A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Fri May 1 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pseudandry X-Bonus: To be patriotic, hate all nations but your own; to be religious, all sects but your own; to be moral, all pretences but your own. -Lionel Strachey, writer and translator (1864-1927) This week's theme: Words for him and her pseudandry (su-DAN-dree) noun The use of a male name as a pseudonym by a woman. [From Greek pseudo (false) + andro (male).] Many women wrote under male pen names because in the 18th and 19th centuries it was considered scandalous for a woman to write a book. The English novelist Mary Ann Evans wrote as George Eliot. Also, in olden times, people didn't take a woman's writing seriously. The counterpart of pseudandry is pseudogyny where a man takes a woman's name as a pseudonym. The rationale here is that people expect certain genres, such as romance, to be written by women. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The first volume contains a short commentary by Dagon Khin Khin Lay in which she revealed her pseudandry and confessed that although she wrote these stories she did not believe in things supernatural." Dagon Khin Khin Lay's Pseudandry; Myanmar Perspectives; 2000. -------- Date: Mon May 4 00:31:02 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--evitable X-Bonus: Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) Negativeland http://amazon.com/o/asin/1570271593/ws00-20 is the title of a slim novel I came across recently that's written with a constraint. Here's how it begins: "None of the stations played anything good, but I kept at the buttons, pushing off songs from a childhood we were all supposed to have had. Commercials bothered me more than ever, news was propaganda, and traffic reports were no more useful than the weather. It wasn't yet 1988, and I was driving home from Tacoma." Notice anything interesting in this paragraph? Anything in common in the three sentences? Well, the title of the book is a hint. Each sentence in this book has something negative going on. All 186 pages of it. And it's a tribute to the author that his self-imposed constraint doesn't constrain the storytelling. There's a long tradition of writing with self-imposed constraints. There's a group called Oulipo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo that has tried many things, often with admirable results. (also see lipogram https://wordsmith.org/words/lipogram.html and univocalic http://wordsmith.org/words/univocalic.html ) To purge all the negativity, in this week's AWAD I'll feature five words that are positive counterparts of terms usually seen in negative forms. evitable (EV-i-tuh-buhl) adjective Capable of being avoided or evaded. [From Latin evitare (to avoid).] "Racers insist they do it 'for the glory', which is a shrewd way of saying they do it for no good reason. This is an Entirely Evitable Event." Don Kahle; Kinetic Challenge Recalls Rickies; The Register-Guard (Eugene, Oregon); Jul 18, 2008. -------- Date: Tue May 5 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wieldy X-Bonus: Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. -Aharon Barak, law professor, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel (b.1936) This week's theme: Forgotten positives wieldy (WEEL-dee) adjective Easily handled or managed. [From Old English wealdan (to rule). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong) that gave us the words valiant, avail, valor, and value.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "What Lotus means, of course, is that the Exige [car] is small and wieldy; that it can out-corner a mosquito." Michael Booth; On Wheels: Lotus Exige S; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 3, 2006. -------- Date: Wed May 6 00:01:06 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exorable X-Bonus: We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves. -George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880) This week's theme: Forgotten positives exorable (EK-suhr-uh-buhl) adjective Capable of being persuaded or moved. [From Latin exorare (to prevail upon), from ex- (out) + orare (to pray, beg).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Without reform, the result is an exorable middle-class tax increase." Jonathan Rauch; A Bad Tax With Good Timing; National Journal (Washington, DC); Mar 18, 2006. -------- Date: Thu May 7 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gainly X-Bonus: Ready money is Aladdin's lamp. -Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824) This week's theme: Forgotten positives gainly (GAYN-lee) adjective Graceful; dexterous. [From Old Norse gegn (straight, direct).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Poor Bob Stanfield. His flub of a football pass during the 1974 election campaign made Gerald Ford look gainly." Sports and Politicians Are Not Always A Good Mix; Toronto Star (Canada); Jun 12, 2007. -------- Date: Fri May 8 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--corrigible X-Bonus: A man's name is not like a mantle which merely hangs about him, and which one perchance may safely twitch and pull, but a perfectly fitting garment, which, like the skin, has grown over and over him, at which one cannot rake and scrape without injuring the man himself. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832) This week's theme: Forgotten positives corrigible (KOR-i-juh-buhl) adjective Capable of being corrected. [From Latin corrigere (to correct). Ultimately from the Indo-European reg- (to move in a straight line, to lead or rule) that is also the source of regent, regime, direct, rectangle, erect, rectum, alert, source, and surge.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The regulator] should guide corrigible companies through their weaknesses to become more useful corporate citizens." Patience Wheatcroft; FSA Should At Least Seek City's Respect; The Times (London, UK); Mar 4, 2005. -------- Date: Mon May 11 00:19:06 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dissimulate X-Bonus: O, what a world of vile ill-favoured faults, / Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year! -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616) "They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs, they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot of them!" boasts Humpty-Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's 1872 classic, "Through the Looking Glass". If verbs are in fact as conceited as Humpty-Dumpty claims them to be, perhaps they can be forgiven for their hoity-toity ways -- after all, they are the ones that bring a sentence to life. How many of this week's five verbs can you manage? dissimulate (di-SIM-yuh-layt) verb tr., intr. To disguise one's intentions, thoughts, motives, etc. by pretense. [From Latin dis- (apart, away) + simulare (to simulate), from similis (like). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sem- (one) that is also the source of simultaneous, assemble, simple, Sanskrit sandhi (union), Russian samovar (a metal urn), and Greek hamadryad (a wood nymph).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Charles Clarke added: 'We need to talk straight to people, engaging the concerns and questions that they have, rather than appearing to evade and dissimulate.'" Andrew Grice; Clarke: Brown Succession Is Not A Done Deal; The Independent (London, UK); Mar 29, 2007. -------- Date: Tue May 12 00:01:13 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cadge X-Bonus: Not thinking critically, I assumed that the "successful" prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me. -Dan Barker, former preacher, musician (b. 1949) This week's theme: Verbs cadge (kaj) verb tr., intr. To beg; to obtain by imposing on someone's generosity. [Of uncertain origin.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Sak Nana makes money the old-fashioned way. He earns it. ... He said, 'I wanted to stand on my own feet! People used to assume, incorrectly, that I could always cadge money from my parents.'" Alfred Tha Hla; Riches to Rags to Revs; Bangkok Post (Thailand); Apr 24, 2009. -------- Date: Wed May 13 00:01:06 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pretermit X-Bonus: To fully understand a grand and beautiful thought requires, perhaps, as much time as to conceive it. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824) This week's theme: Verbs pretermit (pree-tuhr-MIT) verb tr. 1. To let pass without mention. 2. To suspend or to leave undone. [From Latin praetermittere (to let pass), from praeter (beyond, past) + mittere (to let go, send).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "In fact, the old lady declined altogether to hear his [Pitt Crawley's] hour's lecture of an evening; and when she came to Queen's Crawley alone, he was obliged to pretermit his usual devotional exercises." William Makepeace Thackeray; Vanity Fair; 1847. -------- Date: Thu May 14 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wend X-Bonus: We take our colors, chameleon-like, from each other. -Sebastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794) This week's theme: Verbs wend (wend) verb tr., intr. To travel along a route. [From Old English wendan.] If you've ever wondered why we have the peculiar form "went" as the past tense of the word go (go, went, gone), today's word is the culprit. "Went" is the archaic past form of "wend". In current usage, the past form of wend is wended. The word is typically used in the phrase "to wend one's way". -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Federal stimulus dollars are starting to wend their way from Washington to Watertown and other communities nationwide." Erin Ailworth; A Slice of the Stimulus; The Boston Globe; Apr 29, 2009. -------- Date: Fri May 15 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--brachiate X-Bonus: Prison: Young Crime's finishing school. -Clara Lucas Balfour, social activist (1808-1878) This week's theme: Verbs brachiate (verb: BRAY-kee-ayt, BRAK-ee-ayt, adjective: BRAY-kee-it, BRAK-ee-it) verb intr.: To move by swinging from one hold to another by using arms. adjective: Having arms. [From Latin brachiatus (having arms), from brachium (arm), from Greek brakhion (upper arm). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mregh-u- (short) that is also the source of brief, abbreviate, abridge, brassiere, and brumal https://wordsmith.org/words/brumal.html ] A gibbon brachiating: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/brachiate_large.gif [Photo: Jeff L. Milsteen http://www.flickr.com/photos/20973954@N07/2603222061 ] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Thick-furred, with a red face, the monkey moves by sprawling out and brachiating from branch to branch through the high forest canopy." Roger Rosenblatt; Earth's Green Gown; Time (New York); Jun 17, 2004. "The new superfriends head out on their first missions: the isotope feint and a related museum heist, which allows Sydney to dress in cat-burglar clothes and brachiate around an unguarded exhibition." Virginia Heffernan; Yet More of One Face in Season 4 of 'Alias'; The New York Times; Jan 5, 2005. -------- Date: Mon May 18 00:01:10 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tweedy X-Bonus: We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) Clothing -- one of the three necessities in life. No wonder words about clothing and fabrics are woven into our language. There are numerous idioms: people are advised not to wash their dirty linen in public, even adults like to have their security blankets, though emperors often don't have clothes. The word silken can be used to describe food and voice and touch; from woolgathering to cottonpickin', the list of idiomatic use of fabric words is a long one. This week we'll look at five terms that make use of fabrics metaphorically. tweedy (TWEE-dee) adjective 1. Academic or scholarly. 2. Informal; casual; outdoorsy. 3. Made of or resembling tweed. [After tweed, a coarse woolen fabric made in twill weave, preferred in casual wear, for example by those in academia or in the country. The origin of the word tweed is not certain. It's probably an alteration of Scots tweel, influenced by the river Tweed that flows along the border between England and Scotland.] "Ramrod-tall, blue-eyed and aquiline, with a high forehead swept clear of thin, fair hair, [William Hurt] even looked clever, like a tweedy young professor of letters on secondment to Hollywood." Jasper Rees; William Hurt is Back on Top of His Game; The Sunday Times (London, UK); May 3, 2009. -------- Date: Tue May 19 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--flannel X-Bonus: The eye of the understanding is like the eye of the sense; for as you may see great objects through small crannies or holes, so you may see great axioms of nature through small and contemptible instances. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626) This week's theme: Fabric words used metaphorically flannel (FLAN-l) noun Nonsense; evasive talk; flattery. [Besides the fabric, the word flannel can refer to a washcloth, an undergarment, or trousers, but here we are interested in its metaphorical sense which apparently developed from the soft and smooth texture of the fabric. The origin of the word flannel remains fuzzy. Two possible derivations have been suggested: from Welsh gwlanen (woolen article) or from Old French flaine (a kind of coarse wool, blanket).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Commissioned by the Blair economic team, the report is just what the doctor ordered. No flannel. No spin." Peter Koenig; Honeymoon With the Economy is Over For Blair; The Independent (London, UK); Nov 16, 1997. -------- Date: Wed May 20 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--woolly X-Bonus: "The last word" is the most dangerous of infernal machines; and husband and wife should no more fight to get it than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell. -Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (1803-1857) This week's theme: Fabric words used metaphorically woolly or wooly (WOOL-ee) adjective 1. Fuzzy; unclear; confused; vague; disorganized; rough. 2. Of or relating to wool. [From Old English wull.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Edward Scicluna: This woolly and opaque way of reporting and forecasting must stop." Charlot Zahra; Is Restarting the Excessive Deficit Procedure Justified? Business Today (Malta); May 13, 2009. -------- Date: Thu May 21 00:19:06 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cotton X-Bonus: All high truth is poetry. Take the results of science: they glow with beauty, cold and hard as are the methods of reaching them. -Charles Buxton, brewer, philanthropist, writer and politician (1823-1871) This week's theme: Fabric words used metaphorically cotton (KOT-uhn) verb intr. 1. To become fond of; to get on well together. 2. To come to understand (in the phrase "to cotton to" or "cotton on to"). [Via French and Italian from Arabic qutun (cotton). The idiomatic usage of the term as a verb refers to the mixing of another material, such as wool, with cotton and perhaps from the idea of cotton fiber clinging well to something.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Marketers and retailers have already cottoned on to the fact that, since the entire culture is defiantly refusing to grow up, parents and children are all now approximately the same age. We've got the same music on our iPods." Karen von Hahn; I Like to Hang Out With My Teenager; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Sep 1, 2007. -------- Date: Fri May 22 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plushy X-Bonus: At the bottom of a good deal of the bravery that appears in the world there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they cannot face public opinion. -Edwin Hubbel Chapin, minister and orator (1814-1880) This week's theme: Fabric words used metaphorically plushy (PLUSH-ee) adjective 1. Characterized by luxury, extravagance, or ease. 2. Or or related to plush: soft and shaggy. [From plush, a fabric of silk, rayon, cotton, or wool, having a long pile. From French pluche, a variant of peluche, from Latin pilus (hair).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The warm, dark glow and plushy tone so typical of Central European orchestras from the late 19th century on seems steeped in the Staatskapelle's bones." Wynne Delacoma; Staatskapelle Berlin at Symphony Center; Chicago Sun-Times; Dec 12, 2000. "But since Hugo left university in June, he has not strolled into the sort of plushy job that supposedly awaits our hordes of upper-second graduates when they roar onto the job market." Rachel Johnson; Graduates Get Jobs -- But No Pay; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 5, 2003. -------- Date: Mon May 25 00:11:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--decussate X-Bonus: Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others? -Martin Luther King, Jr , civil-rights leader (1929-1968) We may think only mathematicians or economists or anesthesiologists (they do use numb-ers) have to deal with numbers, but numbers are everywhere. They're in beautiful patterns https://wordsmith.org/anu/java/spirograph.html , they are in the spiral of a mollusk, in the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, and beyond. Though it may not be obvious at first glance, all of this week's words have their origins in numbers. decussate (verb: di-KUHS-ayt, DEK-uh-sayt, adjective: di-KUHS-ayt, -it) verb tr. To intersect or to cross. adjective 1. Intersected or crossed in the form of an X. 2. Arranged in pairs along the stem, each pair at a right angle to the one above or below. [The word originated from Latin "as" (plural asses) which was a copper coin and the monetary unit in ancient Rome. The word for ten asses was decussis, from Latin decem (ten) + as (coin). Since ten is represented by X, this spawned the verb decussare, meaning to divide in the form of an X or intersect.] Samuel Johnson, lexicographer extraordinaire, has a well-deserved reputation for his magnum opus "A Dictionary of the English Language", but as they say, even Homer nods. He violated one of the dictums of lexicography -- do not define a word using harder words than the one being defined -- when he used today's word and two other uncommon words in defining the word network: Network: Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. And what is "reticulated"? Again, according to Johnson: Reticulated: Made of network; formed with interstitial vacuities. Rustic Orange Coleus with decussate leaves: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/decussate.jpg [photo William Reynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/mausgabe/2598668258/ ] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "How I wished then that my body, too, if it had to droop and shrivel, for surely everyone's did, would furl and decussate with grace to sculpt the victory of my spirit." J. Nozipo Maraire; Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter; Delta; 1997. -------- Date: Tue May 26 00:01:06 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hecatomb X-Bonus: He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it. -Dante Alighieri, poet (1265-1321) This week's theme: Words derived from numbers hecatomb (HEK-uh-toom, -tom) noun A large-scale slaughter. [Originally a hecatomb was a public sacrifice and feast of 100 oxen or cattle to the gods in ancient Greece and Rome. The word is derived from Latin hekatombe, from Greek hekatombe, from hekaton (hundred) + bous (ox). Another word derived from bous (ox) is boustrophedon https://wordsmith.org/words/boustrophedon.html ] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The use of high-tech weapons will result in hecatombs, smart as the US bombs may be." Lost Values; Kathimerini (Athens, Greece); Mar 17, 2003. -------- Date: Wed May 27 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--atone X-Bonus: Whoe'er excels in what we prize / Appears a hero in our eyes. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745) This week's theme: Words derived from numbers atone (uh-TOHN, rhymes with phone) verb tr., intr. To make amends for. [From the contraction of the phrase "at one" meaning "to be in harmony".] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "While society must be protected from those who might pose it a threat, it is vital we let people get on with their lives once they have atoned." Eamonn Mac Aodha; Minor Offenders Need More Help to Escape Spectre of Past Crime; The Irish Times (Dublin); Apr 28, 2009. -------- Date: Thu May 28 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tessera X-Bonus: As long as there are slaughterhouses there will be battlefields. -Leo Tolstoy, author (1828-1910) This week's theme: Words derived from numbers tessera (TES-uhr-uh) noun; plural tesserae (TES-uhr-ee) A small piece of stone, glass, or tile used to make a mosaic. [From Latin, from Greek tesseres, variant of tessares (four), from the four corners of its square shape.] Detail of a mosaic https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tessera.jpg from St Peter's Basilica, Vatican: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tessera_large.jpg (bottom left corner) [photo: Adrian Pingstone] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Like red-stained tessera, the remnants of lost lives come together to compose a vast and shocking mosaic of contemporary life." Art Gould; Piecing It All Together; The Anniston Star (Alabama); May 10, 2009. -------- Date: Fri May 29 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--decuman X-Bonus: Every man thinks God is on his side. The rich and powerful know he is. -Jean Anouilh, dramatist (1910-1987) This week's theme: Words derived from numbers decuman (DEK-yoo-muhn) adjective Very large. [From Latin decumanus, variant of decimanus (of the tenth), from decimus (tenth), from decem (ten). The word was often applied to waves from the belief that every tenth wave is greater than the others. The word also referred to the main gate of a military camp in ancient Rome. This gate faced away from the enemy and the tenth cohort of the legion was stationed there. A related word is decimate: https://wordsmith.org/words/decimate.html and a dean is, literally speaking, a chief of ten.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The lover whose soul shaken is In some decuman billow of bliss." Francis Thompson; The Way of a Maid; c. 1890.