A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Mon Jul 1 00:19:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sad sack
X-Bonus: I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
sad sack (sad sak) noun
A well-meaning but hopelessly inept person, especially a soldier.
[After the cartoon character created by cartoonist George Baker (1915-1975)
during World War II.]
"Zahn, always effective as a kick-back space case, shows more depth
this time around as a well-meaning sad sack who spirals dramatically
downward."
Claudia Puig, Charming Barrymore Lightens 'Boys' Journey, The USA Today
(Arlington, Virginia), Oct 19, 2001.
Charles Boycott of Ireland gave us `boycott', George Orwell of 1984 fame
brought us `Orwellian', and sharpshooter Annie Oakley gave us another term
for a `free ticket'. While they were all living breathing beings, their
fictional counterparts are not behind in giving us words after themselves.
In this week's AWAD we'll see terms coined after characters from a cartoon,
novel, pop song, theater and newspaper. -Anu
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Date: Tue Jul 2 00:19:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sherlock
X-Bonus: Assassination: The extreme form of censorship. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)
sherlock (SHUR-lok) noun
A detective or a person who is good at solving mysteries.
[After Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective in the works of Arthur Conan
Doyle (1859-1930).]
Although Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character, his many fans, who often
call themselves Baker Street Irregulars, sometimes pretend he was real. -Anu
"With the right software, any aspiring Sherlock can build up a large file
on most Americans, including education, previous addresses, physical
description, telephone bills, hobbies, and more."
We Know You're Reading This, The Economist (London), Feb 10, 1996.
This week's theme: words derived from fictional characters.
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Date: Wed Jul 3 00:19:10 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--life of riley
X-Bonus: Ordering a man to write a poem is like commanding a pregnant woman to give birth to a red-headed child. -Carl Sandburg, poet and biographer (1878-1967)
life of Riley (lyf ov rylee)
A carefree, comfortable life.
[From Riley, a character in one of the many songs popular around the late
1800s and early 1900s.]
"`I got someone mad at me because I referred to Tuxedo Park as the
all-day buffet,' said Cornelius J. J. Madera Jr., a real estate developer
who is the village mayor, as he drove by clusters of deer grazing along
the roadside. `The last several years, they've just been multiplying and
there's no natural predators here, so the deer are just living the life
of Riley.' Of course, not everyone sees the deer as the problem. Richard
Waite, a retired fabric designer, said he quit Tuxedo Park's deer
committee after other members insulted him and ignored his pleas to spare
the deer. `I was the only one out of the whole group that had any sanity
about animal life,' said Mr. Waite, who is one of several residents suing
the village to block the culling program."
Winnie Hu, Homeowners Are Manning Backyard Battle Stations,
The New York Times, Oct 26, 2000.
This week's theme: words derived from fictional characters.
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Date: Thu Jul 4 00:19:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--punchinello
X-Bonus: Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due. -William R. Inge, clergyman, scholar, and author (1860-1954)
punchinello (pun-chuh-NEL-o) noun
1. A short, fat buffoon, principal character in an Italian puppet show.
2. A grotesque person.
[From Italian (Naples dialect) polecenella (a character in Italian puppet
shows), diminutive of pollecena (turkey pullet), ultimately from Latin
pullus (young chicken). From the resemblance of punchinello's nose to a
turkey's beak.]
"Unlike Mr. Donahue, she doesn't automatically sympathize with every
oddball and Punchinello who feels mistreated by `straight society'
(a phrase, believe it or not, that still rolls off Mr. Donahue's
tongue)."
Martha Bayles, Oprah vs. Phil: Warmth Wins Out, The Wall Street Journal
(New York), Jan 26, 1987.
This week's theme: words derived from fictional characters.
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Date: Fri Jul 5 00:19:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yellow journalism
X-Bonus: Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -Thomas Edison, inventor (1847-1931)
yellow journalism (YEL-o JUR-nuh-liz-em) noun
Journalism that employs exaggeration, scandals, and lurid stories to
attract readers.
[From the Yellow Kid, a character in a wildly popular comic Hogan's Alley
that appeared in the New York World, a newspaper owned by Joseph Pulitzer.
The Yellow Kid was the object of a circulation war between the New York
World and its competitor, the New York Journal that eventually resulted
in both newspapers engaging in journalistic practices characterized by
hyperbole, melodrama, and even manufactured events.]
It's ironic that Joseph Pulitzer, owner of a newspaper known for
sensationalistic reporting during his lifetime, has provided the eponym
behind the most respected journalism award in the US. But There are other
examples of whitewashing with the passage of time and the institution of
awards. Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, is now better known for his
Nobel Peace Prize. Who's to say one day we'll not have an annual Gates
Prize for the company most admired for its fair business practices? -Anu
"My salary and my staff's mortgages and my loss-making newspaper are
subsidised by the profits produced by the Mirror, Sunday Mirror and the
People - newspapers which, when it comes to yellow journalism, make the
Daily Mail seem like a church gazette. I enjoy the luxury of indulging
in uncommercial journalism and shall therefore try to be a little less
self-righteous today."
Paul Dacre, Media: A Righteous Tribe, The Guardian (London), Jun 10, 1996.
This week's theme: words derived from fictional characters.
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Date: Mon Jul 8 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ubiety
X-Bonus: Nature does nothing uselessly. -Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
ubiety (yoo-BYE-i-tee) noun
The condition of existing in a particular location.
[From Latin ubi (where) + -ety, a variant of ity.]
Here's a more familiar word with the same root: ubiquity, the state of
being everywhere.
"Ubiety suffuses Milosz's work, though he says that `whether I wanted
this to happen or not, the landscapes of California have merged with
the landscapes of Lithuania.'"
David Kipen, ABCs of Milosz -- A Life in Letters, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Mar 21, 2001.
"And so every anecdote in Northern Ireland has to come accompanied by
its refutation. One person will tell a story pointing up the ubiety of
the sectarian divide, and how both groups can instantly identify one
another and then someone else will chime up and say: but what about
so-and-so."
Will Self, A Little Cottage Industry Business is Thriving in Northern
Ireland, The Guardian (London), Jul 10, 1994.
Don your sherlockian hats, put on the gumshoes, and sharpen your private
eyes. It's time for some word sleuthing. Wordsmith needs a few good word
detectives to save the day (or week). I had jotted down the five words
for this week in my notebook, but I can't remember what was common among
them. Can you see a pattern in these seemingly random words? Is there a
theme that you can identify? If you think you have the answer, send it
to (garg AT wordsmith.org). Only one solution per person, please. -Anu
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Date: Tue Jul 9 00:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--irade
X-Bonus: Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. -William Congreve, dramatist (1670-1729)
irade (i-RAH-day) noun
A decree.
[From Turkish, From Arabic iradah (will, desire, wish).]
"A second irade on the 23rd of the same month offered full amnesty
to the rebels, safe return to the fugitives, protection against all
oppression, a free gift of the necessary materials for rebuilding
their houses, and corn for sowing their fields, together with
remission of the tenth for one year, and of all other taxes for two
years."
Wilhelm Mueller, Russo-Turkish War: Part I, History of the World.
This week's theme: yours to discover.
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Date: Wed Jul 10 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ambit
X-Bonus: He who would leap high must take a long run. -Danish Proverb
ambit (AM-bit) noun
1. Circumference, boundary, or circuit.
2. Scope, range, or limit.
[From Latin ambitus (going around), from ambire (to go around).]
Here are a few cousins of today's word: ambition, ambiance, ambient.
"It was an elective office, but it was a legal office, and it had a wide
ambit in social and economic issues."
James Traub, The Attorney General Goes to War, The New York Times
Magazine, Jun 16, 2002.
"Conducted in a large gymnasium or the great outdoors instead of within
the narrow ambit of ultrasound detectors and other sensors, virtual
reality could become an ideal training tool for sports, firefighting,
or military maneuvers, Foxlin predicts."
David Brittan, Knowing Where Your Head is At, Technology Review
(Cambridge, Massachusetts), Feb 12, 1995.
This week's theme: yours to discover.
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Date: Thu Jul 11 00:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--estival
X-Bonus: When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: 'Only stand out of my light.' Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light. -John W. Gardner, author and educator (1912-2002)
estival (ES-ti-vuhl) adjective, also aestival
Relating to or occurring in summer.
[From Latin aestivus (of or relating to summer) via Old French.]
"Phaedrus's dialogue with Socrates takes place in a rustic locale
`consecrated to Achelous and some of the nymphs' near a pleasant brook
during the hours of estival noontime heat."
Twyla Meding, Pastoral Palimpsest: Writing the Laws of Love in L'Astree,
Renaissance Quarterly (New York), Winter 1999.
"I opted for a summer appetizer special of thinly sliced porcini
mushrooms drizzled with gloriously fragrant olive oil and topped with
snippets of parsley... Three globes of homemade apricot sorbet and
biscotti ended the meal on a suitably estival note."
Jessica Harris, East Village Other, The Village Voice (New York),
Jul 20, 1999.
This week's theme: yours to discover.
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Date: Fri Jul 12 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lanate
X-Bonus: The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body is different. -Hippocrates, physician (460-c.377 BCE)
lanate (LAY-nayt) adjective
Having a woolly surface.
[From Latin lanatus, from lana (wool).]
"I have heard that the Rossi 9S skis you see racers using on the World
cup circuit are different from the ones they sell in stores. Is this,
in fact, true?
"The way you phrase your question says a lot. It says that you are
basically of a trusting and sweet disposition--this despite the fact
that you practically out-and-out accuse Rossignol of trying to pull
three bales of wool, if not an entire season's worth of hirsuteness
from all lanate quadrupeds in New Zealand, over your eyes."
Josh Lerman, Ask Josh, Skiing (New York), Sep 1997.
"He particularly didn't like that scaly feeling he got in his mouth when
eating unpeeled peaches... I went on to explain that to be precise one
might even call the surface velvety, or maybe lanate or even floccose,
but definitely not scaly."
Paul G. Wiegman, Become a Botanist And be a Party Animal, The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, Aug 2, 1997.
This week's theme: yours to discover.
Solution at https://wordsmith.org/awad/awadmail84.html
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Date: Mon Jul 15 03:56:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--french leave
X-Bonus: To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. -Lao-Tzu, philosopher (6th century BCE)
French leave (french leev) noun
A departure or absence without permission.
[From the supposed 18th century French custom of leaving a reception without
taking leave of the host or hostess.]
"Mr Major will also be seen as a limp wimp if he does not make an
example of one of the Cabinet right-wingers: Peter Lilley for going on
French leave during the European election campaign or John Redwood for
disappearing back home to Planet Zanussi."
Andrew Rawnsley, Conservative Cannibalism, The Guardian (London),
Jun 19, 1994.
"His insistent portrayal of the French as a race of daffy epicures is
wearing thin in Provence II, as is his annoyingly literal translations
of French conversations. It's time for Mr. (Peter) Mayle to take French
leave."
Joe Queenan, Bookshelf: Taking French Leave, The Wall Street Journal
(New York), Jul 30, 1991.
Some time back I received a query:
"Hi, Our elementary PTA is hosting a Chinese Auction. A parent who has
two Chinese children has contacted us indicating that she feels this
term is offensive. What is the origin of this term? Before changing
the event name, we wish to educate ourselves on this issue and make
an informed decision. Can you help me understand this term?"
A Chinese auction is a combination of auction and raffle. You can buy one
or many tickets and bid them for various items. All the bidding tickets for
an item are kept in a box. At the end of the event a ticket is drawn from
each box and the owner of the ticket that's drawn from a box gets that item.
The more tickets you bid on an item, the greater your chances of winning but
the bidder of the maximum number of tickets is not guaranteed to win it.
I believe the term is no more offensive than, say, Chinese checkers. Having
said that, I must mention that many of the stereotypical terms associated
with nationalities are indeed offensive. It's often because the English
didn't particularly think much of the Dutch or the French or the Irish or
the Welsh or the ... Many years of hostility, war, and antagonism have had
repercussions on the language. These disparaging terms are not unique to
English though. The French have perhaps as many terms for the English, for
example "filer � l'anglaise" (to take English leave), the French equivalent
of the English expression which we have selected as today's word.
This week we'll look at a few terms marking various nationalities.
-Anu
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Date: Tue Jul 16 00:01:04 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chinese wall
X-Bonus: Spring is a natural resurrection, an experience in immortality. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
Chinese wall (CHY-neez wall) noun
1. A strong barrier.
2. A rule prohibiting exchange of confidential information between
different departments of an organization, typically a financial
institution, to prevent its use in illegal gain.
[After the Great Wall of China, constructed in Northern China in the third
century BCE.]
"The decision followed the old City adage: there is no Chinese wall over
which a grapevine cannot grow. The case has sent solicitors and
accountants scurrying to look at their own procedures to prevent
conflicts of interest."
Robert Kingston, Law: Invasion of the Bean-counters, The Independent
(London), Feb 11, 1999.
"(Jack) Grubman danced along the Chinese wall that separated research
from banking on Wall Street."
Julie Creswell, The Emperor of Greed, Fortune (New York), Jun 24, 2002.
This week's theme: terms employing various nationalities.
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Date: Wed Jul 17 00:01:06 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--roman holiday
X-Bonus: Maybe this world is another planet's Hell. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)
Roman holiday (RO-muhn HOL-i-day) noun
An entertainment event where pleasure is derived from watching gore
and barbarism.
[From the gladiatorial contests held in ancient Rome.]
"There were his young barbarians all at play;
There was their Dacian mother: he, their sire,
Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday!"
Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto iv. Stanza 141.
"Perry Ryan: I think maybe the press was a bit sensational because
they were disappointed that the female sheriff they thought was
going to perform the execution didn't actually do it, and as a
consequence, the story became what a Roman holiday that this was
in Owensboro."
Laurie Howell, Last Public Execution That Was Held in Owensboro,
Kentucky, in 1936, Weekly Edition, National Public Radio, May 5, 2001.
This week's theme: terms employing various nationalities.
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Date: Thu Jul 18 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--irish bull
X-Bonus: I call architecture frozen music. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)
Irish bull (EYE-rish bul) noun
A ludicrously incongruous statement.
[From Latin bull (to mock, jest, etc).]
The term isn't restricted to the Irish. It existed long before it came
to be associated with them. Their association with this expression can
be attributed to the long animosity between the English and the Irish.
Here are some prize Irish bulls:
If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.
-Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer (1882-1974)
Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.
-Yogi Berra, baseball player (1925- )
An Irish bull is always pregnant.
-John Pentland Mahaffy, professor (1839-1919)
"The brothers, Jack (Jack Mulcahy), Barry (Burns) and Patrick (Mike
McGlone), are as confused and quirky as characters in a Woody Allen
comedy. Burns can't quite take the same intellectual tack because he's
talking about working-class types, but `The Brothers McMullen' is
nonetheless a knowing look at neuroses that are salved by the fine
art of Irish bull."
Peter Stack, Low-Budget 'Brothers' Rich in Humanity and Laughs,
The San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 9, 1995.
This week's theme: terms employing various nationalities.
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Date: Fri Jul 19 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dutch auction
X-Bonus: Poetry is what gets lost in translation. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)
Dutch auction (duch OK-shuhn) noun
An auction where a property is offered at a price beyond its value and
the price is lowered gradually until someone makes a bid.
[From the popularity of this method of auction in Holland.]
"In the past year, it's done $2 million in auctions, reverse auctions
and Dutch auctions of livestock and grain."
Jackie Cohen, Taking Care of Business, The Industry Standard, Sep 6, 1999.
This week's theme: terms employing various nationalities.
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Date: Mon Jul 22 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--diplopia
X-Bonus: In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time. -Leonardo da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519)
diplopia (di-PLO-pee-uh) noun
Double vision.
[From New Latin, from Greek diplo- (double) + -opia (vision).]
"Life was a blur. Or so he thought. The thing
Was, he'd been diagnosed with a small-time
Astigmatism. Why think otherwise?
But when the doctor told him, `Read the chart,'
And he replied, `Which one?' even the smart,
Young nurse said, `Uh oh.'"
Greg Williamson, Binocular Diplopia, The Kenyon Review (Gambier, Ohio),
Winter 2001.
"Before the middle of the last century the ancient system of vestry
government, in combination with the corporate diplopia which derived
from the separate (and separable) centres of Westminster and the City,
meant London's government was fantastically confused, anachronistic
and inefficient."
Will Self, A Magnificent, Monstrous Maw, The New Statesman (London),
Sep 18, 1998.
What do you call a town full of twins? Duplicity! And what do you ask twin
witches? Which witch is which? Well, no witches there, but if you happen
to be in an Ohio town named Twinsburg next week you'll think you're
suffering from an acute case of diplopia. Every August, thousands of
twins -- from infants to octogenarians -- converge there to celebrate
Twins Days Festival http://www.twinsdays.org. To mark the occasion, this
week we feature words with some double connections. -Anu
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Date: Tue Jul 23 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--double entendre
X-Bonus: The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain, involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The hypothalamus controls the "Four F's": fighting, fleeing, feeding, and mating. -Heard in a neuropsychology classroom
double entendre (DUB-uhl ahn-TAHN-druh) noun
A word or phrase used in a manner that it can be interpreted in two
ways, especially when one of the meanings is risque.
[From obsolete French, literally double meaning.]
"Without double-entendre British comedy would be bereft. A short
selection from a week's viewing: `You should have heard the gasps
when I showed my marrow to the Women's Institute'."
Thomas Sutcliffe, In Search of Intelligent Life on Planet Sitcom,
The Independent (London, UK); Mar 8, 1996.
This week's theme: words with double connections.
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Date: Wed Jul 24 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ambsace
X-Bonus: Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)
ambsace (AYM-zays) noun, also amesace
1. The double ace, the lowest throw of the dice with one spot showing
uppermost on both dice.
2. The smallest amount of anything.
3. Bad luck.
[From Middle English ambes as, from Old French, from Latin ambas (both) +
as (aces).]
"O noble, prudent folk in happier case!
Your dice-box doth not tumble out ambsace ..."
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Law's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, 1380.
This week's theme: words with double connections.
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Date: Thu Jul 25 00:01:07 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--satchel
X-Bonus: Many live in the ivory tower called reality; they never venture on the open sea of thought. -Francois Gautier, journalist (1950- )
satchel (SACH-uhl) noun
A small bag, often with a shoulder strap, for carrying books, clothing,
etc.
[From Middle English sachel, from Old French, from Late Latin saccellus,
double diminutive of saccus (bag).]
"An eight-hour shift might yield as many as 10,000 golf balls, even as
Lantz spars with the hidden wildlife and climbs over submerged golf
carts and ditched cars -- all the while dodging errant golf shots, not
to mention thrown golf clubs. He lugs a satchel laden with up to 1,000
balls, an air tank and another 30 pounds of scuba gear that keep him
weighted to the pond floor."
Bill Pennington, At the Bottom of Golf Ponds, A Big Business Is Lurking,
The New York Times, Jul 4, 2002.
This week's theme: words with double connections.
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Date: Fri Jul 26 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--doppelganger
X-Bonus: There is no disguise that can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld
doppelganger (DOP-uhl-gang-er) noun
A ghostly counterpart or double of a living person.
[From German, literally a double goer.]
"The classic doppelganger experience is a common theme in fiction
where the appearance of the double often announces the hero's death
by suicide. Probably the most dramatic illustration is Edgar Allan
Poe's William Wilson, who in an attempt to stab his double, kills
himself."
Raj Persaud, How You Could Meet Yourself: Part of Our Brain Has the
Bizarre Power to Make Us Believe That a Double of Ourselves Exists,
The Daily Telegraph (London), Jul 19, 2000.
This week's theme: words with double connections.
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Date: Mon Jul 29 03:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ides
X-Bonus: The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. -Edwin Schlossberg, designer (1945- )
ides (eyedz) noun
The 15th day of March, May, July, or October, and the 13th day
of the other months in the ancient Roman calendar.
[From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin idus.]
"And on another ides of October, 'I Love Lucy' first appeared on TV."
Steve Delaney, The Unsung Month - October, The Christian Science Monitor
(Boston), Oct 14, 1998.
"Beware the Ides of March," the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar. Caesar
didn't heed the warning and we all know his fate. At least that is what
history tells us. I've a feeling Caesar did mind the date but he simply
got lost in the hopelessly complex Roman calendar and confused the D-day.
Ides are only one of the ingredients of the Roman calendar. The other two
are calends (or kalends) and nones. The calends are straightforward --
they always fall on the first of every month. Nones on the fifth or the
seventh, and ides on the thirteenth or the fifteenth. All dates are
counted backwards from the nearest nones, calends, or ides.
Here's a little rhyme to help you remember the dates:
March, July, October, and May
The nones are on the seventh day.
And ides fall eight days after the Nones.
More words about calendar this week. Interestingly, the word calendar
derives from Latin calendarium (account book) since it was used to keep
track of the date when debts were due.
-Anu
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Date: Tue Jul 30 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bissextile
X-Bonus: Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart. -Washington Irving, writer (1783-1859)
bissextile (by-SEKS-til) adjective
Of or pertaining to the leap year or the extra day in the leap year.
noun
Leap year.
[From Late Latin bisextilis annus (leap year), from Latin bissextus (February
29: leap day), from bi- (two) sextus (sixth), from the fact that the sixth
day before the Calends of March (February 24) appeared twice every leap year.]
"Do people born on Feb. 29 celebrate their birthdays on Feb. 28 or March
1 in non-leap years? The last day of February is the natural and logical
choice. A term for leap year, `bissextile,' means doubled day - referring
to a double Feb. 28."
Happy Birthday Leap Year Babies, The Toronto Star (Canada), Feb 26, 1999.
This week's theme: words related to calendar.
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Date: Wed Jul 31 00:01:05 EDT 2002
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--greek calends
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 (1823-1909)
Greek calends (greek KAL-undz) noun, also Greek kalends
A time that doesn't exist.
[From the fact that calends exist in the Roman calendar, not in the Greek
calendar.]
"To those less convinced, Larner is generous. For me, one of the grace
notes in his study was the wondrous parody of Marco Polo found tucked in
Boccaccio's `Decameron,' quoted here: `So away I went, and after setting
out from Venison, I visited the Greek Calends, then rode at a brisk pace
through the Kingdom of Algebra and through Bordello, eventually reaching
Bedlam.' It is only the most gracious authors who can thus tease their
subjects, their readers and themselves."
Jonathan Spence, Go East, Young Man, The New York Times Book Review,
Dec 12, 1999.
"It is less political because those same themes are almost always
deferred, as in 2.10, where the composition of an epic celebrating
Octavian's conquests is promised but put off to the Greek
calends."
Paul Allen Miller, Why Propertius is a Woman, Classical Philology
(Chicago), Apr 2001.
This week's theme: words related to calendar.