A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jun 3 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--perp X-Bonus: Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness. -Allen Ginsberg, poet (3 Jun 1926-1997) People, places, and things. We talk about each from time to time. Words for people https://wordsmith.org/words/pertinacious.html, words for places https://wordsmith.org/words/utopia.html , and words for things https://wordsmith.org/words/brass_hat.html . This week, we're turning to the first category: words for people. We've selected five vibrant and descriptive words to characterize individuals. Imagine these words as colorful brushstrokes on the canvas of language, painting vivid portraits of the people around us. Can you think of someone -- a public figure or someone you know personally -- who fits any of the words featured this week? Share your thoughts on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/pejorist.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. As always, include your location (city, state). perp (puhrp) noun One who commits a crime or is accused of committing one. [Short for perpetrator, from perpetrare (to carry out), from per- (through) + patrare (to bring about), from pater (father). Earliest documented use: 1968.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/perp_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "But religious fraud is particularly common, because people find it hard to imagine that the pastor is a perp." Fleecing the Flock; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 28, 2012. -------- Date: Tue Jun 4 00:01:03 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pejorist X-Bonus: Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. -Robert Fulghum, author (b. 4 Jun 1937) This week's theme: Words to describe people pejorist (PEJ-uh-rist) noun A person who believes that the world is getting worse. [From Latin peior (worse). Earliest documented use: 1879.] The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pejorist_large.jpg Image: Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better "[A.E.] Housman, who despised all publicity and rejected all honours (including an OM) and saw himself as a pejorist, not a pessimist." Peter Jones; Ancient and Modern: Respect vs Rigour; The Spectator (London, UK); Dec 19, 2020. -------- Date: Wed Jun 5 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gaberlunzie X-Bonus: I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" I answer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer (5 Jun 1823-1909) This week's theme: Words to describe people gaberlunzie (gab-uhr-LUHN-zee) noun A wandering beggar, especially one who is licensed. [From Scots, further origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1508.] A Scottish beggar's badge, 1847 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gaberlunzie_large.jpg Image: Ray Oaks / Wikimedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggar%27s_badge#/media/File:BB-1.jpg "Father said dubiously: 'I thought captains of ships dressed a lot better than that fellow; he looks more like a gaberlunzie to me.'" Lillian Beckwith; About My Father's Business; Sheridan; 1973. -------- Date: Thu Jun 6 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dandiprat X-Bonus: It's impossible to be loyal to your family, your friends, your country, and your principles, all at the same time. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (6 Jun 1913-1983) This week's theme: Words to describe people dandiprat (DAN-dee-prat) noun 1. An inconsequential person. 2. A person of small stature. 3. A child. [Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1525. Dandiprat was also the name of a silver coin in 16th-century England, worth three halfpence.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/dandiprat_large.jpg Image: British Museum / Wikimedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_halfpence_(English_coin)#/media/File:Post-medieval_coin,_Three_Halfpence_of_Elizabeth_I_(FindID_195971).jpg "In return, Conservatives could dismiss Mr Corbyn as a dandiprat, a figure of no significance, and a mere grumbletonian." This Mugwump Is a Dandiprat; The Sunday Times (London, UK); Apr 30, 2017. https://wordsmith.org/words/grumbletonian.html https://wordsmith.org/words/mugwump.html -------- Date: Fri Jun 7 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--logodaedalus X-Bonus: Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars. -Gwendolyn Brooks, poet (7 Jun 1917-2000) This week's theme: Words to describe people logodaedalus (log-uh-DEE-duh-luhs) noun One skilled with words. [From Latin logodaedalia, from Greek logodaidalia, from logodaidalos, from logos (word) + daedalus (skillful). Earliest documented use: 1611.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/logodaedalus_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Burgess was a tireless logodaedalus -- a term he might well have applied to himself, for he was a connoisseur of big words -- producing novel after novel, each one completed in a matter of months or even weeks." John Banville; The Clockwork Author Anthony; Irish Times (Dublin); Dec 24, 2005. -------- Date: Mon Jun 10 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lentitude X-Bonus: Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door. -Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel laureate (10 Jun 1915-2005) We can get a random number by throwing a pair of dice. We can get a random answer to a yes/no question by tossing a coin. But beyond these trivial things, randomness is serious business. When a lottery winner is picked you want to make sure that the number picked is truly random. As the mathematician Robert Coveyou once said, "Random number generation is too important to be left to chance." Well, this week's words are randomly chosen. Not truly at random, because out of half a million words in the English language that method may give us words that aren't very interesting. Also, choosing words truly at random would mean that sometimes the same word may appear twice (or more often). But these words are random in the sense that there isn't a unifying theme connecting them. And if you need more words beyond what are featured this week, visit the web page on our website that shows a random word picked from words previously featured in A.Word.A.Day https://wordsmith.org/words/random.cgi . Again, these words are selected using a pseudo random number generator, so don't use them for divination or for your life's big decisions (Should I marry him?). lentitude (LEN-tuh-tood/tyood) noun Slowness or sluggishness. [From Latin lentus (slow). Earliest documented use: 1623.] "This lentitude I incline to attribute to his nurse's liberal use of laudanum as a pacifier." Jaspistos; Kid Brother; The Spectator (London, UK); Jun 26, 2004. -------- Date: Tue Jun 11 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--virid X-Bonus: A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it. -William Styron, novelist (11 Jun 1925-2006) This week's theme: Misc words virid (VIR-id) adjective Bright green. [From Latin viridis (green), from virere (to be green). Earliest documented use: 1600.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/virid "The grilled scallops come set over silky, virid pea puree." Chris Nuttall-Smith; The Chase Wins the Race; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Oct 5, 2013. -------- Date: Wed Jun 12 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--coterminous X-Bonus: I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh, no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago! There is an urge and rage in people to destroy, to kill, to murder, and until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated, and grown, will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to begin all over again. -Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (12 Jun 1929-1945) This week's theme: Misc words coterminous (koh-TUHR-muh-nuhs) adjective 1. Having the same or coincident boundaries. 2. Meeting at the ends. 3. Contained within the same boundaries. 4. Having the same scope, meaning, extent, etc.: synonymous. [Alteration of conterminous, from Latin con- (with) + terminus (boundary). Earliest documented use: 1799.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/coterminous "The perfect manual of style would be like the perfect map of the world: exactly coterminous with its subject, containing a rule for every word of every sentence." Louis Menand; The End Matter; The New Yorker; Oct 6, 2003. -------- Date: Thu Jun 13 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--salvific X-Bonus: Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. -William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (13 Jun 1865-1939) This week's theme: Misc words salvific (sal-VIF-ik) adjective Having the power to save or redeem. [From Latin salvus (safe). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sol- (whole), which also gave us solid, salute, save, salvo, soldier, catholicity https://wordsmith.org/words/catholicity.html , solicitous https://wordsmith.org/words/solicitous.html , solicitude https://wordsmith.org/words/solicitude.html , salutary https://wordsmith.org/words/salutary.html , and salubrious https://wordsmith.org/words/salubrious.html . Earliest documented use: 1591.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/salvific https://wordsmith.org/words/images/salvific_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "For years I had believed that love held out the one hope of cleaning me and making me whole. Now I knew the truth. Love was just another way I'd wished in vain to be fixed. There was no salvific silver bullet." Corey White; Last Lines at Story Bridge; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Jun 29, 2019. https://wordsmith.org/words/silver_bullet.html -------- Date: Fri Jun 14 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hyaline X-Bonus: The longest day must have its close -- the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day. -Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and novelist (14 Jun 1811-1896) This week's theme: Misc words hyaline (HY-uh-lin/leen) adjective: Like glass: transparent or translucent. noun: A substance that is transparent or translucent. [From Greek hualos (glass). Earliest documented use: 1661.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hyaline "He shared the same color blue to his eyes as Max had, clear and hyaline like a glassy sky." Daniel Robinson; After the Fire; Skyhorse Publishing; 2015. -------- Date: Mon Jun 17 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--balsam X-Bonus: Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right. -Igor Stravinsky, composer (17 Jun 1882-1971) What comes to mind when you think of kangaroos? Chances are it's their leaping. This week we're thinking of them because of the way kangaroos carry baby kangaroos in their pouches. Kangaroo words carry tiny synonyms of themselves within them. Consider the word charisma which has charm in it, matches has mates in it, and regulates has rules. Two rules to kangaroo words: The letters of the joey word should be in order. But all the letters can't be in a sequence. Curtail/cut is ok. Enjoy/joy is not. Can you identify joeys in this week's kangaroo words? balsam (BAWL-suhm) noun 1. Something that soothes or heals. 2. An aromatic resinous substance from certain trees and plants. 3. A preparation, for example an ointment, made with such a substance. 4. Such a tree or a plant. [From Latin balsamum, from Greek balsamon, of Semitic origin. Earliest documented use: before 1150.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/balsam https://wordsmith.org/words/images/balsam_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "It's a book ["Lifelines for Caregivers"] specially made for caregivers, but a balsam to the soul of any human being who has ever felt overwhelmed by life." Valerie Zehl; Book Puts Caregivers on Solid Foundation; Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York); Apr 2, 2006. "It's balsam to the ear after so much wobbling from other singers." Donald R. Vroon; Richard Wagner; American Record Guide (Washington, DC); Jul/Aug 2021. -------- Date: Tue Jun 18 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exultation X-Bonus: The ability of so many people to live comfortably with the idea of capital punishment is perhaps a clue to how so many Europeans were able to live with the idea of the Holocaust: Once you accept the notion that the state has the right to kill someone and the right to define what is a capital crime, aren't you halfway there? -Roger Ebert, film critic (18 Jun 1942-2013) This week's theme: Kangaroo words exultation (eg-zuhl-TAY-shuhn) noun The act or state of triumphant joy. [From Latin exsultare (to exult, to leap up), from ex- (out) + saltare (to leap), frequentative of salire (to leap). Earliest documented use: 1425.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/exultation https://wordsmith.org/words/images/exultation_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Enzo as a competitor, grinning with exultation at the wheel." Anthony Lane; Over the Limit; The New Yorker; Jan 1, 2024. -------- Date: Wed Jun 19 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--balderdash X-Bonus: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (19 Jun 1623-1662) This week's theme: Kangaroo words balderdash (BAWL-duhr-dash) noun Nonsense. [Origin unknown. Earliest documented use: 1596.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/balderdash https://wordsmith.org/words/images/balderdash_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "It was a stream of mostly idle rumours and balderdash, embellished half-truths and barstool gossip." Harte Still Standing in Derry; Irish Times (Dublin); Jun 6, 2024. -------- Date: Thu Jun 20 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--transgression X-Bonus: The well taught philosophic mind / To all compassion gives; / Casts round the world an equal eye, / And feels for all that lives. -Anna Laetitia Barbauld, poet, essayist, and editor (20 Jun 1743-1825) This week's theme: Kangaroo words transgression (trans-GRESH-uhn) noun A violation of legal or moral boundaries. [From Latin transgredi (to step beyond or across), from trans- (across) + gradi (to step), from gradus (step). Earliest documented use: 1426.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/transgression https://wordsmith.org/words/images/transgression_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Not all transgressions are created equal, with betrayals (affairs, broken promises) topping the list of offences most likely to be left unpardoned." Katie Underwood; The Gift of Forgiveness; Chatelaine (Toronto, Canada); Dec 2016. -------- Date: Fri Jun 21 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amiable X-Bonus: Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat. -Jean-Paul Sartre, writer and philosopher (21 Jun 1905-1980) This week's theme: Kangaroo words amiable (AY-mee-uh-buhl) adjective Pleasant; friendly. [From Latin amicus (friend), which also gave us amity, amicus curiae https://wordsmith.org/words/amicus_curiae.html , amigo https://wordsmith.org/words/amigo.html , inimical https://wordsmith.org/words/inimical.html , and enemy. Earliest documented use: 1375.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/amiable NOTES: Here are the joeys in kangaroo words featured this week: balsam: balm exultation: elation. These are extra special kangaroo words because they both originate from Latin salire (to leap). balderdash: blah transgression: sin amiable: amable. Amiable itself is a joey of amicable https://wordsmith.org/words/amicable.html . Three generations of kangaroo words, like Matryoshka dolls! https://wordsmith.org/words/images/amiable_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Mr Rutte's amiable demeanour masks a killer political instinct." Farewell to the Dutch Tigger; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 15, 2023. -------- Date: Mon Jun 24 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--palooka X-Bonus: History is a vast early warning system. -Norman Cousins, editor and author (24 Jun 1915-1990) Welcome to Whimsical Words Week, where language takes a playful turn and words dance into your vocabulary like unexpected guests at a party. Each day, we'll introduce you to a delightful, quirky word you never knew existed. Add these to your lexicon and wonder how you ever expressed yourself without them. Get ready to say, "I didn't know there was a word for it!" palooka (puh-LOOK-uh) noun 1. Someone incompetent or inexperienced, especially as a boxer. 2. A clumsy or foolish person. [Of unknown origin. The word was popularized by the comic strip "Joe Palooka", which debuted in 1930. Earliest documented use: 1920.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/palooka https://wordsmith.org/words/images/palooka_large.jpg Image: https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Palooka-Comics-Americas-Favorite/dp/1499269552 "We're not a bunch of palookas. Someone is messing with our heads, and I don't know who it is any more." Deon Meyer (Translation: K.L. Seegers); Seven Days; Random House; 2012. "He wasn't no palooka. He used to be the light heavyweight champ." Tennessee Williams; Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays; New Directions; 2005. -------- Date: Tue Jun 25 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lycanthropy X-Bonus: Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits. -Dan Barker, former preacher, musician (b. 25 Jun 1949) This week's theme: There's a word for it lycanthropy (ly-KAN-thruh-pee) noun 1. A delusion that one has transformed into a wolf. 2. The process of or ability to transform into a wolf. [From Greek lykos (wolf) + -anthropy (human). Earliest documented use: 1584.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lycanthropy NOTES: Here are some more animal-delusion anthropies: cynanthropy: dog https://wordsmith.org/words/cynanthropy.html boanthropy: cow or ox cervanthropy: deer hippanthropy: horse zoanthropy: animal https://wordsmith.org/words/zoanthropy.html But not all anthropies are alike. Philanthropy is not the delusional belief that one is named Phil. Misanthropy https://wordsmith.org/words/misanthrope.html is somewhat the opposite of philanthropy, and apanthropy https://wordsmith.org/words/apanthropy.html is a desire to be away from people. How lycanthropy works in Hollywood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRqU-93mHns (1 min.) "I refuse to believe someone would be stupid enough to infect someone with lycanthropy to have a better mall security guard." R.J. Blain; Last but not Leashed; Pen & Page; 2018. -------- Date: Wed Jun 26 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--heliophobia X-Bonus: The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating. -Pearl S. Buck, novelist, Nobel laureate (26 Jun 1892-1973) This week's theme: There's a word for it heliophobia (hee-lee-uh-FO-bee-uh) noun Fear of sunlight or bright light. [From Greek helio- (sun) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1885.] "The Fall of Icarus", 1635-1637 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/heliophobia_large.jpg Art: Peter Paul Rubens https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubens_-_RKDimages,_248134.jpg https://wordsmith.org/words/icarian.html "Rey Diaz lived underground not out of any concern for security, but because of his heliophobia." Cixin Liu (Translation: Joel Martinsen); The Dark Forest; Tor; 2015. -------- Date: Thu Jun 27 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pizzaiolo X-Bonus: The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people. -Helen Adams Keller, lecturer and author (27 Jun 1880-1968) This week's theme: There's a word for it pizzaiolo (peet-suh-YO-lo) noun A pizza maker. [From Italian pizzaiolo (pizza maker). Earliest documented use: 1956.] NOTES: The female form of the word is pizzaiola, but pizzaiolo can be used irrespective of gender, just as we use the terms actor, teacher, painter, etc. as gender-neutral terms. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pizzaiolo_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Saucepan who, as well as being a partner in the gym, also works as a pizzaiolo at a gourmet pizzeria at the entrance to the town." Daniel Galera; Blood-Drenched Beard; Penguin; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Jun 28 00:01:02 EDT 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sciamachy X-Bonus: What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? -Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and author (28 Jun 1712-1778) This week's theme: There's a word for it sciamachy or sciomachy (sy-AM-uh-kee) or skiamachy (sky-) noun A mock fight or a fight with an imaginary enemy. [From Greek skiamachia, from skia (shadow) + -machia (battle). Earliest documented use: 1623.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/sciamachy_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Aru is indulging in sciamachy. She has the frustrated look of a person combating a shadow." Shashi Deshpande; A Matter of Time; Feminist Press; 1999.