A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
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Date: Thu Jul 1 00:02:10 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zany
X-Bonus: Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison. -Mary Wollstonecraft, reformer and writer (1759-1797)
zany (ZAY-nee) adjective
Amusingly strange, comical, or clownish.
[From French zani, from Italian zanni, a nickname for Giovanni.]
The term has its origin in the comedy theater commedia dell'arte popular
in 16-18th century Italy. Giovanni, Italian form of the name John, was
originally the generic name of the servant, a stock character who tried
to mimic his master, himself a clown.
"The ReJoyce 2004 Szombathely Festival with events such as the Leopold
Bloom Ikebana (flower poetry contest) promises to be the most zany,
spirited, Joycean tribute of all!"
Esther V�csey; ReJoyce! Dublin on the Danube; The Budapest Sun (Hungary);
Jun 10, 2004.
"The free show, designed for children in kindergarten through the sixth
grade, is full of zany illusions and silly jokes and plenty of audience
participation."
Monica Lander; Former Alcoholic to Share Tragedy With Students;
San Ramon Valley Times (California); May 12, 2004.
This week's theme: eponyms.
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Date: Fri Jul 2 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anacreontic
X-Bonus: Some people think they are worth a lot of money just because they have it. -Fannie Hurst, writer (1889-1968)
Anacreontic (uh-nak-ree-ON-tik) adjective
Celebrating love and drinking.
noun
An Anacreontic poem.
[After Anacreon, a Greek poet in the 6th century BCE, noted for his
songs in praise of love and wine.]
The US national anthem 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is set to the tune of
the English song 'To Anacreon in Heaven' which was the 'constitutional
song' of the Anacreontic Society, a gentlemen's music club in London.
"Some days passed before I could rid my thoughts of Thecla ... who had
initiated me into the anacreontic diversions and fruitions of men and
women."
Gene Wolfe; Shadow & Claw; Orb Books; 1994.
"It was the 20th-century extracts which fired the imagination two
extracts from Augusta Read Thomas's l2-part Love Songs - one ('The
Rub of Love') a pithy, short Anacreontic, the other ('Alas, the love
of women!') a wittily contrived parody."
Roderic Dunnett; Voices From Another World; Independent (London, UK);
Apr 14, 1999.
This week's theme: eponyms.
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Date: Mon Jul 5 00:02:09 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tchotchke
X-Bonus: A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. -Alexander Pope, poet (1688-1744)
tchotchke (CHACH-kuh) noun, also chotchke, chachka, tsatske
A trinket; knickknack.
[From Yiddish tshatshke (trinket), from obsolete Polish czaczko.]
"And the entire hotel is festooned with fun, travel-inspired touches ...
rooms and suites feature exotic tchotchkes and photographs on loan from
the American Himalayan Foundation."
Bill Picture; Carlton Gets Facelift; The Examiner (San Francisco,
California); Jun 2, 2004.
"The last thing Go! needs in her overstuffed, clapboard-shingled shack
is another tchotchke, gimcrack, or gewgaw, but we'll take any excuse
to browse."
Amy Graves; Friday; Boston Globe; May 28, 2004.
It's that time of the year again when we feature odds-and-ends.
One-of-a-kind words. Words that are unusual, picturesque, whimsical,
esoteric, or intriguing. And like all the creatures in this world,
this week's words serve a purpose (as shown by their accompanying
citations). They make our verbal universe richer and more diverse.
So here they are. We've coaxed them out of the dictionary -- it's
not often that one finds them in the open -- and we hope you'll
welcome them in your diction.
-Anu Garg
(garg AT wordsmith.org)
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Date: Tue Jul 6 00:02:10 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eidetic
X-Bonus: If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)
eidetic (eye-DET-ik) adjective
Marked by extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall.
[From German eidetisch, from Greek eidetikos, from eidos (form),
ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see) that is
the source of words such as wise, view, supervise, and wit.]
"He (Jorge Semprun) really does know hundreds of poems, he says. When he
was young, he had a near eidetic memory, 'but these days my memory is
more selective.'"
Helen Kaye; Memory and Commitment; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Apr 3, 1997.
"The mother is desperate and the child, as it happens, has an eidetic
memory and detailed information about the villain's illicit
businesses."
Don D'Ammassa; The Mocking Program; Science Fiction Chronicle (Radford,
Virginia); Jul 1, 2002.
This week's theme: miscellaneous words.
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Date: Wed Jul 7 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mimesis
X-Bonus: A grass-blade's no easier to make than an oak. -James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891)
mimesis (mi-MEE-sis, my-) noun
Imitation or mimicry.
This word has specialized senses in many fields:
1. Biology: The external resemblance of an organism to
another to help protect it from predators.
2. Medicine: The appearance of symptoms of a disease in someone
who doesn't have the disease, often caused by hysteria.
3. Arts: Imitation of life, nature, etc to produce realistic
representation in literature and arts.
[From Greek mimesis, from mimeisthai (to imitate). A few cousins of
this word are mimic, mime, and mimosa.]
"Mimesis was seldom the only purpose of art, but always a central one:
to make pictures look 'real.' After photography, however, all this
changed."
Richard Nilsen; Perceptions Always in Flux; The Arizona Republic
(Phoenix); May 30, 2004.
"Civilizations, he wrote, are invented by a creative minority that
appears from time to time and creates art, ideas, forms and substance.
It forges an intellectual universe, which the non-creative majority
enters by mimesis, adopting, following and embellishing, which may
lead to high culture."
T.R. Fehrenbach; Creativity Builds Great Civilizations, Followed By ...
Not Much; San Antonio Express-News (Texas); Jun 27, 2004.
This week's theme: miscellaneous words.
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Date: Thu Jul 8 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bootless
X-Bonus: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again. -Sylvia Plath, poet (1932-1963)
bootless (BOOT-lis) adjective
Useless; unsuccessful, unprofitable.
[From Old English botleas, from Old English bot (advantage)
+ less, from Old English laes (without).]
"Unfortunately, even the persistent efforts made by the Government and
the RBI over the last decade to improve the flow of institutional credit
to this sector have proved bootless."
Ad-hocism Continues; Businessline (Chennai, India); Sep 4, 2000.
"In 1981 came 'Philosophical Explanations', which contains a famous
chapter asking a seemingly bootless question, 'Why is there something
rather than nothing?'"
Robert Nozick; Books And Arts: Not All Words Need Be Last Words;
The Economist (London, UK); Feb 2, 2002.
This week's theme: miscellaneous words.
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Date: Fri Jul 9 00:02:24 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--malarkey
X-Bonus: The bluebird carries the sky on his back. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
malarkey (muh-LAR-kee) noun, also malarky
1. Misleading speech or writing.
2. Nonsense; foolishness.
[Of unknown origin.]
"Malarkey is not uncommon out in this neck of the woods. Anyone keeping
up with B.C. politics, fast cat ferries, the Vancouver Stock Exchange,
leaky condos or the Canucks making a playoff run has bought a load of
it at one time. Some of it we're still paying off on the malarkey
instalment plan."
Mark Laba; Sleight of Tongue; Vancouver Province (Canada); Oct 24, 2002.
"More than half a million people take to the streets to enjoy the
fireworks spectacle but it is a family audience, without any of the
Scottish alcohol-fuelled malarkey."
Mike J Wilson; Bright Lights, Party City; The Scotsman (Edinburgh,
Scotland); Jan 17, 2004.
This week's theme: miscellaneous words.
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Date: Mon Jul 12 00:02:10 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--incult
X-Bonus: This is his first punishment, that by the verdict of his own heart no guilty man is acquitted. -Juvenal, poet (c. 60-140)
incult (in-KULT) adjective
Rude; uncultured.
[From Latin incultus, from in- (not) + cultus, past participle of colere
(to cultivate). Ultimately from the Indo-European root k(w)el- (to revolve)
that's also the source of words such as culture, chakra, wheel, cycle,
palindrome, decollate, cult, talisman. What a menagerie of words sprouting
from a single root!]
"The average incult eye turned away with the mutter, 'Free verse,'
meaning by this that the poet was taking things easy."
Hugh Kenner; A Homemade World: The American Modernist Writers;
Johns Hopkins University Press; 1989.
"And he deemed the behavior of the birds all the more curious because
of the island's solitude: for here there were no paths other than would
be made by forest animals; and the woods and meadows were wholly wild
and incult; and the towers were seemingly desolate, with sea-fowl and
land-fowl flying in and out of their empty windows."
Clark Ashton Smith; Tales of Zothique; Necronomicon Press; 1995.
Philosopher, mathematician and writer, Bertrand Russell, once said,
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." This week's
words describe people falling somewhere in that spectrum. Can you identify
some of those around you in the five words we'll discuss this week?
-Anu Garg
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Date: Tue Jul 13 00:02:13 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--verecund
X-Bonus: The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on. -Joseph Heller, novelist (1923-1999)
verecund (VER-i-kund) adjective
Bashful; modest.
[From Latin verecundus, from vereri (to respect). Ultimately from
Indo-European root wer- (to watch out for) that's also the source
of such words as revere, aware, award, wary, warden, lord, steward,
wardrobe, panorama, and guard.]
"He speaks - on his own admission - only English; and to his credit
he seemed suitably verecund."
Brian Friel; Translations; Faber & Faber; 1995.
"Librarians are going to have to 'get over' (as the vernacular is these
days) our verecund ways about talking out loud."
Mark Y. Herring; Smoked Herring, Shotten Herring; Dacus Library,
Winthrop University (South Carolina); Oct 1999.
This week's theme: words to describe people.
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Date: Wed Jul 14 00:02:15 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--philodox
X-Bonus: If we escape punishment for our vices, why should we complain if we are not rewarded for our virtues? -John Churton Collins, literary critic (1848-1908)
philodox (FIL-uh-doks) noun
Someone who loves his or her own opinion; a dogmatic person.
[From Greek philodoxos, from philo- (love) + doxa (glory, opinion).
Ultimately from Indo-European root dek- (to take or accept) that's
also the root of words such as paradox, orthodox, doctor, disciple,
discipline, doctrine, dogma, decorate, dignity, and disdain.]
"Don't take this as a comment on events in Washington -- or on newspaper
editorial pages -- but I thought I should tell you that a philodox is a
person who loves fame or glory or, more specifically, an argumentative
or dogmatic person who loves his own opinions."
Michael Gartner; Calling all Philologues; Austin American Statesman
(Texas); Jan 15, 2000.
"In effect, a philodoxical thinker can become very good and highly
skilled at doubting and critiquing maps other than her own."
Dale Cannon; Newsletter on Teaching in Philosophy (Newark, Delaware);
Spring 2001.
This week's theme: words to describe people.
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Date: Thu Jul 15 00:02:10 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--facile
X-Bonus: Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst. -Walter Weckler
facile (FAS-il, -yl) adjective
Easy; simple; superficial; fluent.
[From Middle French, from Latin facilis, from facere (to do). Ultimately
from Indo-European root dhe (to set or put) which is also the source of
do, deed, factory, fashion, face, rectify, defeat, sacrifice, satisfy,
and many other words.]
"But he (Cole Porter) was always a little too facile for the critics,
a little too elegant for the masses."
Stephen Whitty; Composer's Biopic Rates a Lump of Cole; Star-Ledger
(Newark, New Jersey); Jul 2, 2004.
"(Thomas) Keneally is a facile writer, a solid, nuts-and-bolts
professional. His prose is always supple, and he can turn a
phrase."
Patrick Kurp; Read the Book or Wait For Movie?; Houston Chronicle
(Texas); Jun 18, 2004.
This week's theme: words to describe people.
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Date: Fri Jul 16 00:02:14 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--polyglot
X-Bonus: Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. -Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914)
polyglot (POL-ee-glot) adjective
1. Conversant in many languages.
2. Composed of or having several languages.
(as in a book, a population, etc.)
3. Encompassing diversity (as in culture or origin).
noun
1. One who is competent in many languages.
2. A book having the same text in several languages.
3. A mixture or confusion of languages.
[From Greek polyglottos, from poly- (many) + glotta (tongue, language),
The words gloss, glossary, and glottis are derived from the same root.]
"For decades, New York has been the province of street photographers
who have sought the downtrodden, the troubled or the eccentric among
the city's polyglot populace."
Mary Abbe; Picture Perfect; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota);
Jun 4, 2004.
"Valiani, the man, is a cultural polyglot. He's a Seattle-born Italian
who looks like a Boston Irishman who's married to a Nebraskan he met
in Los Angeles."
Grand New Menu Chef Knows What Kansas Citians Like; Kansas City Star;
Jun 18, 2004.
This week's theme: words to describe people.
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Date: Mon Jul 19 00:02:09 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--running dog
X-Bonus: Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing the ground. -Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, editor and orator (1817-1895)
running dog (RUN-ing dog) noun
A servile follower; lackey.
[From Chinese zougou, from zou (running) + gou (dog), apparently as an
allusion to a dog running to follow his or her master's commands. This
term was employed in Chinese Communist terminology to refer to someone
who was considered subservient to counter-revolutionary interest.]
"We're playing lickspittle running dog to the most tired ideas, and
they weren't even ours in the first place."
Zoe Williams; Ditch These Lickspittle Cliches; The Guardian (London,
UK); Aug 13, 2002.
"The running dogs will scratch their master's back and he scratches
the bootlickers', but normally he soothes them with money."
Abdullah Ahmad; Get Rid of the Running Dogs; New Straits Times
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Apr 25, 2001.
A few months back we added a dog to our family. Our daughter Ananya had
been asking for one for a long time and finally we got her a puppy from
the local animal shelter. Ananya has named her Flower.
She's Ananya's dog but I get to care for her - feed her, pick up after
her, walk her. I mostly enjoy it, especially the morning walks. Flower
loves to chase cars. I have to be careful she doesn't go under the wheels
of a passing car or we'd be deflowered.
Clearly, the dog needs training. We took her to a Puppy Kindergarten
class. We learned that the class really trains the humans, not the dogs.
For example, the instructor told us that you have to let the dog know that
you're the leader of the pack so she follows your commands. I'm not sure
how well the leadership lesson goes on the dog when she can see that I
have to pick up after her rather than the other way.
When I'm not feeding the dog, cleaning her bowl, and taking her to the
vet, I explore words and write about them. Maybe some day when I feel
like sleeping late, Flower can fill in for me. You know, on the Internet
nobody knows you're a dog. In the meantime, enjoy this week's expressions
originating in pet animals.
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Date: Tue Jul 20 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Kilkenny cats
X-Bonus: The phrase "working mother" is redundant. -Jane Sellman
Kilkenny cats (kil-KEN-ee kats) noun
People who fight relentlessly till their end.
[From a pair of proverbial cats in Kilkenny, Ireland, who fought till
only their tails were left.]
According to a story, some people in the town of Kilkenny in Ireland
enjoyed tying the tails of two cats and watching them fight till only
their tale was left behind. Most likely the story is a parable of
a contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, two municipalities which
fought about their boundaries till little more than their tails were
left. Here is a popular limerick (another word that takes its origins
from the name of an Irish town) about the cats:
"There wanst was two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit
And they scratched and they bit
'Til instead of two cats there weren't any."
"State Opposition Leader Rene Hidding said conservation groups were
'fighting like Kilkenny cats after posturing on matters of high
conscience.'"
Storm Hits Green Umbrella; The Mercury (Tasmania, Australia);
Jun 17, 2004.
"When Lord Cranborne placed Hatfield House at the disposal of Unionists
to talk things through in November 1997, the result was a meeting after
the style of the fighting Kilkenny cats."
A Man of Parts; The Economist (London, UK); Apr 15, 2000.
This week's theme: expressions derived from pet animals.
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Date: Wed Jul 21 00:02:10 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--stool pigeon
X-Bonus: Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. -Frank Dane
stool pigeon (stool PIJ-uhn) noun
1. A person who works as a decoy or informer, especially
for the police.
2. A pigeon used as a decoy.
[Of uncertain origin: apparently from the former practice of tying
decoy pigeons to a stool; possibly from French estale or estal which
referred to a pigeon used to entice a hawk into a net.]
"But (David Cooper) Nelson refused to identify the mysterious third
party, saying, 'I'm no stool pigeon. I'd rather die than tell on the
other fellow, a nice guy with a wonderful family.'"
Richard Melzer; First Man to Die in State's Gas Chamber Was Convicted
by Valencia County Jury; The News-Bulletin (Belen, New Mexico);
Jun 18, 2004.
"It's the onerous duty of this group to assess a stool pigeon's
credibility, and then decide 'if it's in the public interest' to have
that person testify."
Nick Pron; Should Authorities Listen to the Jailhouse Talk?;
The Toronto Star (Canada); Jun 2, 2002.
This week's theme: expressions derived from pet animals.
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Date: Thu Jul 22 00:02:26 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--charley horse
X-Bonus: Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
charley horse (CHAR-lee hors) noun
Cramp or stiffness in a muscle, especially in the leg,
typically caused by overstrain or injury.
[Originally baseball slang, of unknown origin.]
"I swam a ton of laps Tuesday, but was forced to stop after I received
a charley horse in my calf."
Alisha A. Pina; Work Pays Off, Just Not on Scale; The Providence Journal
(Rhode Island); Jun 27, 2004.
"Coyotes winger Shane Doan has missed two games with a charley horse."
NHL Notebook; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Mar 16, 2004.
This week's theme: expressions derived from pet animals.
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Date: Fri Jul 23 00:02:14 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--guinea pig
X-Bonus: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (1809-1882) [THIS QUOTATION IS UNSOURCED.]
guinea pig (GIN-ee pig) noun
1. A small rodent of the genus Cavia.
2. Someone or something used as a subject of experimentation.
[Sense 2 from the fact the guinea pigs were formerly used for
experimentation.]
A guinea pig is neither from Guinea (West Africa) nor is it a pig.
Rather it's a rodent from South America. Why that name? There's no
consensus on how Guinea came into its name though a guinea pig does
appear to squeal like a pig. They were earlier used in labs. Nowadays
mice and rats have replaced them as subjects of tests and trials even
though alternatives to animal testing are usually available:
http://caat.jhsph.edu/
"We got French make-up artist Coline Jauneau of the Franck Provost
salon in Juhu to give our 17-year-old guinea pig, Delna Indorewalla,
a natural makeover."
Make-up My Day; Indian Express (New Delhi, India); Jul 2, 2004.
"We challenge you to finish that family-size bucket of popcorn while
watching Super Size Me, in which director Morgan Spurlock made
himself a fast-food guinea pig, eating only McDonald's for 30 days
straight."
Your Film Fest A to Z; New Zealand Herald (Auckland); Jun 18, 2004.
This week's theme: expressions derived from pet animals.
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Date: Mon Jul 26 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hibernaculum
X-Bonus: A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
hibernaculum (hi-buhr-NAK-yuh-luhm) noun, also hibernacle
1. Winter quarters of a hibernating animal.
2. The protective covering of an animal or plant bud that
protects it during its dormant stage in the winter.
[From Latin hibernaculum (winter residence), from hibernare (to spend
the winter). Ultimately from Indo-European root ghei- (winter) that is
the ancestor of words such as, chimera (literally a lamb that is one
winter, or one year old) and the Himalayas, from Sanskrit him (snow) +
alaya (abode).]
"Ground squirrels, marmots, woodchucks and chipmunks retreat into
underground hibernacula for five to seven months and cool their body
temperatures by 30 to 40 deg. C."
Brian M. Barnes; How Animals Survive the Big Chill; The Washington Post;
Mar 4, 1990.
"Dudley council is to create an hibernaculum for several thousand of
the creatures after a tremor which hit the Black Country last year
ruined their already crumbling residence."
Earth Moves For Bat Colony; The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland);
Aug 28, 2003.
What makes a word difficult? What makes it unusual? Often I get mail from
readers asking why one would want to use all those unusual words I feature
in AWAD.
Well, an unusual or difficult word is one that's not in common use. Who's
to say that "hibernaculum" is a more difficult word than, say, "curriculum".
It's only because it's not used more often that a word appears esoteric,
odd, or strange to us. From a word's point of view, it's catch 22. It's
not used often because it's not a common word -- it's not a common word
because it's not used often.
And that's what we try to remedy when we feature those words here. Give
them a spin - that's what they're for. That's the sole purpose of their
existence. They're here to serve you - in your daily conversation and
formal speeches, casual writing and official memos. You might have to
explain the word at first, but it may not take long for it to get wider
currency (from Indo-European root kers- : to run).
This week we feature five words that are ready to run. Give them a chance.
And remember, you don't have to use a word in its literal sense. You can
be creative. For example, there's no reason to limit today's word for
non-human animals. You can very well use it to describe your winter hideout.
-Anu Garg
(garg AT wordsmith.org)
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Date: Tue Jul 27 00:02:09 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--devoir
X-Bonus: As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. -William O. Douglas, judge (1898-1980)
devoir (duh-VWAR) noun
1. Duty; responsibility.
2. An act of respect or courtesy.
[From Middle English devoir (duty), from Old French, from Latin debere
(to owe). Ultimately from Indo-European root ghebh- (to give or receive)
that is also the forefather of such words as give, have, endeavor, handle,
able, and duty.]
"There are no new revelations in these books but the authors have done
their devoir."
Alice Thomas Ellis; I Don't Know How They Did It; The Daily Telegraph
(London, UK); Oct 19, 2002.
"The famous dictum attributed to P.T. Barnum, that there's a sucker born
every minute, has often been validated, but five of them on the same
City Council? As an experience-hardened, moderately cynical politician,
I am forced by this embarrassing piece of colossal bumbling to pay my
devoir to Friedrich von Schiller's lament: 'Against stupidity, the very
gods themselves contend in vain.'"
Public Pulse; Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska); Sep 9, 2001.
This week's theme: unusual words.
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Date: Wed Jul 28 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--irrefragable
X-Bonus: The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us. -Paul Valery, poet and philosopher (1871-1945)
irrefragable (i-REF-ruh-guh-buhl) adjective
Impossible to refute or dispute; incontrovertible.
[From Late Latin irrefragabilis, from Latin in- (not) + refragari
(to oppose). Ultimately from Indo-European root bhreg- (to break)
that's also the progenitor of words such as break, breach, fraction,
fragile, fractal, infringe, and suffrage. Suffrage? Remember,
a broken piece of tile was used as a ballot in earlier times.]
"These issues were high on the agenda of the last American-Turkish
talks. They were discussed thoroughly by the two sides many times and
there were discords too. Thus George Bush won't give an irrefragable
answer to these issues in Ankara."
Hakob Chakrian; US President in Ankara For the NATO Summit; AZG Armenian
Daily (Yerevan, Armenia); Jun 26, 2004.
"Anderson quite clearly asserts 'there was irrefragable evidence of
use of equine growth hormone by at least one cyclist at the AIS Del
Monte'."
Inside the Shooting Gallery; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia);
Jul 10, 2004.
This week's theme: unusual words.
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Date: Thu Jul 29 00:02:11 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--matutinal
X-Bonus: A bit of perfume always clings to the hand that gives the rose. -Chinese proverb
matutinal (muh-TOOT-n-uhl) adjective
Relating to or occurring in the morning.
[From Late Latin matutinalis, from Latin matutinus (of the morning).
Ultimately from Indo-European root ma- (good) that is also the source
of words such as mature, matinee, matins, Spanish ma�ana (tomorrow,
morning, future).]
"In fact, the menagerie of breakfast icons in whom we put our matutinal
trust are a pretty fruity, nutty, and flakey bunch all round."
Victor Lewis-Smith; Bit of roughage at Kellogg's; Evening Standard
(London, UK); Jul 17, 2000.
"If you live in a city neighborhood and go for a morning walk, you know
that one of the true delights of a matutinal stroll is the chance to
check out the neighborhood trove."
Scot Lehigh; Curb Appeal; Boston Globe (Massachusetts); May 6, 2001.
This week's theme: unusual words.
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Date: Fri Jul 30 00:02:13 EDT 2004
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--candent
X-Bonus: I am about to - or I am going to - die; either expression is used. -Dominique Bouhours, grammarian (1632-1702)
candent (KAN-duhnt) adjective
1. Glowing.
2. Impassioned.
[From Latin candent-, stemp of candens, present participle of candere
(to shine or glow). Ultimately from Indo-European root kand- (to shine).
Other words from the same root are candle, incandescent, incense, candid,
candida, and candidate (in reference to white togas worn by Romans seeking
office).]
"It benefited from a certain fire in much of the singing and Emerson
Buckley's conducting, but when the production reached Fort Lauderdale's
constrictive War Memorial Auditorium Tuesday evening, it was reduced
for the most part to occasionally candent embers."
Tim Smith; Ernani Loses Its Spark; Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida); Apr 25, 1985.
"The whole place, the window and the room, lit up in a candent flash."
Ben Okri; The Famished Road; Anchor Books; Jun 1, 1993.
This week's theme: unusual words.