A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Mon Jun 3 00:01:08 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--niddering
X-Bonus: Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. -William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
niddering (NID-uhr-ing) noun, adjective
A coward or wretch.
[From erroneous reading of Middle English nithing, from Old English nithing.
This form of the word originated in the 1596 text of historian William of
Malmesbury.]
"And so it goes on without ever reaching the heart of the matter, which
is that the BBC is really a state of mind. It is, as Colin Morris once
put it, the collective memory of the people who made it a great
broadcasting organisation. This idea is quite beyond the niddering
regime currently running the Corporation."
John Naughton, Inside Job on Awkward Customers Inside the BBC,
The Guardian (London), Apr 24, 1994.
"Even William the Conqueror, hated as he was by them, continued to draw
a considerable army of Anglo-Saxons to his standard, by threatening to
stigmatize those who staid at home, as nidering."
Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1819.
Ever misspell a word in your school report that cost you a grade? Ever
make a typo in an office memo for which you paid a heavy price? Don't be
disheartened if you think you may never master the whimsies of the English
language. Take comfort in the fact that there's no universal god of
orthography who once decreed, "And ye shall spell potato as p-o-t-a-t-o."
The spelling of a word is merely something we've collectively agreed upon.
Your version of spelling might have been the right one if you were born
just at the right time and read or wrote just the right text. As we'll
see this week, there are words that were once misspelled and those
misspellings somehow stuck. All the words featured this week had their
spellings altered in the course of history because someone mis-read,
mis-printed, mis-wrote, or mis-copied and missed the "right" spelling. -Anu
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Date: Tue Jun 4 00:01:07 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obsidian
X-Bonus: Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
obsidian (ob-SID-ee-uhn) noun
A dark volcanic glass formed by rapid cooling of lava.
[From Latin obsidianus, from obsidianus lapis, from mis-reading of
obsianus lapis (Obsius's stone), after Obsius, a Roman, who (according
to Pliny the elder) was the discoverer of this kind of stone in Ethiopia.]
Here's a picture of obsidian:
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/obsidian.php
"Hernan Cortes didn't conquer Mexico: it was just one stroke of
bastard's luck after another that his head didn't end up on the Aztec
skull racks. With his cackhanded squad dead before Spanish typhus could
sap their empire, the Aztecs could have challenged European settlement
in North America (wagon trains versus obsidian knives - now there's a
scenario)."
Veronica Horwell, The What If Game: Veronica Horwell Speculates on
History's Near Misses, The Guardian (London), Jun 10, 2000.
This week's theme: words formed erroneously.
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Date: Wed Jun 5 00:01:08 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--helpmeet
X-Bonus: If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)
helpmeet (HELP-meet) noun
A helpmate, usually applied to a wife.
[From the phrase "an help meet for him" (a help suitable for him, Adam)
from Genesis. It was incorrectly written as "an help-meet for him" and
erroneously interpreted as "a helper for him".]
"There is, for one thing, Ms. Connelly, keen and spirited in the
underwritten role of a woman who starts out as a math groupie and soon
finds herself the helpmeet of a disturbed, difficult man."
A.O. Scott, From Math To Madness, And Back (Movie review: A Beautiful
Mind), The New York Times, Dec 21, 2001.
This week's theme: words formed erroneously.
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Date: Thu Jun 6 00:01:15 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zenith
X-Bonus: We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love. -Madame De Stael, writer (1766-1817)
zenith (ZEE-nith, ZEN-ith) noun
1. The point on the celestial sphere that's directly above the observer,
opposite of nadir.
2. The highest point, acme, culmination.
[From Middle English zenith, from Old French cenith, from Old Spanish zenit
incorrectly copied from Arabic samt (path), in the sense of "path over the
head", opposite of nadir.]
"Unlike Huntington, I therefore maintain that clashes of civilizations
reached their peak in the age of imperialism, the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, when Europe's world dominance was at its
zenith."
Sato Seizaburo, Clash of Civilizations or Cross-fertilization of
Civilizations?, Japan Echo (Tokyo), Oct 1997.
This week's theme: words formed erroneously.
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Date: Fri Jun 7 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--derring-do
X-Bonus: For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography. -Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (1905-1989)
derring-do (DER-ing DOO) noun
Daring acts, often tinged with recklessness.
[From Middle English dorryng do (daring to do) misprinted as derrynge do
and interpreted as a noun form.]
"Kids and mice -- can't beat the combination. That's what the creators
of children's entertainment seem to think, since they're forever casting
versions of the adorable mus musculus domesticus (that's house mouse,
since you ask) in tales of derring-do for the younger set."
Zofia Smardz, Watch Your Whiskers, The Washington Post, Mar 31, 2002.
"David McTaggart, founder of Greenpeace, died on March 23rd, aged 68. ...
Their raw material was publicity, much of it gained by derring-do
exploits of Greenpeace's front-line `soldiers'. Mr McTaggart would be
first over the top. He continued his war with the French over nuclear
testing, again visiting Mururoa. The angry French retaliated in 1985
by blowing up a Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland harbour,
killing one person aboard."
Obituary: David McTaggart, The Economist (London), Apr 7, 2001.
This week's theme: words formed erroneously.
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Date: Mon Jun 10 00:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--randy
X-Bonus: All art, all education, can be merely a supplement to nature. -Aristotle (B.C. 384-322)
randy (RAN-dee) adjective
Lustful; lewd; lecherous.
Scots: rude; coarse.
[Probably from obsolete Scots rand (to rant).]
"(Mike) Myers, it turns out, is not at all the randy man-about-town
he has often played in films and television but a happily married guy
whose wife, Robin Ruzan, plays the role of off-screen critic and
mentor."
Mary K. Feeney, All About Comedy Cover to Cover, The Hartford Courant
(Connecticut), May 26, 1999.
"What's in a name?" Shakespeare once wrote, "That which we call a rose by
any other name would smell as sweet." Tell that to the new parents who
scour countless baby-names books, scan the naming lists on the Internet,
and urge their friends and families to suggest just the right name for
their brand new child. While many of these names (Sandy, Penny, ...) have
obvious meanings there are other common names that have not-so-well-known
connotations. This week we'll look at some of these. Here's a story of
a Randy who became Dave: http://www.inkdrop.net/name/ -Anu
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Date: Tue Jun 11 00:01:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tony
X-Bonus: Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (1900-1980)
tony (TO-nee) adjective
Having a high-toned manner; stylish.
[From tone.]
"(Masound) Aboughaddareh, 30, publishes DC One, a glossy, glitzy
magazine dedicated to the tony nightclub scene."
David A. Fahrenthold, Entrepreneurs Put Their Passions in Print,
The Washington Post, Feb 10, 2001.
This week's theme: What's in a name?
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Date: Wed Jun 12 00:10:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ted
X-Bonus: Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -Carl Jung, psychiatrist (1875-1961)
ted (ted) verb tr.
To spread or strew for drying (newly mown grass, for example).
[From Middle English tedde, from Old Norse tethja (to manure).]
"During the course of a year, a wedding and a funeral take place, along
with events such as the cutting and tedding of hay and the livestock
auction on Monaghan Day."
Jim Coan, By the Lake, Library Journal (New York), Apr 1, 2002.
This week's theme: What's in a name?
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Date: Thu Jun 13 00:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bobby
X-Bonus: There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight. -Vaclav Havel, writer, Czech Republic president (1936- )
bobby (BOB-ee) noun
British: A policeman.
[After Sir Robert Peel, who was Great Britain's Home Secretary when
the 1828 Metropolitan Police Act was passed.]
"The fish and chip shop may be as 'Truly British' as the bobbies
patrolling in their pointed black helmets, but the tidy streets,
royalist sentiments and low crime rate hark back to an era that
faded away decades ago in Britain."
Emma Daly, Gibraltar Residents Fight for Identity, The New York Times,
Apr 30, 2002.
This week's theme: What's in a name?
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Date: Fri Jun 14 00:01:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--brad
X-Bonus: We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)
brad (brad) noun
A thin wire nail with a small, deep head, or a projection on one side of
the head.
[From Middle English, from Old Norse broddr (spike).]
Here's a picture of a brad:
http://www.shur-fast.com/english/produits/clous/finition/finition.html
"Joey Lapland quipped that she spelled words as though she herself
created them, as though what she uttered became real. She could never be
wrong. Preposterous, we snickered, looking at the wizard, sketching in
her notebook, bent brad nails as posts adorning her earlobes."
Stephen Guinan, The Queen of Spelling, The Massachusetts Review (Amherst),
Winter 2000/2001.
"Every day, she takes about 70 pills. She has a plastic divided box,
similar to those used to hold screws, nails, brads, etc. The compartments
are labeled with each day, and further labeled as morning, midmorning,
noon, afternoon, dinner, bedtime. Each is loaded with pills."
Patricia Swanson, A Used Heart: Evansville Woman Finds A Second Chance
With A Heart Transplant, The Evansville Courier & Press (Indiana),
May 14, 2000.
This week's theme: What's in a name?
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Date: Mon Jun 17 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--minnow
X-Bonus: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb
minnow (MIN-o) noun
1. Any of the small freshwater fish of the Cyprinidae family.
2. Someone or something considered insignificant.
[Ultimately from Old High German munewa, a kind of fish, via Old English
and Middle English.]
"Compared with the Scottish Parliament, a regional authority in the
north-east would indeed be a minnow."
Tony Travers, The Long Struggle, New Statesman (London), May 20, 2002.
I remember the day I caught my first, and last, fish. I was in college.
During the winter break, a friend invited me to visit him. With makeshift
fishing rods in our hands we went to the dam near his house. I sat there
uneasily, holding the rod with the line dipped in the still water of the
reservoir. A while later there was a tug and I promptly handed over the
rod to my friend. He pulled the line in. There was a small orange fish
on the end. It was alive, wildly flailing at its sudden change of fortune.
With a promise of food I had tricked it out of its life.
More than a decade has passed since then. Today I live next to a small
lake. While strolling around the water I often come across someone sitting
there with a fishing rod extended over the lake. I softly say "Good luck!"
in his general direction. He thanks me. I tell him I was saying that to
the fish. He smiles at the apparent joke... But I wasn't joking.
All of this week's words refer to fish, but they are more than just fish
words. They can also be used metaphorically in other senses. -Anu
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Date: Tue Jun 18 00:01:07 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gudgeon
X-Bonus: The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursue him. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)
gudgeon (GUJ-uhn) noun
1. A small European fresh-water fish (Gobio gobio) or any of the related
fishes, often used as bait.
2. A gullible person.
3. A bait.
[From Latin gobion, variant of gobius, via Old French and Middle English.]
gudgeon (GUJ-uhn) noun
A pivot, usually made of metal, at the end of a beam, axle, etc., on
which a wheel or a similar device turns.
[From Middle English gudyon, from Old French goujon.]
"Even his (Charles Frazier) saws sound authentic. `Clenched tight as a
dogwood bud in January.' `As useless by itself as the gudgeon to a door
hinge with no pintle.'"
Review of Books And Multimedia: Hearts And Minds to Win,
The Economist (London), Jun 13, 1998.
This week's theme: words based on fish names.
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Date: Wed Jun 19 00:01:09 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--remora
X-Bonus: The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. -E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)
remora (REM-uhr-ah) noun
1. Any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae that have a dorsal
fin modified in the shape of a suction disk that they use to attach
to a larger fish, sea-turtles, or ships.
Also called sharksucker or suckerfish.
2. Hindrance, drag.
[From Latin, literally delay, from remorari (to linger, delay), from re-
+ morari (to delay), from mora (delay).]
"Demur" and "moratorium" are other words that share the same root as
remora. They all involve the idea of delay. Remora got their name from
the belief that they slowed ships down by attaching themselves to the hull.
Remora's suction power is so strong that, in some parts of the world, lines
are attached to their tails and lowered into the water to fish for sea
turtles. Remora eat scraps from the fish they attach to. But they don't
just get a free ride and free food in this way. It's a truly symbiotic
relationship as they, in turn, remove parasites from their bigger buddies.
Here are a few pictures: http://www.oceanlight.com/html/remora_sp.html
"Ryder has been a remora to the Heathers but boils over and, with
Slater's crucial aid, kills one kind of accidentally."
Ted Mahar, High School Confidential, The Oregonian (Portland),
Sep 3, 1999.
This week's theme: words based on fish names.
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Date: Thu Jun 20 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--inconnu
X-Bonus: TV is chewing gum for the eyes. -Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (1867-1959)
inconnu (in-kuh-NOO) noun
1. A whitefish (Stenodus leucichthys) found in arctic and subarctic.
Also known as sheefish.
2. A stranger.
[From French, literally unknown. In 1789, explorer Alexander Mackenzie and
his crew traveled the waterways of the Northwest Territories in search of a
Northwest passage. They came across an unknown fish and the French-Canadian
voyageurs who were part of his crew called it inconnu.]
"Seven charred bodies had been recovered from the house, none identified,
all interred by the government. The incident was characterized as gang
activity, `probably drug-related.' Mason winced at the words. The line
had grown to be a bad joke around the mission, the explanation they
almost always got whenever a group of inconnus turned up dead."
Ben Fountain, Reve Haitien, Harper's Magazine (New York), Jan 2000.
This week's theme: words based on fish names.
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Date: Fri Jun 21 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tope
X-Bonus: A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. -Walt Whitman, poet (1819-1892)
tope (tope) verb tr., intr.
To drink (liquor) habitually and copiously.
[Of uncertain origin, perhaps from obsolete top (to drink) as in "top off".]
tope (tope) noun
A small shark with a long snout (Galeorhinus galeus).
[Of unknown origin.]
tope (tope) noun
A usually dome-shaped monument built by Buddhists. Also known as a stupa.
[From Hindi top, from Prakrit or Pali thupo, from Sanskrit stupa (head).
Some pictures of,
tope, the fish: http://www.seatrek.org/curriculum/reference/species/tope.htm
tope, the building: http://www.buddhanet.net/sanchi.htm
"There are the tope strategists, who chartered the brand's repositioning
and the agency folks who turned out snappy creative, not to mention a
cadre of bottlers pushing Sprite in the retail trenches."
Karen Benezra, Brandweek's Marketers of the Year, Adweek (Dallas, Texas),
Oct 20, 1997.
This week's theme: words based on fish names.
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Date: Mon Jun 24 02:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--triolet
X-Bonus: Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
triolet (TREE-uh-lit, -lay) noun
A poem or stanza of eight lines, having a rhyme scheme ABaAabAB, in
which the first, fourth, and seventh lines are the same, and second
is the same as the eighth line.
[From French, literally small trio.]
"The teaching of English has so degenerated these days that it's hard
to believe that Ira's school curriculum included a rigorous training in
classical verse forms such as the ballad, the triolet, the rondeau, the
villanelle and the sonnet, but it did.
In the first decades of the century the daily newspapers in New York
were full of poetry, too: there were columns devoted to light verse,
and often a theatre review or sports notice would be written in couplets
or quatrains."
John Tranter, He's Got Rhythm, The Australian (Sydney), Mar 30, 1996.
The Canary Islands got their name from dogs, a light-year is a unit of
distance, and a triolet is a poem of, well, eight lines. These are
red-herring words that appear to mislead us in the beginning but if we
look deeper, everything becomes obvious. Triolets are so called because
the key line in the poem appears thrice. Here's a lighthearted triolet by
G.K. Chesterton:
I wish I were a jelly fish
That cannot fall downstairs:
Of all the things I wish to wish
I wish I were a jelly fish
That hasn't any cares,
And doesn't even have to wish
'I wish I were a jelly fish
That cannot fall downstairs.'
Wish to write your own triolet? Help is near:
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/triolet.html
For inspiration, check out these computing triolets written by MIT students:
http://web.mit.edu/6.033/1997/www/triolets.html
-Anu
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Date: Tue Jun 25 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--attic salt
X-Bonus: Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. -Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797)
attic salt (AT-ik salt) noun
Refined, delicate wit. Also known as attic wit.
[From Attic (of Greece or of Athens, after Attica, a region in southeast
Greece surrounding Athens) + salt (wit).]
"On minor occasions anyone possessing a fluent tongue, and knowledge and
nerve, and a pinch of the Attic salt of humour will probably speak best
on the spur of the moment, but trusting to inspiration may sometimes
prove a broken reed, and those who have to obey the orders of the toast
master when important issues are at stake may be advised to make more or
less careful preparation."
After-dinner Speeches, British Medical Journal (London), May 12, 2001.
"No one was spared in a city of so much liberty, or rather license, as
Athens was at that time. Generals, magistrates, government, the very
gods, were abandoned to the poet's satirical vein; and all was well
received, providing the comedy was diverting, and the Attic salt not
wanting."
Charles Rollin, Rollin's Ancient History, Jan 1, 1992.
This week's theme: words that appear misleading.
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Date: Wed Jun 26 00:19:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prick-song
X-Bonus: The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941)
prick-song (prik song) noun
Written music.
[From picked-song, music sung from pricked (written) notes, as compared to
that sung from memory.]
"My last hope before Election Day is that each will put down his
prick-song and sing a plain-song in debates before a national
audience."
Billy Porterfield, Perot, Bush, Clinton Leave Voter Swerked in
Mubblefubbles, The Austin American Statesman, Jun 24, 1992.
"Mercutio: More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is the
courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song ..."
William Shakespeare, Romeo And Juliet: Act II, Scene IV.
This week's theme: words that appear misleading.
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Date: Thu Jun 27 00:19:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--histrionic
X-Bonus: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go. -Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (1564-1616)
histrionic (his-tree-ON-ik) adjective
1. Of or pertaining to actors, acting, or theater.
2. Overly dramatic or affected.
[From Late Latin histrionicus, from Latin histrion-, histrio (actor).]
"The playwright's intent together with his moral input ignored, a drama
of great depth is trivialized. An unbearably boring, histrionic horror
takes its place."
Naomi Doudai, Histrionic Horror, The Jerusalem Post, Sep 7, 1999
"Eventually, Dickens fused his talents in the public readings from his
own novels, which dominated his last years, in the course of which he
astounded huge crowds on both sides of the Atlantic with his histrionic
genius."
Simon Callow, To Be a Shape-Shifting Cast of One, The New York Times,
Apr 21, 2002.
This week's theme: words that appear misleading.
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Date: Fri Jun 28 00:19:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mense
X-Bonus: We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. -William R. Inge, clergyman, scholar, and author (1860-1954)
mense (mens) noun
Propriety, decorum.
verb tr.
To adorn, grace.
[From Middle English menske (honor), from Old Norse mennska (humanity).]
"Auld Vandal! ye but show your little mense,
Just much about it wi' your scanty sense:
Will your poor, narrow foot-path of a street,
Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet."
Robert Burns, The Brigs Of Ayr, 1787.
These lines are from a poem Burns wrote about a dialog between two
bridges when the construction of a new bridge began over the Ayr in
Scotland in 1786. The Auld Brig retorts to the above mocking by New
Brig that one shouldn't get carried away in vanity and pride:
"I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!"
The poet's words proved prophetic when in the 1877 flood the New Brig
collapsed into a heap of stones while the Auld Brig still stands.
You can read the complete poem at: http://bartleby.com/6/133.html
-Anu
This week's theme: words that appear misleading.