A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jul 2 00:01:04 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--forswear X-Bonus: The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis. -Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice (2 Jul 1908-1993) "First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no verbs." Someone said that many years ago, and even though we are not entirely sure what it means, we don't want you to be verbless. So this week our objective is to make verbs the subject of discussion. forswear (for-SWAR) verb tr., intr. 1. To renounce something. 2. To commit perjury. [From Old English forswerian, from for- (away, off) + swerian (to swear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root swer- (to speak), which also gave us the word answer. Earliest documented use: before 1000.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/forswear "It disgusted him that his resolve to forswear all women and live in solitude had not even lasted as long as his inebriation." Christine Merrill; Lady Drusilla's Road to Ruin; Harlequin; 2011. -------- Date: Tue Jul 3 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--circumvallate X-Bonus: In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924) This week's theme: Verbs circumvallate (suhr-kuhm-VAL-ayt) verb tr. To surround by a defensive structure, such as a rampart. [From Latin circumvallare (to surround with a wall), from circum- (around) + vallum (rampart). Earliest documented use: 1661.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/circumvallate "Delta State is completely circumvallated except at the west side, where the cliff of Mt. Cloud played the natural boundary." Yan Song; Online: Delta State; Xlibris; 2015. -------- Date: Wed Jul 4 00:01:04 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rowel X-Bonus: Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. -Robert King Merton, sociologist (4 Jul 1910-2003) This week's theme: Verbs rowel (ROU-uhl) noun: A small spiked wheel at the end of a spur attached behind the boots of a rider and used to goad a horse. verb tr.: To prick; to vex. [From Old French roele, from Latin rotella (small wheel), from rota (wheel). Earliest documented use: 1299.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/rowel https://wordsmith.org/words/images/rowel_large.jpg Photo: Baker County Tourism https://www.flickr.com/photos/basecampbaker/28590891568/ "Against the luminous sky the rays of her halo were spikes of darkness roweling the air." Henry Roth; Call It Sleep; 1934. -------- Date: Thu Jul 5 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--subduct X-Bonus: It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning. -Bill Watterson, comic strip artist (b. 5 Jul 1958) This week's theme: Verbs subduct (suhb-DUHKT) verb tr., intr. To push or move below something. [From Latin subducere (to draw up, withdraw, remove), from sub- (below) + ducere (to draw, lead). Earliest documented use: 1556.] "Mr. Jones was also, as far as Archy knew, the first person to use the term Brokeland to describe this neighborhood, the ragged fault where the urban plates of Berkeley and Oakland subducted." Michael Chabon; Telegraph Avenue; HarperCollins; 2012. -------- Date: Fri Jul 6 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--contund X-Bonus: All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals. -Peter Singer, philosopher and professor (b. 6 Jul 1946) This week's theme: Verbs contund (kuhn-TUHND) verb tr. To thrash or bruise. [From Latin contundere, from con- (with) + tundere (to beat). Earliest documented use: 1599.] "The material of this coat, though liberally scored and contunded, especially in the rear, was so thick, and so strong, that it remained exempt from perforation." Samuel Beckett; Watt; Olympia Press; 1953. -------- Date: Mon Jul 9 00:01:04 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apple-polish X-Bonus: We now know that memories are not fixed or frozen, like Proust's jars of preserves in a larder, but are transformed, disassembled, reassembled, and recategorized with every act of recollection. -Oliver Sacks, neurologist and writer (9 Jul 1933-2015) Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable? I don't know and I don't care, as long as it's on my pizza in the form of chunky tomato sauce (and topped with lots of other veggies*). I also don't care what you call it, tuh-MAY-to or tuh-MAH-to, I love it all the same. USDA recommends five cups of fruits and veggies a day https://www.choosemyplate.gov/ . We'll do our part in helping you with your well-being this week and serve you five words that have their origin in fruits (veggies will come in due time). Now, pardon me, as we need to get busy in the kitchen chopping all those fruits and veggies and discovering their origins. We source our ingredients from around the world. For example, the word tomato comes to us via Spanish from tomatl, a word from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. It's the same language that gave us chocolate (chocolatl) and avocado (ahuacatl, literally testicle, but you didn't want to know that). * We're doing pizza here, not botany. But if you want to know, tomato is the official fruit of Ohio and Tennessee and official vegetable of the state of New Jersey. Arkansas and Arizona can't make up their minds and call it both official fruit *and* vegetable. Finally, the US Supreme Court has decreed that it's a veggie. Is everything clear now? apple-polish (AP-uhl pol-ish) verb tr., intr. To ingratiate oneself. [From the former practice of schoolchildren giving apples to their teachers. Earliest documented use: 1930s.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/apple-polish_large.jpg Image: Stoney Stone Photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/stoneystone68/5005980137/ "He wasn't trying to apple-polish God; he was merely trying to get the help he needed." Troy Theisen; House of Dred; iUniverse; 2013. -------- Date: Tue Jul 10 00:01:02 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fig leaf X-Bonus: If I could be sure of doing with my books as much as my [doctor] father did for the sick! -Marcel Proust, novelist (10 Jul 1871-1922) This week's theme: Words relating to fruit fig leaf (FIG leef) noun Something used to cover, usually inadequately, what may be shameful or embarrassing. [From the Biblical story (Genesis 3:7) in which Adam and Eve sew fig leaves to cover their nakedness. Earliest documented use: 1535.] Philippe d'Orl?ans and his mistress Marie Madeleine de la Vieuville (as Adam and Eve) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fig_leaf_large.jpg Art: Jean-Baptiste Santerre, 171 See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/fig%20leaf "The austerity agenda has been seized by the Tories as the fig leaf behind which to progressively underfund health and social care, creating today's crisis." Phil Whitaker; Health Matters; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 2, 2018. -------- Date: Wed Jul 11 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--grapevine X-Bonus: I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management. -E.B. White, writer (11 Jul 1899-1985) This week's theme: Words relating to fruit grapevine (GRAYP-vyn) noun An informal transmission of information, rumors, gossip, etc., by word of mouth. [Shortening of grapevine telegraph, apparently from the spreading of a vine to the spread of a telegraph network and tendrils to wire coils. Earliest documented use: 1867.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/grapevine https://wordsmith.org/words/images/grapevine_large.jpg Image: CameliaTWU https://www.flickr.com/photos/cameliatwu/9561014984/ "He heard through the grapevine about those who successfully escaped across the channel." 'Jungle Boy' by Seif Jamalulail; New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Jun 3, 2018. -------- Date: Thu Jul 12 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--top banana X-Bonus: That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (12 Jul 1817-1862) This week's theme: Words relating to fruit top banana (TOP buh-NAN-uh) noun The leader of a company, group, etc. [From the use of bananas as a prop in burlesque shows. Earliest documented use: 1947. A person in a secondary role is called a second banana.] https://amazon.com/o/asin/B0023STCLU/ws00-20 Image: Amazon See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/top%20banana "'I'm no longer going to be in charge,' Mr. Riggio said. 'I'm done with that. I'm done with being top banana.'" Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg; Pioneering Barnes & Noble Leader to Step Down; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 27, 2016. -------- Date: Fri Jul 13 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plummy X-Bonus: If life had a second edition, how I would correct the proofs. -John Clare, poet (13 Jul 1793-1864) This week's theme: Words relating to fruit plummy (PLUM-ee) adjective 1. Of or relating to plums. 2. Choice; desirable. 3. Rich and mellow (voice). 4. Carefully articulated and affected (accent), thought typical of the English upper class. [From Old English plume (plum). Earliest documented use: 1724.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/plummy https://wordsmith.org/words/images/plummy_large.jpg Photo: Bill C Martin https://www.flickr.com/photos/16191431@N07/5045733814/ "But the upshot was that John Boss had landed this rather plummy job, which was taking him to Switzerland." K.M. Peyton; Snowfall; Graphia; 1994. "A plummy-voiced royals 'expert' who fronted TV coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding has been exposed as a real estate agent from upstate New York." Funspot; The Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills, Australia); Jun 2, 2018. -------- Date: Mon Jul 16 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cynophobia X-Bonus: Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count." -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956) Reader Jack Clay asked, "Once, twice, thrice. So what is four or five, etc.?" Up to three not enough for you? I mean, even Marie Curie won a Nobel only twice. And people have won double Nobels only ... four times ... okay, I can see where those words may come handy. Sorry, we do not have a word for four times, five times, etc., in the English language (how about other languages?). As a consolation, we can tell you that English does have words beyond primary, secondary, and tertiary. There are quaternary https://wordsmith.org/words/quaternary.html , quinary https://wordsmith.org/words/quinary.html , senary https://wordsmith.org/words/senary.html , and so on. Maybe these can inspire you to coin a word for four times and beyond. While you are thinking of those words, we'll share with you words that *are* already a part of the English language. Words that may make you say: I didn't know there was a word for it! cynophobia (sy-nuh-FO-bee-uh) noun A fear of dogs. [From Greek kyon (dog) + -phobia (fear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which also gave us canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic https://wordsmith.org/words/cynic.html , cynosure https://wordsmith.org/words/cynosure.html , and canaille https://wordsmith.org/words/canaille.html . Earliest documented use: 1879.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cynophobia Read about Putin's use of cynophobia in world politics: https://www.businessinsider.com/That-time-Putin-brought-his-dog-to-a-meeting-to-scare-Angela-Merkel/articleshow/59491606.cms Permalink: https://web.archive.org/web/20180121011745/http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-merkel-meeting-dog-2017-7 "The Barnards have brought Lucie to an hour-long children's cynophobia session at Dyer's Essex Dog Training Centre*. ... If Lucie is not petting a dog before the hour is over then it will be a rare failure for Dyer over the 25 years that he has been running the classes." Sharon Smith; How to Get a Dog Phobia Licked; The Times (London, UK); Nov 18, 2016. *Shouldn't this be called a Human Training Centre? -------- Date: Tue Jul 17 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--phillumenist X-Bonus: Writing is like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. -E.L. Doctorow, novelist (1931-2015) This week's theme: There's a word for it phillumenist (fi-LOO-muh-nist) noun A collector of matchboxes, matchbooks, or their labels. [From Greek phil- (loving) + Latin lumen (light). Earliest documented use: 1943.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/phillumenist_large.jpg Photo: Takkk/Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Match_and_match_labels,_100_years_ago.jpg "'And a phillumenist, I see,' I said, pointing my drink in the direction of a tall, though fat crystal vase half filled with matchbooks tucked into one corner of the room." Bianca Sloane; Live To Tell; SBB; 2016. -------- Date: Wed Jul 18 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--virilocal X-Bonus: People hate, as they love, unreasonably. -William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist (18 Jul 1811-1863) This week's theme: There's a word for it virilocal (vir-i-LOK-uhl) adjective Relating to the custom of living with the family of the husband. [From Latin vir (man) + local. Ultimately from the Indo-European root wi-ro- (man), which also gave us virile, virtue, virtuoso, werewolf, world, virago, virtu https://wordsmith.org/words/virtu.html , German Weltanschauung https://wordsmith.org/words/weltanschauung.html (worldview), and Sanskrit veerya (brave). Earliest documented use: 1948.] NOTES: A synonym of the term virilocal is patrilocal. The female counterpart is matrilocal. "She was also told that a new house was denied to her because she, being married to a man belonging to another parish, failed to move into the virilocal residence as per the custom." Soosaiya Anthreas; The Dance of the Sea; Gatekeeper Press; 2015. -------- Date: Thu Jul 19 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pathophobia X-Bonus: I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?" -Eve Merriam, poet and writer (19 Jul 1916-1992) This week's theme: There's a word for it pathophobia (path-uh-FO-bee-uh) noun An irrational fear of disease. [From Greek patho- (suffering, disease) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1873. A synonym is nosophobia https://wordsmith.org/words/nosophobia.html . A related word is hypochondria.] "His lifelong pathophobia and his later fear of potential assassins were also characteristic." Max Domarus and Patrick Romane; The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary; Bolchazy-Carducci; 2007. -------- Date: Fri Jul 20 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paragnosis X-Bonus: On this 4th [of July], look beyond fireworks, parades, and pretentious patriots. Instead, celebrate whistleblowers and lamplighters who warn the people, speak truth to power -- risking their lives and fortunes defending our inalienable rights and independence against those who take our liberties away. -Thomas Drake, veteran and whistleblower (b. 22 Apr 1957) This week's theme: There's a word for it paragnosis (par-uh-GNO-sis) noun Knowledge that cannot be obtained by normal means. [From Greek para- (beyond) + gnosis (knowledge). Earliest documented use: 1933.] "We have lived to the time of the village idiot, when we wisely heed the messages received from the fillings of our teeth. The method here, paragnosis. The voice on the wireless beam his? Whose?" Michael Joyce; Of Two Minds; University of Michigan Press; 1996. -------- Date: Mon Jul 23 00:01:04 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--shunpike X-Bonus: Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph. -Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia (23 Jul 1892-1975) What does a *scarecrow* have in common with a *pickpocket*? A *breakfast* with a *flapjack*? They are all tosspot words. What's a tosspot word? Stick a noun to a verb and you have the basic recipe for coining a tosspot word. Two important points. First: the verb comes first. Second: The noun is the object of the verb, i.e. pickpocket is a tosspot word because a pickpocket picks pockets; repairman is not, because a repairman does *not* repair a man, unless you call your doctor a repairman (better to call him or her a sawbones https://wordsmith.org/words/sawbones.html ). Enjoy this week's tosspottery. Also try your hand at the wheel and share your creations on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/shunpike.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. shunpike (SHUHN-pyk) noun: A side road taken to avoid a toll road. verb intr.: To travel on a side road. [From shun, from Old English scunian (to avoid or fear) + turnpike (an expressway, especially one with a toll). The word turnpike itself is a tosspot word, from turn + pike. Before a turnpike was a highway, it was a barrier on a road, from turn + pike (a horizontal beam turning on a vertical pin). Earliest documented use: 1853.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/shunpike_large.jpg Photo: John Glowacki https://www.flickr.com/photos/jjglowacki/5073150073/ "Having safely deposited our daughter in Williamstown, Massachusetts, for the summer, my alluring wife and I decided to shunpike our way back home to Washington." Philip Terzian; Little Van, Big House; The Weekly Standard (Washington, DC); Jul 5, 2010. -------- Date: Tue Jul 24 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jerkwater X-Bonus: Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities. Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure. Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living. Do without plastics. Smash the servo-mechanisms. Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids. Love all love. Hate all hate. -John D. MacDonald, novelist (24 Jul 1916-1986) This week's theme: Tosspot words jerkwater (JUHRK-wah-tuhr) adjective Remote, unimportant, or small. [In the days of steam trains, locomotives needed frequent refills of water. They made water stops near streams and lakes and hauled water up to the boiler. These trains were called jerkwaters from the jerking of water in buckets. In time they built water tanks along the tracks. Since these stops were in remote, insignificant areas, the towns around there were known as jerkwater towns and eventually the adjective jerkwater came to be applied to anything small, insignificant, backward, inferior, etc. Earliest documented use: 1878.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/jerkwater https://wordsmith.org/words/images/jerkwater_large.jpg Image: Wdiehl/Wikimedia "C. Affleck plays a failed writer who returns to his jerkwater hometown." The Screen; Esquire (New York); Oct 2007. -------- Date: Wed Jul 25 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--catchpenny X-Bonus: The only index by which to judge a government or a way of life is by the quality of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion -- it is an evil government. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (25 Jul 1902-1983) This week's theme: Tosspot words catchpenny (KACH-pen-ee) adjective: Relating to something designed to sell quickly: cheap, flashy, or sensationalistic. noun: Something that's designed to sell quickly. [From the phrase catch a penny. Earliest documented use: 1760.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/catchpenny https://wordsmith.org/words/images/catchpenny_large.jpg Image: Joshua Magbanua, USAF http://www.ramstein.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1122011/86th-aw-safety-office-enjoy-spring-safely/ NOTES: If you catchpenny, be gentle. If you pinch it, you'd be a pinchpenny (a stingy person). Some other penny-related terms are halfpenny https://wordsmith.org/words/halfpenny.html , penny-ante https://wordsmith.org/words/penny-ante.html , and god's penny https://wordsmith.org/words/gods_penny.html . "The decades discussed in this volume were decisive in the history of modern music, and a more catchpenny author might justifiably have chosen the title 'twenty years that changed the world'." Patricia Howard; Der Ganze Heartz; Musical Times (London, UK); Autumn 2009. -------- Date: Thu Jul 26 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cutpurse X-Bonus: Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (26 Jul 1856-1950) This week's theme: Tosspot words cutpurse (KUHT-puhrs) noun A thief, especially one who steals from people's pockets. [From the practice of cutting purses hanging from one's clothing. Earliest documented use: 1362.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cutpurse https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cutpurse_large.jpg Image: Dominion Strategy Wiki http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Cutpurse NOTES: In earlier times, people had their purses suspended from a waistband or a girdle. Hence the need to cut a purse. Then came the innovation of a pouch sewn onto one's clothing: a pocket. So a cutpurse evolved into a pickpocket. The earliest documented use of the former is from 1362, the latter from 1591. If the English language has a PICKpocket and a cutPURSE, why not a pickpurse? Good question. It does, since 1385. And all three are tosspot words. Many years ago, in India, I was going home for the summer after my first year studying in an engineering school. The train stopped at a station and a few men boarded the compartment. One of them helpfully suggested that there were many pickpockets around and people should check that their purses and wallets were safe. Instinctively, my hand went to my pocket. The wallet was where it should have been. I felt assured for the remainder of the journey. When I got up to get off at my station, I realized I was a little lighter. Mr. Cautionpassenger and his accomplices had accomplished what they had boarded the train for. Maybe they needed the money more than I did. I'm a little wiser now. Since then I have traveled in 15 countries and that was the only instance in which I had my pocket picked, touch wood! "There's no avoiding the suggestion that the villains were Atlantic's corporate cutpurses." David Kirby; How a Sound Found Its Soul; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Nov 16, 2013. -------- Date: Fri Jul 27 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scapegrace X-Bonus: Euphemism is a euphemism for lying. -Bobbie Gentry, singer and songwriter (b. 27 Jul 1944) This week's theme: Tosspot words scapegrace (SKAYP-grays) noun A scoundrel; a mischievous person. [Describing one who has supposedly escaped the grace of god. Earliest documented use: 1809.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/scapegrace "There, but for the help of Bob, goes Grace." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scapegrace_large.jpg Cartoon: Dr Jack & Curtis (Eyewitness News) http://ewn.co.za/2017/08/22/cartoon-scapegrace "Scrope Berdmore Davies was a perfect specimen of his time and station: a rogue, a rakehell, a scapegrace, and a scofflaw, but in no wise a cad, a bounder, a cutpurse, or a poltroon." Doug Fetherling; High Life in Low Resorts with Byron and the Boys; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jul 10, 1982. https://wordsmith.org/words/rakehell.html https://wordsmith.org/words/scofflaw.html https://wordsmith.org/words/cutpurse.html https://wordsmith.org/words/poltroon.html -------- Date: Mon Jul 30 00:01:05 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--binnacle X-Bonus: I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself. -Emily Bronte, novelist (30 Jul 1818-1848) Last June, the management at the restaurant chain IHOP took the bold decision of flipping the P in their name and become IHOb instead. This is the kind of visionary leadership for which they are paid millions of dollars. They were lucky. The English language in this case offered them an option: Instead of flipping *p*ancakes, now they could flip *b*urgers. They could still be a restaurant.[1] You'd think they are grateful to the English language, but no.[2] Not all corporations have that luxury. Imagine if the Microsoft management took a similar bold step to flip a letter and reinvent the company as Wicrosoft. What would they make then? Wicker baskets, perhaps. They would have to change their whole product line. But don't dump your MSFT stock yet. With their long experience in sales and marketing (whether you sell Wicrosoft or Longaberger, you still need to give us a cut), soon 82% of countertops in the world would have a Wicrosoft basket. What corporations can you help reinvent themselves by flipping a letter in their names? Share it on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/binnacle.html or write to us at words@wordsmith.org. While you are doing that, this week we'll share five words that may appear to have been coined by flipping a p into a b, but are not. [1] IHOb lasted less than a month. With their long experience in flipping, they flipped again and went back to being IHOP. This is the kind of visionary flipping for which the management is paid millions of dollars, again and again. [2] Their slogan: "We burger as good as we pancake." The English language called -- it wants this disclaimer added: "but we English not as good." binnacle (BI-ni-kuhl) noun A container for housing instruments on a ship's deck, in a car dashboard, etc. [From Old Portuguese bit?cola or Old Spanish bit?cula, from Latin habitaculum (dwelling place), from habitare (to inhabit). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghabh- (to give or to receive), which is also the source of give, gift, able, habit, prohibit, due, duty, adhibit https://wordsmith.org/words/adhibit.html , debenture https://wordsmith.org/words/debenture.html , habile https://wordsmith.org/words/habile.html . Earliest documented use: 1622.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/binnacle Binnacle on a ship https://wordsmith.org/words/images/binnacle_ship_large.jpg Photo: Peter https://www.flickr.com/photos/er1danus/9528805645/ Binnacle in a car https://wordsmith.org/words/images/binnacle_car_large.jpg Photo: iBSSR https://www.flickr.com/photos/55176801@N02/35720681236/ "He scans the jewellike instrument binnacle then finds the start button and presses it. The V8 thunders to life." Steve Worland; Quick; Penguin; 2014. -------- Date: Tue Jul 31 00:01:03 EDT 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bollard X-Bonus: We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are. -J.K. Rowling, author (b. 31 Jul 1965) This week's theme: Words that appear to be coined by flipping the letter p bollard (BOL-uhrd) noun 1. A short thick post on a ship or a wharf used for securing ropes. 2. A post used as a traffic control device. [Probably from Old Norse bole (tree trunk). Earliest documented use: 1844. The p-headed equivalent is pollard https://wordsmith.org/words/pollard.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bollard bollard 1 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bollard1_large.jpg Photo: MichaelMaggs/Wikimedia bollard 2 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bollard2_large.jpg Photo: KVDP/Wikimedia "The shopping centre ram-raided by thieves using a front-end loader installed bollards a year ago in an attempt to deter desperate criminals." Ed Gardiner; Fury at Ram-Raid; Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia); Jul 5, 2018.