A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Fri Sep 1 00:26:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pedagogue X-Bonus: No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. -Harry Emerson Fosdick pedagogue (PED-a-gog) noun, also pedagog 1. A schoolteacher; an educator. 2. One who instructs in a pedantic or dogmatic manner. [Middle English pedagoge, from Old French, from Latin paedagogus, slave who supervised children, including taking them to and from school, from Greek paidagogos : paido-, boy + agogos, leader (from agein, to lead).] "They also taught that `persistent perversity provokes the patient pedagogue to produce particularly painful punishment.'" Roger Kimball, Anything Goes, Nothing Matters, Forbes, Oct 4, 99. This week's theme: words from the world of learning and the learned. -------- Date: Sat Sep 2 00:26:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aegrotat X-Bonus: Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, dramatist, and artist (1883-1931) aegrotat (EE-gro-tat, ee-GRO-tat) noun An unclassified degree granted a university student who has fulfilled all requirements for graduation but was prevented by illness from attending the final examinations. [From Latin aegrotat literally, he is sick, equivalent to aegrot(us) sick (aeg(e)r sick + -otus adjectival suffix) + -at 3rd singular ending.] "Powell got a first in the exams he sat in the nursing home - his classics tripos finals. If he had not been able to sit them there, he would only have got an aegrotat degree - which might well have affected his future." Eric James, Deep rivers, indeed, New Statesman, Apr 24, 1998. This week's theme: words from the world of learning and the learned. -------- Date: Sun Sep 3 00:06:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--andragogy X-Bonus: There is nothing like dream to create the future. Utopia to-day, flesh and blood tomorrow. -Victor Hugo, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1802-1885) andragogy (AN-druh-go-jee) noun The methods or techniques used to teach adults. [Andr- variant of andro-, male + (ped)agogy.] "As all the patients undergoing cataract surgery are mature adults, the theory of androgogy is more appropriate." Jean Cooper, Teaching patients in post-operative eye care: The demands of day surgery, Nursing Standard, Apr 28, 1999. This week's theme: words from the world of learning and the learned. -------- Date: Mon Sep 4 01:32:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Stockholm Syndrome X-Bonus: To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. -Chinese Proverb Stockholm syndrome (STOK-hom SIN drom) noun A phenomenon in which a hostage begins to identify with and grow sympathetic to his or her captor. [After Stockholm where a hostage in a 1973 bank robbery became romantically attached to one of her captors.] "Speaking of refugees, stories such as the Oct. 27 article reveal a sort of Stockholm syndrome among those imprisoned on our highways every day. We can only smile when we hear people explaining why they love their commute: `I focus on the day ahead,' `I listen to the radio,' or, our favorite, `I use the time to relax,' white-knuckle relaxation, no doubt!" Civilize our transport, The Providence Journal, Nov 5, 1999. Consider the Stockholm syndrome if you have any doubt about the veracity of the saying, `Fact is stranger than fiction'. In 1973, following a botched robbery attempt, the perpetrator held four employees of a Stockholm bank hostage in the bank vault. At the end of the five day captivity, police were surprised to discover that the hostages were afraid of them and resisted rescue. They had bonded with the robber, a prison escapee, and became sympathetic with him. Later, they started a defense fund for him, testified in his favor, and one of the female hostages even fell in love and became engaged to him. Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to the Swedes. Patty Hearst of the US, heiress to the Hearst publishing fortune, was kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She later joined her abductors and participated in a bank robbery with them. More recently, an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked and the passengers were holed up in the plane for more than a week. At the conclusion of the drama, some passengers were heard saying about the hijackers, `they were not bad people'. Why do people turn around and begin to sympathize with their tormenters in situations like these? It is one of the mysteries of the way the human mind works. Perhaps it is a way for people to cope with the immense, immediate stress of being in a situation where their lives depend on their captors. If one threatens to shoot, and then doesn't, hasn't he done a favor to us the mind apparently rationalizes. In a place devoid of external contact, the view of reality becomes distorted and the victims may develop a fondness for the only person in their life. This week in AWAD we look at some of the syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles that govern our minds. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 5 00:03:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Zeno's paradox X-Bonus: Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Zeno's paradox (ZEE-no PAR-uh-doks) noun Any of various versions of a paradox regarding the relation of the discrete to the continuous and requiring the concept of limit for its satisfactory explanation. [After Zeno of Elea, circa 490-430 BCE] "Oh, if you're looking for a timetable, it's there, in that train, that's now two feet away, now one, but will never obstruct or demolish us. Thank heaven for Zeno's paradox!" John Ashbery, Love in boots, The American Poetry Review, Jan 2, 1995. This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Wed Sep 6 00:03:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Murphy's Law X-Bonus: Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. -Franklin P. Jones Murphy's Law (MUR-feez law) noun The facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will. [Americanism, after a fictitious Murphy, allegedly the name of a bungling mechanic in U.S. Navy educational cartoons of the 1950s.] "In the original, Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis played the Kellermans from Ohio, a nice couple whose trip to the Big Apple becomes the ultimate fulfillment of Murphy's Law when they lose their luggage, their hotel room, their money and their good names." Dann Gire, Get out & stay out!, The Daily Herald, Apr 2, 1999. Here is a second opinion on Murphy's Law. This one is from The New Hacker's Dictionary, Third Edition, compiled by Eric S. Raymond. -Anu Murphy's Law /prov./ The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it `THIS WAY UP'; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical. Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a few days later. Within months `Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on "Anything that can go wrong, will"; this is correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. The memetic drift apparent in these mutants clearly demonstrates Murphy's Law acting on itself! This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Thu Sep 7 00:03:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Peter Principle X-Bonus: Experience is the comb life gives you after you lose your hair. -Judith Stearn Peter Principle (PEET-uhr PRIN-suh-pal) noun The theory that an employee within an organization will advance to his or her level of incompetence and remain there. [After Laurence Johnston Peter (1919-1990).] "To me, Randell personified the Peter Principle, a popular management theory of the 1970s which held that you rise to your level of incompetence - in other words, you keep getting promoted till eventually you find yourself in a job that's beyond you." Karl Du Fresne, Sleeping better thanks to Blackadder, The Evening Post, May 31, 2000. This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Fri Sep 8 00:03:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--empty nest syndrome X-Bonus: I wish I were either rich enough or poor enough to do a lot of things that are impossible in my present comfortable circumstances. -Don Herold empty nest syndrome (EMP-tee nest SIN-drom) noun A depressed state felt by some parents after their children have left home. "Meanwhile, _Home Improvement_ is going to be suffering empty nest syndrome. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who plays middle son Randy on the sitcom, will leave to focus on his education, the 16-year-old actor's publicist said yesterday." People Watch, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Aug 5, 1998. This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Sat Sep 9 00:03:11 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Russell's paradox X-Bonus: If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. -Anne Bradstreet Russell's paradox (RUS-uhls PAR-uh-doks) noun A paradox of set theory in which an object is defined in terms of a class of objects that contains the object being defined, resulting in a logical contradiction. [Named after Bertrand Russell (1872-1970).] `Post No Bills.' "Professor Howard Shane of Baruch College (CUNY) wonders if there is a Russell's Paradox in the accompanying picture." Allan J. Rossman & Beth L. Chance, Teaching the reasoning of statistical inference, The College Mathematics Journal, Sep 1, 1999. This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Sun Sep 10 00:03:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Parkinson's law X-Bonus: If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. -Rene Descartes Parkinson's Law (PAHR-kin-suhnz law) noun Any of several satirical observations propounded as economic laws, especially "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." [After Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909-1993).] "According to Murphy's Law, this column will have a mistake in it. According to Parkinson's Law, it will take you as long to read this column as the time you allot to reading it." Rob Kyff, This Column Obeys All Laws, The Hartford Courant, Nov 11, 1998. This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles. -------- Date: Mon Sep 11 00:03:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hacker X-Bonus: It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well. -Rene Descartes (1596-1650) hacker (HACK-uhr) noun 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. [Originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe.] "When Emmanuel Goldstein, who runs a hacker magazine called 2600, posted Johanssen's software on a website, eight media companies (including Time Warner, parent company of TIME) sued Goldstein ...." Lev Grossman, Digital Divisiveness, Time, Aug 28, 2000. With the growing popularity of computers, the spread of the Internet and Web, and the success of Linux, terms from hacker jargon are increasingly going mainstream, though not always in the correct perspective. The New Hacker's Dictionary is a fascinating compendium of words from the worlds of computing, computer networks, and the people who inhabit them. Last week's citation of Murphy's Law brought enthusiastic responses with requests for more examples from this book which is available at http://www.jargon.org/ . This week we have terms from this lexicon that give us glimpses of the hacker culture. Enjoy this geek-week and remember - hackers, though often maligned, are good guys, they are not crackers. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 12 00:02:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spam X-Bonus: The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. -Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962) spam (spam) verb tr. intr. 1. To mass-mail unrequested identical or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those containing advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses have been culled from network traffic or databases without the consent of the recipients. Synonyms include UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email), UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email). 2. To bombard a newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically called `EMP', Excessive Multi-Posting. 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically called `ECP', Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net. 4. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. 5. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. noun 6. Any large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text might say "Oh no, spam". [From a comedy routine on Monty Python's Flying Circus, British TV series.] "Go away for a few days, and you will probably have to clear the junk out of your mailbox with a shovel. Sadly, the same is increasingly likely to be true of your virtual mailbox which will, unless you are lucky, be full of spam." Economist, Spam, spam, spam, spam, Nov 1, 1997. To learn how to fight spam, visit http://www.cauce.org/ -Anu This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Wed Sep 13 01:02:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--abend X-Bonus: Men have become the tools of their tools. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) ABEND (A-bend, a-BEND) noun 1. Abnormal termination (of software); crash; lossage. Derives from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but seriously mainly by code grinders. Usually capitalized, but may appear as `abend'. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called `abend' because it is what system operators do to the machine late on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the German `Abend' = `Evening'. 2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation - used in the subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of Internet access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND = `Absent By Voluntary Net Deprivation' and ABSEND = `Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation' have been sighted. [ABnormal + END.] "Novell has released an update ... which Novell says should fix an abend that sometimes happens during an upgrade." Stephanie Sanborn, Global Strategy offers hope for sick dot-coms, InfoWorld, Jul 10, 2000. This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Thu Sep 14 01:02:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--GIGO X-Bonus: Genius is the gold in the mine, talent is the miner who works and brings it out. -Marguerite Gardiner, writer (1 Sep 1789-1849) GIGO (GI-goh) noun 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out' -- usually said in response to lusers who complain that a program didn't "do the right thing" when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way. Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. 2. `Garbage In, Gospel Out': this more recent expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive trust in `computerized' data. "The good part about the Web is that it makes everyone a publisher. The bad part is that it makes everyone a publisher. It is amazingly easy to put absolute drivel on display for the gullible. GIGO (Garbage In - Garbage Out) still holds true, even if the Garbage Out is done up in HTML with nifty graphics." Tim Green, Check out the teeth on that Web, Database Magazine, Oct/Nov 95. This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Fri Sep 15 01:12:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--beta X-Bonus: Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. -Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer science professor beta (BAY-tuh, BEE-) noun 1. Mostly working, but still under test; usually used with `in': `in beta'. In the Real World, systems (hardware or software) software often go through two stages of release testing: Alpha (in-house) and Beta (out-house?). Beta releases are generally made to a group of lucky (or unlucky) trusted customers. 2. Anything that is new and experimental. "His girlfriend is in beta" means that he is still testing for compatibility and reserving judgment. 3. Flaky; dubious; suspect (since beta software is notoriously buggy). [From the second letter of the Greek alphabet.] "By the time this column appears, AOL may have released a newer beta of Netscape 6. Until a final version comes along, remember that preview releases are not fully tested and stable--use them at your own risk." Scott Spanbauer, You've Got (Real) Mail: Netscape Does AOL, PC World, Sep 2000. More spam... As many of you pointed out, Spam (R), a trademark of Hormel Foods, was coined as an acronym of SPiced + hAM. Monty Python's Flying Circus, a comedy troupe from the UK, is a favorite of a great number of hackers. In one of their skits, the word `Spam' is offered ad nauseam--more than one hundred times: http://montypython.net/scripts/spam.php3 Read it and you will see how spam achieved the dubious distinction of a word used to refer to the indiscriminate mailing of unwelcome messages. Erratum: In last week's posting on Parkinson's Law, Cyril Northcote Parkinson's middle and last names were interchanged. -Anu This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Sat Sep 16 00:02:11 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cookie X-Bonus: At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. -W. Somerset Maugham, novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer (1874-1965) cookie (KOOK-ee) noun A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement between cooperating programs. "I give him a packet, he gives me back a cookie." The claim check you get from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfectly mundane example of a cookie; the only thing it's useful for is to relate a later transaction to a preceding one (so you get the same clothes back). Now mainstream in the specific sense of web-browser cookies. "Many Web sites you visit put little gremlins called cookies right into your computer. They sit quietly in your machine. When you go back to the site, the cookies announce your presence." Jane Bryant Quinn and Dori Perrucci, Money Watch, Good Housekeeping, Aug 2000. This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Sun Sep 17 00:02:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kludge X-Bonus: If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of trouble. -Elbert Hubbard, author, editor, printer (1856-1915) kludge (klooj) noun 1. Incorrect (though regrettably common) spelling of kluge (US). These two words have been confused in American usage since the early 1960s, and widely confounded in Great Britain since the end of World War II. 2. A crock that works. (A long-ago "Datamation" article by Jackson Granholme similarly said: "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole.") verb 3. To use a kludge to get around a problem. "I've kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it up properly later." [This word appears to have derived from Scots `kludge' or `kludgie' for a common toilet, via British military slang. It apparently became confused with U.S. kluge during or after World War II; some Britons from that era use both words in definably different ways, but kluge is now uncommon in Great Britain. `Kludge' in Commonwealth hackish differs in meaning from `kluge' in that it lacks the positive senses; a kludge is something no Commonwealth hacker wants to be associated too closely with. Also, `kludge' is more widely known in British mainstream slang than `kluge' is in the U.S.] "Sega may be in the most difficult position of all. Although it has the advantage of having exclusive access to the games it develops for its huge arcade business, many gamers dismiss the machine as a kludge." Leslie Helm, Game Giants Are Scoring on the Rebound, Los Angeles Times, Dec 9, 1996. This week's theme: words from the hackers' jargon. -------- Date: Mon Sep 18 00:02:07 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--elliptical X-Bonus: Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989) [A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, 1989] elliptical (i-LIP-ti-kuhl) adjective (also elliptic) 1. Of, relating to, or having the shape of an ellipse. 2. Containing or characterized by ellipsis (omission of a word or phrase). 3. Of or relating to extreme economy of oral or written expression. Marked by deliberate obscurity of style or expression. [New Latin ellipticus, from Greek elleiptikos, defective, from elleipsis, a falling short, ellipsis, from elleipein, to fall short.] "He (Warren Beatty) has written a somewhat elliptical piece for the New York Times condemning the grip of big money on American politics, and has another piece coming out in the Los Angeles Times." Warren Beatty's profession, Economist, Sep 4, 1999. Why in the world would three seemingly unrelated phenomena--a plane curve, a grammatical form, and a writing style--be represented by a single word? A glance at the etymology and everything falls in place. The common thread here is `shortfall': whether an ellipse, a shape that falls short of being a circle; a sentence that is short a few words; or terse writing. For a treasury of words like these, it would not be much exaggeration to say that a dictionary is perhaps one of the most fascinating books ever conceived. Let's peruse a few more meta-words, or words about words, this week. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 19 00:02:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--parataxis X-Bonus: He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. -Chinese proverb parataxis (par-uh-TAK-sis) noun The juxtaposition of clauses or phrases without the use of coordinating or subordinating conjunctions, as It was cold; the snows came. [Greek, a placing side by side, from paratassein, to arrange side by side : para-, beside + tassein, to arrange.] "Confessional writing is very much the currency of this collection: experience, not form or genre, comes across as the motivating impulse, despite occasional odd paragraphing and typeface shifts and a fondness for parataxis and collage. Chris Feik, Pulp fiction, Meanjin, Issue 1, 1997. The bartender saw a couple of patrons too drunk to drive; he called a parataxis. -Anu This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Wed Sep 20 00:02:11 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ghost word X-Bonus: Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment. -Robert Benchley, humorist, drama critic, and actor (1889-1945) ghost word (gost wurd) noun A word that has come into a language through the perpetuation of a misreading of a manuscript, a typographical error, or a misunderstanding. "Reading a text in facsimile form is like a trapeze performance without a net: there's no glossary, for instance, and nothing to warn the unwary they may be puzzling over a scribally created ghost word rather than discovering something entered in no dictionary." Ralph Hanna, Facsimile of Oxford, The Huntington Library Quarterly, Jan 1, 1999. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Thu Sep 21 00:02:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eisegesis X-Bonus: The big thieves hang the little ones. -Czech proverb eisegesis (eye-si-JEE-sis) noun, plural eisegeses (-seez) An interpretation, especially of Scripture, that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text. [From Greek eisegesis, equivalent to eis- into + (h)ege- (stem of hegeisthai to lead) + -sis.] "It should be noted that the Tenth Amendment does not say that powers not explicitly delegated to the United States are reserved to the states, even though the Supreme Court, in a startling example of eisegesis, once read the word explicitly into the text of the Tenth Amendment. John A. Rohr, Public administration and comparative constitutionalism, Public Administration Review, Jul 8, 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Fri Sep 22 00:02:08 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--palilogy X-Bonus: Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. -Steven Wright, comedian (1955- ) palilogy (puh-LIL-uh-jee) noun The technique of repeating a word or phrase for emphasis. Also, palillogy. [From Greek palillogia recapitulation, equivalent to palin again, back + -logia -logy.] "What Highet calls a tricolon we may today call a palilogy, the deliberate repetition of words and grammatical presentations, a sort of parallelism in threes." Bret L. Keeling, H.D. and `The Contest': archaeology of a Sapphic gaze, Twentieth Century Literature, Jun 22, 1998. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sat Sep 23 00:02:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hyperbaton X-Bonus: What if this weren't a hypothetical question? hyperbaton (hye-PUR-buh-ton), noun, plural hyperbatons, hyperbata The use, especially for emphasis, of a word order other than the expected or usual one, as in "Bird thou never wert.' [Greek huperbaton, from neuter of huperbatos, transposed, from huperbainein, to step over : huper-, over, across + bainein, to step.] "`Out from him sprang the sun and the moon; from man, the sun; from woman, the moon.' This deliberate inversion of expected logic is one of many uses of hyperbaton in the essay. Eric Wilson, Weaving: Breathing: Thinking: The poetics of Emerson's Nature, ATQ, Mar 1996. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sun Sep 24 00:02:13 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--battology X-Bonus: Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (1822-1895) battology (buh-TOL-uh-jee) noun Wearisome repetition of words in speaking or writing. [From Greek battologia (batt(os) stammerer + -o- + -logia -logy).] "The different forms and uses of repetition range from amplification to battology. The rhetorical features noted in this paper constitute some of the elements that infuse a powerful oratorical force in classical Kiswahili poetry, and repetition is, in addition, an important element in the oral-written interface." Kyallo Wadi Wamitila, A Rhetorical Study of Kiswahili Classical Poetry, Research in African Literatures, Apr 15, 1999. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Mon Sep 25 00:02:15 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--band-aid X-Bonus: Life is a long lesson in humility. -James M. Barrie, novelist, short-story writer, and playwright (1860-1937) Band-Aid (BAND-ayd) 1. A brand of adhesive bandage with a gauze pad in the center, used to cover minor abrasions and cuts. noun 2. A makeshift, limited, or temporary aid or solution that does not satisfy a basic or long-range need. adjective 3. Serving as a makeshift, limited, or temporary aid or solution. [From the trademark.] "A Maori health initiative to double immunisation numbers has been described as a band-aid solution by an Opunake doctor." Amy James, Maori health programme branded band-aid, Daily News (New Zealand), Sep 19, 1997. "I'll FedEx you these documents today!" You have most likely heard people say this when what they really mean is they will send the material by a courier service, not necessarily the FedEx company. How many times have you xeroxed documents without even checking whether the copier was made by the Xerox company as it churned out the copies? Today I'm discussing a phenomenon called genericide whereby a trademark becomes so popular that it is used as a generic for the entire product category, not just as a specific brand name. The success of a brand name is often a double-edged sword for the owning company. Initially, a company's dream is to become so successful with its product that customers use their brandname as a generic, "Need to ship your documents overnight? Just FedEx them!" As the brand becomes more popular, they struggle to protect it lest it gets watered down and becomes a generic--a victim of its own success. Did you know the words aspirin, celluloid, escalator, gramophone, granola, heroin, kerosene were all trademarks once owned by companies? This week, AWAD will feature examples of words that, once trademarks, now are dictionary entries: bona fide words of the English language. -Stuti Garg (stutig AT namix.com) (This week's Guest Wordsmith, Stuti, is the founder of Namix http://namix.com a company offering business naming services.) -------- Date: Tue Sep 26 01:02:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--simonize X-Bonus: Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think. -Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) [The Devil's Dictionary] simonize (SY-muh-nyz) verb tr. To shine or polish to a high sheen, especially with wax. [After Simoniz, a trademark.] "As they polish the block and simonize the table, the block will go progressively farther ...." Leon Lederman, Blackboard bungle, The Sciences, Jan 2, 1995. This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary. -------- Date: Wed Sep 27 00:02:11 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--moxie X-Bonus: Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake. -Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997) moxie (MOK-see) noun 1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage. 2. Aggressive energy; initiative. 3. Skill; know-how. [From Moxie, trademark for a soft drink.] "So no one can dispute that Glaser's (founder of RealNetworks) moxie has helped make Real the gold standard of the industry. Amy Kover, Is Rob Glaser For Real?, Fortune, Sep 4, 2000. This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary. -------- Date: Thu Sep 28 00:02:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gunk X-Bonus: One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. -Elbert Hubbard, author, editor, printer (1856-1915) gunk (gungk) noun Any sticky or greasy residue or accumulation. [Originally a trademark name for a degreasing solvent.] "`I carry a bottle wherever I go,' the 25-year-old said Tuesday while on the job at Gold's Gym in Westport. `It's so portable, and you never know what gunk is in those water pipes.'" David Klepper, Dental group says bottled water can lack fluoride, Kansas City Star, Jun 21, 2000. This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary. -------- Date: Fri Sep 29 00:02:10 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--teflon X-Bonus: Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability. -Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE) Teflon (TEF-lon) 1. A trademark used for a waxy, opaque material, polytetrafluoroethylene, employed as a coating on cooking utensils and in industrial applications to prevent sticking. adjective Characterized by imperviousness to blame or criticism. [From the trademark.] "Gov. Fife Symington said Thursday he will run for re-election in 1998, confident of victory in the face of a federal criminal trial and bankruptcy. The announcement provoked joyful comments from Symington's supporters and measured skepticism from his opponents, who were forced to admit the teflon governor may have the popularity to get re-elected." Arizona Gov. Fife Symington to run for re-election, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Feb 14, 1997. Email glut, anyone? Or, are you the I-love-email kind? We're taking a vote from the linguaphiles to determine if we should skip AWAD mailings on weekends. One vote per person, please. Results will be announced in one week. Email FIVE@wordsmith.org to vote that AWAD should take a break on weekends. Email SEVEN@wordsmith.org if you would like AWAD to continue with daily mailings. -Anu This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary. -------- Date: Sat Sep 30 00:29:09 EDT 2000 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--excelsior X-Bonus: Adults are obsolete children. -Dr. Seuss, humorist, illustrator, and author (1904-1991) excelsior (ik-SEL-see-uhr) noun Slender, curved wood shavings used especially for packing. [Originally a trade name.] "In a glint of needle light, of grass seeds, dew flecks, a friend is throwing her voice While far inside a grainy heaven a butcher's apron ripples its dried blood in the wind. The bark strippings, excelsior, the panicles of the garden. In the midst of summer a friend cuts greens and places them in a bowl as if they were fronds. A friend is a vinegar - and now, pearl-shaped, in clusters, faces among her face, A globes rise on the lawn, each above a root of recriminations." Garden solstice, The Antioch Review, Jun 1, 1996. This week's theme: brand names that have entered the dictionary.