A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Sat Jul 1 00:05:12 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--breastsummer X-Bonus: If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart. -Socrates (469?-399 BCE) breastsummer (BRES-sum-uhr, BREST-, BRES-e-muhr) noun A horizontal beam supporting an exterior wall over an opening, as a shop window. Also called breast beam. [Breast + summer.] "Breakfast-room has inglenook fireplace with breastsummer beam over window seat." Alexander Garrett, Property: Room for improvement, The Daily Telegraph Jan 8, 2000. This week's theme: red-herring words. -------- Date: Sun Jul 2 00:05:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hardscrabble X-Bonus: Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase. -John Balguy hardscrabble (HARD-skrab-uhl) adjective Earning a bare subsistence, as on the land; marginal. noun Barren or marginal farmland. [Americanism hard + scrabble, scrape.] "Just 5ft 4in tall, he was literally the `little giant' - one of five children of a coalminer and hardscrabble farmer ...." Rupert Cornwell, Obituary: Carl Albert, The Independent, Feb 9, 2000. This week's theme: red-herring words. -------- Date: Mon Jul 3 02:25:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--horripilation X-Bonus: Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) horripilation (ho-rip-uh-LAY-shuhn) noun The bristling of the body hair, as from fear or cold; goose bumps. [Late Latin horripilatio, horripilation-, from Latin horripilatus, past participle of horripilare, to bristle with hairs : horrere, to tremble + pilare, to grow hair (from pilus, hair).] "The poor man frightened, terrified, alarmed, seized with a feeling of horripilation all over the body, and agitated in mind, reflects thus." Translated By H. Kern, Saddharma-Pundarika or The Lotus of the True Law, Sacred Books of the East, Vol XXI, 1884. "What is expressed here is an aversion that is both aesthetic and intimate, a horripilation of the sexual reflex that is perfectly captured by the word creep." Lance Morrow & John Dickerson, Men: are they really that bad? Time, Feb 14, 1994. Once in a while AWAD delivery gets delayed and messages start pouring into my mailbox complaining of withdrawal symptoms. "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind," as British writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling said, and might help explain why some of us get so hooked on them. As time passes, we experience symptoms of mithridatism, the condition of immunity acquired by taking gradually increased doses of something. Slowly they take over and we realize we need words with even more potency, words that are unusual, esoteric, or even preposterous, to get an ever greater high. Are you one of those for whom the dictionary might be better characterized as an addictionary? Help is at hand. Consider this week's words as extra high doses of the fix. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jul 4 00:55:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quaquaversal X-Bonus: You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) quaquaversal (kwuh-kwuh-VUR-sal) adjective Sloping downward from the center in all directions. [From Latin quaquavers(us) literally, wheresoever turned, turned everywhere + -al.] "Because the contemporary business organization is struggling with the quaquaversal--that is, radiating out in every direction from the center--nature of global business (geographic dispersal, mutating labor arrangements, imploding distribution models), teamware offers the hope of improving communication in ways traditional applications simply can't. Jeff Angus & Sean Gallagher, Keep your team in touch, InformationWeek, May 11, 1998. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. -------- Date: Wed Jul 5 00:55:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jejune X-Bonus: Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast. -Peter Drucker (1909-) jejune (juh-JOON) adjective 1. Not interesting; dull. 2. Lacking maturity; childish 3. Lacking in nutrition. [From Latin ieiunus, meager, dry, fasting.] "The record never devolves into the hammy, jejune blues of Jonny Lang." David Browne, Brothers Grim, Entertainment Weekly, May 12, 2000. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. -------- Date: Thu Jul 6 00:35:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paranymph X-Bonus: I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed. -Mark Twain (1835-1910) paranymph (PAR-uh-nimf) noun 1. A groomsman or a bridesmaid. 2. In ancient Greece, a friend who accompanied the bridegroom when he went to bring home the bride, or the bridesmaid who escorted the bride to the bridegroom. [From Late Latin paranymphus, from Greek paranymphos (masculine and femnine) groomsman, bridesmaid, literally, person beside the bride.] "If any of these, or all, the Timnian bride Had not so soon preferred Thy Paranymph, worthless to thee compared." John Milton, Samson Agonistes: Part III. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. Read what AWAD subscribers wrote about Global English: http://www.dailystarnews.com/200004/28/n0042809.htm -------- Date: Fri Jul 7 00:35:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gemutlich X-Bonus: Just as a cautious businessman avoids tying up all his capital in one concern, so, perhaps, worldly wisdom will advise us not to look for the whole of our satisfaction from a single aspiration. -Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) gemutlich (guh-MOOT-lik, -MUT-likh) adjective Warm and congenial; pleasant or friendly. [German, from Middle High German gemuetlich, from gemuete, spirit, feelings, from Old High German gimuoti, from muot, mind, spirit, joy.] "The Juilliard was the first string quartet to really explore the neurotic side of Schubert. It found the raw nerve underneath those soft plump, gemutlich surface melodies years before musicologists started uncovering the composer's tormented inner life." Mark Swed, Reconfigured Juilliard Quartet a Bit Less Edgy, Los Angeles Times, Jan 23, 1998. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. -------- Date: Sat Jul 8 02:13:54 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--interrex X-Bonus: No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does. -La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) interrex (IN-tuhr-reks) noun, plural interreges (in-tuhr-REE-jeez) A person holding supreme authority in a state during an interregnum (the interval of time between the end of a sovereign's reign and the accession of a successor). [From Latin, inter- between + rex, king.] "The consuls, too, fell ill, and it was decided to carry on the government through an interrex." Livy, The History Of Early Rome: Part 4, History of the World. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. -------- Date: Sun Jul 9 00:35:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pandiculation X-Bonus: The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones. -Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) pandiculation (pan-DIK-yuh-lay-shuhn) noun The act of stretching oneself. [Latin pandiculatus past participle of pandiculari to stretch oneself, derivation of pandere to stretch.] "His (Awadagin Pratt's) constantly changing answering-machine message has featured recitations on the pre-sleep state of pandiculation and sportscast-style accounts of the recent Short-Kasparov chess match." Peter Goodman, Piano forte, Newsday, Jan 9, 1994. This week's theme: unusual, esoteric, preposterous words. -------- Date: Mon Jul 10 00:35:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--trichotillomania X-Bonus: The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. -John Milton (1608-1674) [Paradise Lost] trichotillomania (trik-uh-til-uh-MAY-nee-uh) noun A compulsion to pull out one's hair. [Tricho- hair + Greek till(ein) to pluck, pull out + -o- + -mania.] "In this morning's `Healthy Woman,' we're going to look at a disorder that you've probably never heard of. I hadn't. It is one that afflicts millions of Americans. It is called trichotillomania. It is an uncontrollable urge to pull out one's hair." Charles Gibson, Healthy Woman, ABC Good Morning America, May 27, 1999. Do you have trouble verbalizing yourself to your psychologist? Do you find yourself at a loss for words while lying on that couch when the clock is ticking? Don't despair! This week's AWAD will help you and your therapist understand you. These are words to drop into conversation with a psychoanalyst, psychologist or a psychiatrist. -Anu P.S. If doc is the short form of doctor, could psychoanalyst be shortened to psycho? Did you notice the word therapist can be hyphened as the- rapist? P.P.S. Note to those not living in the Americas: Despite what the citation for today's word may lead you to think, most Americans don't pull their hair out. -------- Date: Tue Jul 11 00:05:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cathexis X-Bonus: A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) [Society and Solitude, 1870] cathexis (kuh-THEK-sis) noun, plural cathexes (-THEK-seez) Concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea. [Greek kathexis, holding, retention, from katekhein, to hold fast : kat-, kata-, intensive prefix + ekhein, to hold.] "I'd been to 20 N. Moore Street and watched the throngs of `mourners' making instant cathexis for the cameras, `identifying' with the young `victims' as avatars of Camelot cut down in their prime, a perfect couple who embodied our hopes and dreams, symbols of America's longing for nobility, etc." Guy Trebay, Eyes Wide Shut, The Village Voice, Aug 3, 1999. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. Those of you in the Buffalo, New York area can listen to yours truly on NPR's affiliate station WBFO 88.7 FM program Spoken Arts. It will be broadcast on Thursday, July 13, at 5:35, 7:35 and 9:35AM EDT on Morning Edition. -Anu -------- Date: Wed Jul 12 00:05:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--arctophile X-Bonus: A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) arctophile (ARK-tuh-fyl) noun A person who is very fond of and is usually a collector of teddy bears. [Greek arkto-, combining form of arktos bear + -phile.] "Teddy bears are more than just an occasional squeeze for Alison Hawkins-- they're her life, and she owns more than 5000 of them. Ms Hawkins, who lives in the coastal community of Haumoana, southeast of Napier, is an arctophile--a collector of teddy bears." Mary Longmore, Still Crazy About Bears After All These Years, The Dominion, May 6, 1998. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. -------- Date: Thu Jul 13 00:05:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--symbiosis X-Bonus: I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry. -Rita Rudner symbiosis (sim-bee-O-sis, -bi-) noun, plural symbioses (-seez) 1. A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member. 2. A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence. [Greek sumbiosis, companionship, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together : sun-, syn- + bios, life.] "People who really know the Carters say you never knew quite where Rosalynn stopped and Jimmy began. That symbiosis proved particularly invaluable at the end of her husband's term." William Plummer, True Believer, People, Jun 12, 2000. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. -------- Date: Fri Jul 14 00:05:06 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nisus X-Bonus: As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. -Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) nisus (NI-suhs) noun, plural nisus An effort or endeavor to realize an aim. [Latin nisus, from past participle of niti, to strive.] "Another element of globalization, which results in part from the spread of education, is the strong nisus toward individualism." Ninian Smart, Religion and Globalization, ReVision, Fall 1999. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. -------- Date: Sat Jul 15 00:05:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--acedia X-Bonus: Be aware that a halo has to fall only a few inches to be a noose. -Dan McKinnon acedia (uh-SEE-dee-uh) noun Spiritual torpor and apathy; ennui. [Late Latin, from Greek akedeia, indifference : a- + kedos, care.] "[T]hose who love the play as Coleridge did, for its mood of acedia and self-corroding scepticism, may find themselves wondering if they actually have been mad about the Dane for all these years." Kevin Jackson, Four hours, and a star every minute, Independent on Sunday, 16 Feb 1997. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. -------- Date: Sun Jul 16 00:05:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--thanatophobia X-Bonus: Children aren't happy without something to ignore, And that's what parents were created for. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971) thanatophobia (than-uh-tuh-FO-bee-uh) noun An abnormal fear of death. [Thanato- death + -phobia.] "Thanatophobia, a word meaning the fear of death and its trappings, supposedly is deeply buried within the American psyche. Under the shady trees of Clinton Oaks, fear seems unlikely." Susan Jakobsen, Untold stories Cemetery in caretaker's thoughtful hands, Tulsa World, Oct 27, 1999. This week's theme: words to drop into conversations with a therapist. -------- Date: Mon Jul 17 00:13:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amusia X-Bonus: I don't know who my grandfather was; I'm much more concerned to know what his grandson will be. -Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) amusia (ay-MYOO-zee-uh) noun The inability to produce or comprehend music or musical sounds. [New Latin, from Greek amousia state of being without the Muses, especially song.] "Like other patients suffering from the clinical condition known as amusia, she can easily identify environmental sound - a chicken clucking, a cock crowing, a baby crying. But no melody in the world - not even `Happy Birthday' - triggers so much as a wisp of recognition." James Shreeve, Music of the hemispheres, Discover, Oct 1996. There is nothing amusing about amusia, especially when it is you who happens to be struck with the malady. My guess is most of us are when it comes to the inability-to-produce-music part, few where the appreciation part is concerned. This week's AWAD features more words about ailments and afflictions, words you don't want to hear from your doctor's mouth. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jul 18 00:13:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dysesthesia X-Bonus: Man discovers his own wealth when God comes to ask gifts of him. -Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) dysesthesia (dis-es-THEE-zhuh, -zhee-uh, -zee-uh) noun 1. Any impairment of the senses, especially of the sense of touch. 2. A condition in which light physical contact of the skin causes pain. [New Latin, from Greek dysaisthesia.] "They can also experience dysesthesias, bizarre unpleasant sensations such as feeling you have a hot poker sticking in your leg ..." Alexandria Berger, Many Are Paying Price For Past Pesticide Use, The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Feb 7, 2000. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Wed Jul 19 00:13:11 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--acalculia X-Bonus: Be very circumspect in the choice of thy company. In the society of thine equals thou shalt enjoy more pleasure; in the society of thine superiors thou shalt find more profit. To be the best in the company is the way to grow worse; the best means to grow better is to be the worst there. -Francis Quarles (1592-1644) acalculia (ay-kal-KYOO-lee-uh) noun Inability or loss of the ability to perform arithmetic operations. [New Latin, equivalent to a- + calcul- + -ia.] "We concluded that there was indeed a specialised brain circuit for numbers in the left parietal lobe, and that damage to this circuit had caused Mrs Gaddi's acalculia. If we were right, there should be other patients in whom brain damage has spared this area, leaving mathematical abilities intact, but has affected brain regions that support language, memory and reasoning." Brian Butterworth, When brains don't count, The Independent - London, May 7, 1999. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Thu Jul 20 00:13:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hypogeusia X-Bonus: I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. -Voltaire (1694-1778) hypogeusia (hi-puh-GYOO-zee-uh, zhee-uh, -zhuh) noun Diminished sensation of taste. [Hypo- + Greek geus(is) taste + -ia.] "Diminished acuity of taste, hypogeusia, is more common and often occurs with aging in the absence of a specific pathologic condition." R. Michael Culpepper, When Bitterness Is Sweet--and Sweetness Is Bitter, Consultant, Apr 2000. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Fri Jul 21 00:13:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anhedonia X-Bonus: Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. -Cicero anhedonia (an-hee-DO-nee-uh) noun Lack of pleasure or of the capacity to experience it. [Greek an- + hedon(e) pleasure + -ia.] "Your falling out of love is a sort of anhedonia--an inability to experience pleasure--and this anhedonia is a biological relative, or even an equivalent, of depression." Peter Kramer, For better or worse, Elle, Sep 1997. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Sat Jul 22 00:13:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paramnesia X-Bonus: Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die. -Amelia Burr paramnesia (par-am-NEE-zhuh) noun 1. A distortion of memory in which fact and fantasy are confused. 2. The inability to recall the correct meaning of a word. [New Latin, par-, amnesia.] "God's attention, then loss of attention, his control, then loss of control over the actions of the squirming and chanting boot jacks, is consistent with Ellis's discussion of paramnesia." Dennis Ryan, `A Divine Gesture': Hemingway's complex parody of the modern, Hemingway Review, Fall 1996. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Sun Jul 23 00:13:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anosmia X-Bonus: By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. -Socrates anosmia (an-OZ-mee-uh, -OS-) noun Absence or loss of the sense of smell. [New Latin, from Greek an- + osm(e) smell (akin to ozein to smell) + -ia.] "Lack of smell, or anosmia, may result from a host of ills, from viruses to polyps to diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's." Joseph V. Amodio, Mood Makers, Good Housekeeping, Nov 1998. This week's theme: Words for ailments and afflictions. -------- Date: Mon Jul 24 00:13:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--throttlebottom X-Bonus: I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check. -M.C. Escher (1898-1972) Throttlebottom (THROT-l-bot-um) noun A harmless incompetent in public office. [After Alexander Throttlebottom, character in Of Thee I Sing (1932), musical comedy by George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind.] "Every Vice President from John Nance Garner to at least Lyndon Johnson went into the office vowing: `I will not be a Throttlebottom.'" J. Roberts, Throttlebottoms's legacy, National Review, Jun 25, 1990. The first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize, `Of Thee I Sing', is a brilliant political satire that gives us today's word. In this masterful operetta (music: George Gershwin, lyrics: Ira Gershwin, libretto: George Kaufman and Morris Ryskind), presidential candidate John P. Wintergreen runs a political campaign based on the theme of love. His National Party sponsors a beauty contest, with Wintergreen to marry the winner. Instead, Wintergreen falls in love with Mary Turner, a secretary at the pageant, and marries her on the day of his inauguration. Diana Devereaux, the contest winner, sues President Wintergreen for breach of contract; France threatens to go to war, since Devereaux is of French descent; and Congress impeaches him. Wintergreen points out the United States Constitution provision that when the President is unable to perform his duty, the Vice President fulfills the obligations. VP Throttlebottom agrees to marry Diana and forever etches his name in the dictionaries. Sometimes you have to wonder whether fictional people appear more real or real people more fictional. The rest of this week features other examples of eponyms, or words derived from people's names; from fact as well as from fiction. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jul 25 00:13:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--goody two-shoes X-Bonus: Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards. -Fred Hoyle, Astronomer, mathematician, writer (1915- ) goody two-shoes (GOOD-ee TOO-shooz) noun A goody-goody; affectedly sweet, good, or virtuous. [After the title character in The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, a nursery tale perhaps by Oliver Goldsmith.] "Before anybody else, Falk realized this: `In the age of TV sports, if you were to create a media athlete and star for the '90s -- spectacular talent, midsized, well-spoken, attractive, accessible, old-time values, wholesome, clean, natural, not too Goody Two-shoes, with a little bit of deviltry in him -- you'd invent Michael." Curry Kirkpatrick, NBA Preview: In an Orbit All His, Sports Illustrated, Nov 9, 1987. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Wed Jul 26 00:13:13 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Munchausen syndrome X-Bonus: He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly? -Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824) Munchausen syndrome (MUNCH-hou-zen SIN drom) noun A factitious disorder in which otherwise healthy individuals seek to hospitalize themselves with feigned or self-induced pathology in order to receive surgical or other medical treatment. [Named after Baron von Munchhausen (1720-1797), German soldier and raconteur, whose fictionalized accounts of his own experiences suggest symptoms of the disorder.] "At one point she confesses to having a form of Munchausen syndrome, in which the patient feigns illness after illness. Writes Slater, `Perhaps I was, and still am, a pretender, a person who creates illnesses because she needs time, attention, touch, because she knows no other way of telling her life's tale.'" Lisa Shea, Lying, Elle, Jun 2000. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Thu Jul 27 00:13:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--thespian X-Bonus: It's all right to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation. -Dr. Rob Gilbert thespian (THES-pee-uhn) adjective 1. Of or relating to drama; dramatic. 2. Thespian. Of or relating to Thespis. noun An actor or actress. [From Thespis, Greek poet (sixth century BCE), who reputedly originated Greek tragedy.] "Young songbirds, dancers and thespians will take the stage Saturday to compete in the 16th annual Heritage Arts Center Association's Spotlight on Talent contest." Maria Victoria Ayarza, Youngsters to display their talent, The Tampa Tribune, Apr 16, 1999. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Fri Jul 28 00:13:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hawkshaw X-Bonus: The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from. -Andrew S. Tanenbaum , computer science professor (1944- ) hawkshaw (HAWK-shaw) noun A detective. [After Hawkshaw, a detective in the play The Ticket of Leave Man (1863) by Tom Taylor.] "Conductor: Hawkshaw Junction. Change here Gumshoe, Flatfoot, Sleuthhound, and Beagle." Claire Boiko, Murder on the Orient Express Subway, Plays, Mar 1995. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Sat Jul 29 00:13:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--derby X-Bonus: I know I am among civilized men because they are fighting so savagely. -Voltaire, Philosopher, historian, satirist, dramatist, and essayist (1694-1778) derby (DUR-bee) (British DAHR-bee) noun 1. Any of various annual horseraces, especially for three-year-olds. 2. A formal race usually having an open field of contestants. 3. A stiff felt hat with a round crown and a narrow, curved brim. [After Edward Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834), founder of the English Derby.] "Newly installed Jets bigwig Robert Wood Johnson can still hold out hope that New York will win the 2012 Olympics derby over the likes of Beijing, Rome, and Plant City, Florida (again: yes, Plant City)." Jockbeat, Village Voice, Jun 6, 2000. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Sun Jul 30 00:13:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--therblig X-Bonus: An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come. -Victor Hugo (1802-1885) therblig (THUR-blig) noun In time and motion study, any of the basic elements involved in completing a given manual operation or task that can be subjected to analysis. [Americanism, anagram of F. B. Gilbreth (1868-1924), American engineer.] Therblig is a near reversal of Gilbreth. Some other words coined by reversing words are, yob (a rowdy youth), coined by reversing boy, and mho (the unit of electrical conductance), coined by reversing ohm, the unit of resistance. -Anu "Later, there were attempts to marry the two methods into a system or systems where Therbligs were assigned specific times." David S. Ferguson, Don't call it `time and motion study', IIE Solutions, May 1997. This week's theme: eponyms derived from fact and fiction. -------- Date: Mon Jul 31 00:26:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--previse X-Bonus: In times when the government imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also the prison. -Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) previse (pri-VYZ) verb tr. 1. To know in advance; foresee. 2. To notify in advance; forewarn. [Middle English previsen, from Latin praevidere, praevis- : prae-, pre- + videre, to see.] "The first four releases ... previse plenty of good times to come." Catherine Apple Olson, Home video: Children's, Billboard, Jan 18, 1997. Remember when you were little and sometimes used to get that special dish? It was one of mom's frugal devices--a result of the dictate that no food ever gets thrown out. So she made one which really was a mix of everything left over from the previous night. This week's AWAD is cooked in the same spirit. Each of this week's words comes from a theme that previously appeared in AWAD. Since you can fit only seven words in a week there are always some leftovers and this week we attempt to use some of them in this olio of words. Here is the fun part: Can you decipher what all ingredients--the themes--this week is made of? And this is going to be an open-book quiz. All the previous themes in AWAD are listed on https://wordsmith.org/awad/themes.html . -Anu