greek georgikos, from georgos, farmer : geo- + ergon, work.] "Enter three georgic youngsters who board a spaceship to the Mother Weed, where they land on a monolithic stigma, drill into the pistil and plant nuclear bombs into the menacing weed's ovary." Christine Montgomery, Garden plot thickens at harvest; Students' arboretum vegetable patch is scene of drama rooted, The Washington Times, 11 Aug 1998. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Sat Mar 20 00:06:24 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pyrophoric X-Bonus: I long for eternity because there I shall meet my unwritten poems and my unpainted pictures. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] pyrophoric (pie-ruh-FOR-ik) adjective 1. Spontaneously igniting in air. 2. Producing sparks by friction. [From pyrophorus, substance that ignites spontaneously :, from Greek purophoros, fire-bearing : puro-, pyro- + -phoros, -phorous.] "A pyrophoric mix of extreme religious persuasions explodes in the face of Stone's skeptical hero in Jerusalem's Old City." Picks of the Season Enough Titles in Bloom to Book a Holiday, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 21 Jun 1998. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Sun Mar 21 00:06:28 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cosmopolis X-Bonus: The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. -Chinese proverb cosmopolis (koz-MOP-uh-lis) noun A large city inhabited by people from many different countries. [Cosmo- + Greek polis, city.] "Readers like to travel, to escape to a setting, preferably hot,sticky and fatally glamorous. Certain television producers understand this instinctively, which is why Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas do not star in a show called Toronto Vice. Canada's rising cosmopolis may suggest a bright promise of public responsibility and efficiency, but it is Miami whose hard-edged pastels define the pitiless sensuality of the '80s." R.Z. Sheppard, Books: Urban Razzle, Fatal Glamour Four authors look at Miami, the definitive city of the '80s, Time, 28 Sep 1987. This week's theme: words derived by adding prefixes. -------- Date: Mon Mar 22 00:06:37 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--interrobang X-Bonus: Tact is the art of convincing people that they know more than you do. -Raymond Mortimer interrobang also interabang (in-TER-uh-bang) noun A punctuation mark used especially to end a simultaneous question and exclamation. [Interro (gation point) + bang, exclamation point (printers' slang).] "`You mean the exclamation point superimposed over a question mark?!' said Sam, a fourth-grader from Phoenix who was riding the chair with us. `We just learned about the interrobang in school.'" Stephen Wilbers, Liven the conversation by discussing punctuation, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 3 Apr 1998. Recently one of the readers of AWAD coined a clever example using that day's word and excitedly asked, "Now how is THAT for a sentence?!" Were the interrobang mark available on her keyboard, it would have been a perfect opportunity for its use. An interrobang is an exclamation sign (!) placed over a question mark (?) such that both share the same dot. This week's AWAD features other marks used in writing, some familiar, others not so familiar. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 23 00:06:29 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apostrophe X-Bonus: The heart is wiser than the intellect. -Josiah Holland (1819-1881) apostrophe (uh-POS-truh-fee) noun The superscript sign (') used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, and the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations. [French, from Late Latin apostrophus, from Greek apostrophos, from apostrephein, to turn away : apo-, + strephein, to turn.] apostrophe (uh-POS-truh-fee) noun The direct address of an absent or imaginary person or of a personified abstraction, especially as a digression in the course of a speech or composition. [Late Latin apostrophe, from Greek, from apostrephein, to turn away.] "`It seems that no one is certain anymore where to put an apostrophe,' he says. `I call this syndrome apostrophobia.' Apostrophes (which are airborne commas) are used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word or phrase ..." Patricia Corrigan, Punctuation Falls on Very Hard Time's, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 30 Sep 1995. "As an aside, it is interesting to consider a meteorological apostrophe delivered by one of the attendants as Cleopatra prepares to place the serpent on her breast: Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say The gods themselves do weep." McIntosh, William A., The serpent that bites its own tail: a quattrocento birth-death-rebirth dialectic., Parabola, 1 Nov 1998. This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. Well, we goofed. What can I say, even we make mistakes. (-; In yesterday's posting the apostrophe was punctuation non grata. Thanks to all 39571 who wrote to point it out. -Anu -------- Date: Wed Mar 24 00:16:23 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--circumflex X-Bonus: There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) circumflex (SUR-kuhm-fleks) noun A mark (^) used over a vowel in certain languages or in phonetic keys to indicate quality of pronunciation. adjective 1. Having this mark. 2. Curving around. [From Latin circumflexus, bent around, circumflex, past participle of circumflectere, to bend around : circum- + flectere, to bend.] "At the center of their protest is the circumflex accent, a little hat the French occasionally put over vowels (as inchateau and hotel, crouton and maitre). To simplify matters, the new rules would remove it from i's and u's." France: Tempest in a Chapeau, Time, 14 Jan 1991. This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. -------- Date: Thu Mar 25 00:07:19 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tilde X-Bonus: Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. -Jonathan Kozol tilde (TIL-duh) noun A diacritical mark (~) placed over the letter n in Spanish to indicate the palatal nasal sound (ny), as in canon, or over a vowel in Portuguese to indicate nasalization, as in la, pao. [Spanish, alteration of obsolete Catalan title, from Latin titulus, superscription.] "Old typewriters rarely had a tilde key. That dates to early personal computers. The tilde was put in the upper left corner. Its main use was as an accent mark for Spanish words, such as manana." Kevin Maney, Decoding what http://really.means.on.the.Internet, USA Today, 5 Sep 1996. This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. -------- Date: Fri Mar 26 00:07:21 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--virgule X-Bonus: My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] virgule (VUR-gyool) noun A diagonal mark (/) used especially to separate alternatives, as in and/or, to represent the word per, as in miles/hour, and to indicate the ends of verse lines printed continuously, as in Old King Cole/Was a merry old soul. [French, comma, obelus, from Late Latin virgula, accentual mark, from Latin, obelus, diminutive of virga, rod.] "Though no longer used as a British coin, the shilling still is well known throughout the world. This may explain why British printers call a virgule (a slanted line that now is common on computer keyboards) a shilling bar. Americans tend to call it a slash bar or slash." Weiner, Richard, This wrap is a bomb. (differences in media language between UK and US), Communication World, 1 Dec 1997. This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. -------- Date: Sat Mar 27 00:07:54 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ampersand X-Bonus: We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time. -T.S. Eliot ampersand (AM-puhr-sand) noun The character or sign (&) representing the word and. [Alteration of and per se and, & (the sign) by itself (is the word) and.] "Why was the vicar offended by an ampersand? ... The Rev Paul Ainsworth, vicar of St Stephen's, Moortown, Leeds, objected to Marks & Spencer adverts which replaced the `A' in CHRISTMAS with a `&'." Quiz Of The Week, Independent on Sunday, 21 Dec 1997. This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. -------- Date: Sun Mar 28 00:07:30 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--diaeresis X-Bonus: If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him. An investment of knowledge always pays the best interest. -Benjamin Franklin dieresis or diaeresis (die-ER-i-sis) noun 1. Linguistics. A mark placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that they are to be pronounced as separate sounds rather than a diphthong. A mark placed over a vowel, such as the final vowel in Bronte, to indicate that the vowel is not silent. 2. Poetry. A break or pause in a line of verse that occurs when the end of a word and the end of a metric foot coincide. [Late Latin diaeresis, from Greek diairesis, from diairein, to divide : dia-, apart + hairein, to take.] "There is usually a pause (caesura) within the third or fourth foot (rarely between them, and then called diaeresis) ... " Paul F. Baum, Prosody, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 28 Feb 1996. "My daughter's name is Zoe, with two dots over the e. Every time I want to type her name in a Word document, I type Z-O-E. Word then underlines this spelling as incorrect and offers me a number of options, the second of which is correct. This can be time-consuming. Is there a simple way to insert the diaeresis? " Connected: Dotty about Zoe FAQS! FACTS! FAX!, The Daily Telegraph, 3 Dec 1998 This week's theme: words about punctuation and diacritics. -------- Date: Mon Mar 29 00:07:43 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--phonetic X-Bonus: It is only the wisest and the stupidest that cannot change. -Confucius Analects phonetic (fuh-NET-ik) adjective 1. Of or relating to phonetics. 2. Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound. 3. Of, relating to, or being features of pronunciation that are not phonemically distinctive in a language, as aspiration of consonants or vowel length in English. [New Latin phoneticus, representing speech sounds, from Greek phonetikos, vocal, from phonetos, to be spoken, from phonein, to produce a sound, from phone, sound, voice.] "Before infants are even 1 year old, they can distinguish subtle phonetic sounds in all languages. For example, a baby can recognize two `D' sounds in Hindi that sound identical to an English-speaking adult." No Subtleties in Baby Talk, ScienceNOW, 23 Jul 1997. Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it is pronounced? Ever wondered why "shorter" is longer than "short"? No one said English was logical. If you've ever bumped into a pauper named Midas and wondered how inappropriately he was named, you'll understand this week's theme in AWAD: words that go out of their way to not apply to themselves. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Mar 30 00:07:21 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--abbreviation X-Bonus: Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. -Malcolm S. Forbes abbreviation (uh-bree-vee-AY-shuhn) noun 1. The act or product of shortening. 2. A shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form, such as Mass. for Massachusetts or USMC for United States Marine Corps. 3. Music. Any of various symbols used in notation to indicate that a series of notes is to be repeated. [Middle English abbreviaten, from Late Latin abbreviare, abbreviat- : ab- (variant of ad-) + breviare, to shorten, from brevis, short.] "(Beavis and Butt-Head) spend every moment of what passes for waking life on their duffs watching rock videos on TV and saying either `This sucks!' or `Cool!' They are, in short, embryonic film critics, and as a mark of respect to their firstfull-screen adventure - see below - I shall indicate with a system of simple B&B- inspired abbreviations which films are distinguished (C), which are undistinguished (S), which are provocative if flawed (C/S) and which are profoundly dismaying save for certain redemptive elements (S/C)." Kevin Jackson, America, can we have your votes, please?, Independent on Sunday, 25 May 1997. Why is abbreviation such a long word? This week's theme: words that go out of their way to not apply to themselves. -------- Date: Wed Mar 31 00:07:20 EST 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--monosyllabic X-Bonus: Resentment is one burden that is incompatible with your success. Always be the first to forgive; and forgive yourself first always. -Dan Zadra monosyllabic (mon-uh-si-LAB-ik) adjective 1. Having only one syllable. 2. Characterized by or consisting of monosyllables. [From Late Latin monosyllabon, from Greek monosullabon : mono-, mono- + sullabe, syllable.] "A number of people, friends of friends of his, had said that he was tough to talk to and uncomfortable with strangers. `He can be positively monosyllabic,' one person told me." Sherrill, Martha, Mister lonely hearts. (comedian Steve Martin laments about his love life), Esquire, 1 Apr 1996. Why does monosyllabic have five syllables? This week's theme: words that go out of their way to not apply to themselves.