A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Oct 3 00:10:09 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--autotomy X-Bonus: The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it. -Madame De Stael, writer (1766-1817) Combining Forms It's a good thing we don't have to go with the literal meaning of words or we'd be exercising in the nude in the gymnasia. The word gymnasium derives from the combining form gymno-, meaning nude or bare. Other words similarly formed are gymnoplast (protoplasm without surrounding wall) and gymnosophy (a form of philosophy practiced by those refusing to wear clothes). What are combining forms? You can think of them as the Legos of language. As their name indicates, a combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with some other form. This week we'll see words formed using these combining forms: auto- (self), tricho- (hair), chiro- (hand), algo- (pain), and lepto- (thin). We start with: Autotomy (au-TOT-uh-mee) noun Autotomy is nature's gift to some animals to help them escape when under attack or injured. A lizard being chased will shed its tail and slip away. The detached tail continues to wriggle, distracting the predator, while its former owner flees to safety. The lizard goes home and buys a replacement on eBay. Just kidding! Of course, it can't do that. eBay's policy explicitly prohibits lizards from bidding. They just grow it back. Other animals who use autotomy are: spider, crab, lobster... and maybe even humans. In 2003, a courageous hiker got his arm trapped under a boulder in a remote Utah canyon. He used his pocketknife to cut his arm off and freed himself. If only humans could grow them back as well. The word autotomy does double duty. It has another sense: performing surgery upon oneself. It's not as unusual as it sounds. While we see it mostly in science fiction (think of Terminator doing his own eye surgery), with the skyrocketing cost of healthcare, perhaps days of autotomy aren't far-off. Look for do-it-yourself surgery kits in your neighborhood pharmacy soon. We got this word thanks to the Greeks: from auto- (self) and -tomy (cutting). The word "anatomy" is related. Its derivation refers to the dissection medical students perform to study the structure of a body. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Autotomy In danger, the holothurian cuts itself in two. It abandons one self to a hungry world and with the other self it flees." Wislawa Szymborska; View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems; Harvest Books; 1995. -------- Date: Tue Oct 4 00:01:17 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--trichology X-Bonus: There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592) This week's theme: words formed using combining forms. Trichology (tri-KOL-uh-jee) noun Whom would you look for when caught in a hairy situation? I don't know about you, but I'd sure want an expert in trichology: the study and treatment of hair and its disorders. Now, what should we call one who is an expert in trichology: tricho-something? Why pull your hair out for a mere word? Let's just call him a headmaster. If you do often get an urge to pull your hair out, here is a word for the affliction: trichotillomania. It comes from a Greek root meaning father or mother of a teen. Seriously, the Greeks were really the root cause of all this madness: tricho- (hair), -logy (science, study), tillein (to pull out), and -mania (madness). -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) Live in or visiting the Seattle area? Come to a talk and book-signing on the pre-release of Anu Garg's second book here, Oct 8 & 15. Details at: https://wordsmith.org/awad/speaking.html . There will be door prizes of Derivation and mental_floss board games. "Svenson [hair salon] claims, it is at the forefront of up-to-date trichology." Susanna Tjokro; Pamper Yourself With Various Hair Treatments; The Jakarta Post (Indonesia); Jun 2, 2002. -------- Date: Wed Oct 5 00:01:11 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chirography X-Bonus: Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence. -Honore de Balzac, novelist (1799-1850) This week's theme: words formed using combining forms. Chirography (ky-ROG-ruh-fee) noun Back in the Jurassic era, when there were no laptops and no text-messaging, people used a little thing called a pen to write on a flat surface known as paper. Chirography is a word from those times. It means handwriting or penmanship, also known as calligraphy. My daughter says, "Why didn't they just download new fonts to their pens?" Well, we did once have fountain pens. We can thank the Greeks again for the combining forms chiro- (hand) and -graphy (writing). The word has many cousins: chiromancy: reading palms to divine the future: palmistry chiropractic: adjusting the spine (using hands, presumably) chiropody: an odd name for podiatry (treating foot problems) chiropter: another name for bats (who got their hands retrofitted as wings at Intelligent Design, Inc.) -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "This envelope had the air of an official record of some period long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials than at present." Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Scarlet Letter; 1850. -------- Date: Thu Oct 6 00:01:14 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--algophobia X-Bonus: Lower your voice and strengthen your argument. -Lebanese proverb This week's theme: words formed using combining forms. Algophobia (al-guh-FO-bee-uh) noun Usually having a phobia might brand you as a nut but here is a phobia that indicates you're a regular human being, if you have it. Algophobia is the fear of pain. Though the word indicates an unusual, morbid fear of pain, producing intense anxiety. There is even an instrument called an algometer to measure pain. Now I know why they called that grueling course "algorithms" in my computer science curriculum. We got the word from the Greek algo- (pain) and -phobia (fear). -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The observation of subjective chill or fever, together with algophobia or algophilia, was extremely important for [the ancient Chinese physicians]." Kenneth F Kiple; The Cambridge World History of Human Disease; Cambridge University Press; 1993. -------- Date: Fri Oct 7 01:10:09 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--leptodactylous X-Bonus: There is a field beyond all notions of right and wrong. Come, meet me there. -Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273) This week's theme: words formed using combining forms. Leptodactylous (lep-tuh-DAK-tuh-luhs) adjective If you are still stuck to those tired words to describe your sweetie, here is a new one for you. Leptodactylous means having fine, slender digits. No, not, digits on a bathroom scale or on a bank account. Here digit means a toe or a finger. It all sounds Greek to me: from lepto- (thin) and -dactylous (fingered or toed). -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Hitchock described many examples of strangely-shaped, thin-toed footprints and classified them as leptodactylous footprints." Brendan Hanrahan; Great Day Trips in the Connecticut Valley of the Dinosaurs; Perry Heights Press; 2004. A clarification about "algorithm" mentioned in jest in yesterday's newsletter: The word algorithm doesn't have anything to do with algo- (pain). It's an eponym, but it has nothing to do with Al Gore, either. Rather, it's a variant of algorism which came from Arabic al (the) + Khwarizmi (the last name of a 9th-century Arabic mathematician). The word algebra is also from Arabic. -------- Date: Mon Oct 10 01:10:10 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--benjamin X-Bonus: Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion. -Samuel James Ervin Jr., lawyer, judge, and senator (1896-1985) There are thousands and thousands of them. In medicine, botany, chemistry, athletics, and other walks (and runs) of life. We use them all the time without even realizing it. They come with a whole story about themselves. They are words derived from people, real and fictional, from history and mythology. They are known as eponyms. This week we'll meet five of these people and the words coined after their names. Benjamin (BEN-juh-min) noun Benjamin is a nickname for the US one-hundred-dollar bill. The name derives from Benjamin Franklin, US statesman, whose portrait adorns the bill. The US currency notes are printed in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing plants in Washington, DC and Fort Worth, Texas. I visited the Washington DC money factory a few years back and have to say the place feels a bit surreal. You can see sheets of currency notes rolling through by the millions, as if they were the daily newspaper to be read and discarded. Workers move the giant stacks of uncut sheets with forklifts. No matter how the economy is going, this is one place that always makes money. It's perhaps fitting that it's Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an inventor and printer, whose picture is printed on the highest denomination currency note in circulation in the US. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Remember, it's not all about the benjamins. What good is the best price if the seller doesn't actually have the Xbox 360 to ship when you need it?" Linda Stern; Start Your Browsers!; Newsweek (New York); Oct 10, 2005. -------- Date: Tue Oct 11 00:01:08 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--maxwellian X-Bonus: If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) This week's theme: eponyms (words coined after people's names). Maxwellian (maks-WEL-i-an) adjective Of or relating to James Clerk Maxwell or his equations and theory in electromagnetism and other fields. [After James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (1831-1879).] Maxwellian (maks-WEL-i-an) adjective Of or relating to shady business practices, financial tricks, misuse of public funds, etc. In the US we had Ken Lay and friends from Enron; across the pond in the UK, there was Ian Robert Maxwell (1923-1991). Maxwell was a Czechoslovakian-born British publisher who became notorious for misusing his employees' pension funds of some 400 million pounds. He also engaged in dubious transactions between his private companies and a public company to prop them up and boost the share prices. For his resilience to rebound after a castigating government report, he earned the nickname the Bouncing Czech. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Admittedly, the case is complex -- 'potentially Maxwellian' is how one forensic accountant described it." Jim Armitage; Independent Insurance Collapsed Four Years Ago; Evening Standard (London, UK); Feb 4, 2005. -------- Date: Wed Oct 12 00:01:09 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cereologist X-Bonus: For blocks are better cleft with wedges, / Than tools of sharp or subtle edges, / And dullest nonsense has been found / By some to be the most profound. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680) This week's theme: eponyms (words coined after people's names). Cereologist (seer-ee-OL-uh-jist) noun One who specializes in investigating crop circles. Going by the countless varieties of cereals on the supermarket shelves, you'd think you have to be a cereologist to be able to select one. But it's not that. Rather, a cereologist is someone who studies crop circles, intricate circular patterns on crop fields. The word is coined after Ceres, the goddess of agriculture in Roman mythology. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "'Some formations bear no trace of a human hand,' says cereologist and electrical engineer Colin Andrews, who's studied thousands of circles." Victoria Marcinkowski; Crop Circles: Real or Hoax?; Science World (New York); Nov 18, 2002. -------- Date: Thu Oct 13 00:01:13 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Heath Robinson X-Bonus: How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward. -Spanish proverb This week's theme: eponyms (words coined after people's names). Heath Robinson (heeth ROB-in-suhn) adjective Absurdly complex and fancifully impractical. The term was coined after W. Heath Robinson (1872-1944), a British artist known for drawing ingeniously complicated devices. It's not only mechanical devices that can be Heath Robinsonish. A few years back I came across a book titled "How to Wash Your Face". I'm not kidding--this 256-page tome was authored by a doctor and lists for $25. They say reality is stranger than fiction. The fiction that comes to mind here is a Heath Robinson contraption, or one devised by his US counterpart, Rube Goldberg. Check out their illustrations at http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/heathrobinson and http://www.rubegoldberg.com/ Who knows, those illustrations might make you laugh, resulting in the coffee in your mug getting spilled on the tail of the pet cat on your lap, making the startled kitty jump and hit the ceiling, thus activating the fire-sprinkler and causing it to trigger the fire alarm, making you look up in curiosity, so that your face is splashed with the sprinkler water, thus saving you the $25 cost of the aforementioned book. Who said those devices were useless? -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The ancient church of St John the Baptist in Clayton, East Sussex, has a bat problem. Several devices of a Heath Robinson nature are suggested - boards to deflect the trajectory of urine and droppings, flashing lights, ultra-sound, unpleasant smells, stuffed owls, rustling aluminium foil and helium-filled balloons." Bat Raves; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 23, 1999. -------- Date: Fri Oct 14 00:01:14 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vulcanian X-Bonus: Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree. -Rabindranath Tagore, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941) This week's theme: eponyms (words coined after people's names). Vulcanian (vul-KAY-nee-uhn) adjective Relating to a volcanic eruption; volcanic. Relating to metalworking. The word is coined after Vulcan, the god of fire and metalworking in Roman mythology. Other terms derived from his name are volcano and vulcanization, the process of treating rubber with sulfur and heat to make it more durable. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "[Cinq Chansons] is a random-sounding score with little sense of line and form; it is not even invigorated by the occasional Vulcanian show of violence that adds interest (however temporary) to the typical solo percussion fantasia." Arthur Kaptainis; CD Reflects Vivier's Best, Worst; The Montreal Gazette (Canada); May 21, 1988. -------- Date: Mon Oct 17 00:01:25 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lipogram X-Bonus: Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once. -Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974) This week's theme: words about words. lipogram (LIP-uh-gram) noun A piece of writing that avoids one or more letters of the alphabet. [From Greek lipo- (lacking) + gram (something written).] In spite of what it sounds like, a lipogram is not a message with a kiss. Lipogram is a work written with a constraint. Imagine you've just started your great epic novel and one of the keys on your keyboard is broken. It would be trivial to manage without a Q, X, or Z, but writing without a single E -- ah, that'd be some challenge. If it sounds undoable, consider that whole books have been written without an E, the most used letter in the English language. Without an E, one has to give up some of the most common pronouns such as he, she, we, me, and so on. What's more, even the article "the" is barred. Coming back to books written without Es (I'm sure writing them is not something everyone can do with ease), Ernest Vincent Wright's 1939 novel Gadsby is written without the second vowel. One of the best known E-less works is Georges Perec's lipogrammatic French novel, La Disparition (The Disappearance). Its plot is full of wordplay, puzzles, and other word-fun. For example, a character is missing eggs, or is unable to remember his name because it needs E in the spelling. Though it may be hard to believe considering the restriction under which it is written, the novel is said to be quite engrossing. Apparently, many reviewers were not even aware that a special constraint was used in writing it. After writing the novel, Perec faced a protest from the A, I, O, and U keys on his keyboard that they had to do all the work and E was leading an e'sy life. So Perec had no choice but to write a short work called Les Revenentes, where he put to work all those idle Es: the only vowel used was E. If that doesn't sound incredible enough, here is more. La Disparition has been translated into English as "A Void" by Gilbert Adair. Of course, the translation also doesn't have any E in it. In case you have not already noticed, both the phrases "La Disparition" and "A Void" have only vowels A, I, and O in them, same as in the word "lipogram". And Void's protagonist is named Anton Vowl. One can write numbers from zero, one, two,... onwards, and not use the A key on the keyboard until reaching thousand. As for the literary merit of that composition, I'm not very certain. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Go on, r*ad my lipogram!" Rod*rick Nord*ll; What's Missing From This Story?; The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Oct 31, 2002. -------- Date: Tue Oct 18 00:01:24 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--godwottery X-Bonus: Don't judge men's wealth or godliness by their Sunday appearance. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) This week's theme: words about words. godwottery (god-WOT-uhr-ee) noun 1. Gardening marked by an affected and elaborate style. 2. Affected use of archaic language. [From the line "A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!" in a poem by Thomas Edward Brown (1830-1897).] Now here is a word with a dual personality. Poet T.E. Brown unwittingly helped coin it when he wrote a poem describing his garden filled with all that came to his mind: grotto, pool, ferns, roses, fish, and more. And when he needed a word to rhyme with the line "Rose plot," he came up with "God wot!" He used "wot", an archaic term that's a variant of wit (to know), to mean "God knows!" and it stood out among other contemporary words in the poem. If you wish to create your own godwottery, we recommend: sundials, gnomes, fairies, plastic sculptures, fake rockery, pump-driven streams, and wrought-iron furniture. A pair of pink flamingos will round it out nicely. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "And an important thing about all this godwottery -- as Anthony Burgess calls it -- is that all types and classes embrace it." Paul Fussell; The Great War and Modern Memory; Oxford University Press; 2000. -------- Date: Wed Oct 19 00:01:19 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--allonym X-Bonus: Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963) This week's theme: words about words. allonym (AL-uh-nim) noun The name of a person, usually historical, taken by an author as a pen name (as opposed to using a fictional pseudonym). [From French allonyme, from Greek allo- (other) + -onym (name).] When one borrows the content of another's book, it's called plagiarism. But when merely an author's name is lifted, the term is allonym. Sometimes it's done for parody. When hired by someone to do so, it's known as ghostwriting. An example of a work written under an allonym is The Federalist, also known as Federalist Papers. This collection of 85 essays about the US Constitution was written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison during 1787-1788. They chose to write under the name Publius in honor of this Roman official for his role in setting up the Roman Republic. Some people believe that Shakespeare's works were written by various authors who used his allonym. Writing a great novel might be a breeze but choosing what to call your pseudonym, that's not easy! You could simply call it your pen name or byname. If you wish to appear sophisticated, you might say it is your nom de plume or nom de guerre. If you reversed your own name to coin a nickname, it would be an ananym. But why not take a walk in the library, browse the spines, and select an allonym? -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "She knew me under the alias Robert F. Conrad, a Pan Am first officer, an allonym I used on occasion. I was forced to maintain the nom de plume." Frank W. Abagnale; Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake; Putnam; 1980. -------- Date: Thu Oct 20 00:01:48 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--heterography X-Bonus: It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) This week's theme: words about words. heterography (het-uh-ROG-ruh-fee) noun 1. A spelling different from the one in current use. 2. Use of the same letter(s) to convey different sounds, for example, gh in rough and ghost. [From Greek hetero (different) + -graphy (writing).] The idea of heterography is a recent phenomenon, relatively speaking. Earlier, when English was mainly a spoken language, it was a free-for-all, spelling-wise. Any spelling was good as long as you could make yourself understood. Each writer spelled words in his own way, trying to spell them phonetically. Shakespeare spelled his own name in various ways (Shaxspear, Shakespear, and so on). If you read old manuscripts, you can find different spellings of a word on the same page, and sometimes even in the same sentence. Spelling wasn't something sacrosanct: if a line was too long to fit, a typesetter might simply squeeze or expand the word by altering the spelling. If the idea of to-each-one's-own spelling for the same word sounds bizarre, consider how we practice it even today, in the only place we can: in our names. Look around you and you might find a Christina and a Cristina and a Kristina and many other permutations and combinations. With the advent of printing in the 15th century, spelling began to become standardized. By the 19th century, most words had a single "official" spelling, as a consensus, not by the diktat of a committee. Today if you write "definately" and someone points out that you've misspelled the word, just tell them you're a practitioner of heterography. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "A lengthy discourse on several levels of Arabic heterography leads, however, to an assertion that the manuscript's African-Arabic script is ... the opposite of a self-conscious European autobiography or slave narrative." Allan D. Austin; African Muslims in Antebellum America; Routledge; 1997. -------- Date: Fri Oct 21 00:01:24 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--neologist X-Bonus: Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings. -W.H. Auden, poet (1907-1973) This week's theme: words about words. neologist (nee-OL-uh-gist) noun One who coins, uses, or introduces new words, or redefines old words in a language. [From French néologisme, from Greek neo- (new) + logos (word).] A language grows by infusion of new words. Anyone who has been on the Internet for more than a few days knows what a webmaster is. Yet only a few years ago if we came across a "webmaster", we wouldn't know what that person did for a living. There are many ways to coin words. You can make words out of thin air: googol, a word for a very large number (1 followed by 100 zeros) was coined by a nine-year-old boy. It was the inspiration behind the naming of the Google search engine. You can redefine old words. The Google name, in turn, became genericized as a verb meaning to search for something, not necessarily on the Web. You can sandwich two existing words (web + master) or you can fuse them together: lexpert (lex + expert), someone who is an expert in words. Such an amalgamated word is also known as a portmanteau (from French, meaning a bag for carrying clothes, one that opens on two sides) since Lewis Carroll gave them this moniker in his 1872 classic "Through the Looking-Glass". Carroll himself coined some great portmanteaux, such as chortle (chuckle + snort), and slithy (slimy + lithe). Coining words is easy. Getting them into a dictionary, now that's a topic for another time. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "But as Esther notes, the word 'afghan' has acquired connotations in the last year that it didn't always have. She could start referring to 'blankets,' Esther says. But those tend to be machine-made, and Esther the afghan-maker isn't a machine. So Esther has invited Levey's neologists to think up a more appropriate word." Bob Levey; Neighborliness Gone; The Washington Post; Aug 28, 2002. -------- Date: Mon Oct 24 00:01:09 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--accismus X-Bonus: Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) There is a Word for it. With the largest vocabulary of any language, in English we have a word to describe almost everything. And when we can't find one, we're happy to borrow from another language (from German: schadenfreude, pleasure at others' misfortune), or just make one up (petrichor, the pleasant smell of rain after a dry spell). Having said that, let's not gloat over how many words we have. English's poverty shows in many places, for example, when it comes to words to describe relations. How useful is it to introduce the woman with you as your sister-in-law when the term could mean any number of things? This week we visit a few terms that make one say, "I didn't know there was a word for it!" We start with: accismus (ak-SIZ-muhs) noun Feigning lack of interest in something while actually desiring it. [From Greek akkismos (coyness or affectation).] If you've ever uttered something resembling any of these expressions, you've practiced the fine art of accismus: "Oh, you shouldn't have done it." or "Thank you, but I'm not worthy of such an honor." Accismus is showing no interest in something while secretly wanting it. It's a form of irony where one pretends indifference and refuses something while actually wanting it. In Aesop's fable, the fox pretends he doesn't care for the grapes. Caesar, in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, is reported as not accepting the crown. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "A woman uses no figure of eloquence -- her own, at most, excepted -- so often as that of accismus." Jean Paul Richter; Levana (translation); 1889. (Cited in the OED) -------- Date: Tue Oct 25 00:01:10 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vagitus X-Bonus: I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963) This week's theme: There is a word for it. vagitus (vuh-JI-tuhs) noun The cry of a newborn. [From Latin vagire (to wail).] A newborn child's cry is called vagitus. Babies' cries have been heard even before their births. It's rare but vagitus uterinus has been observed on occasions when the membranes rupture, allowing air to enter the uterine cavity. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "[Pnin] unfolded, for he actually seemed to forehear the babe's vagitus, and its first word in the near future." Vladimir Nabokov; Pnin; 1957. -------- Date: Wed Oct 26 00:01:09 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--parrhesia X-Bonus: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. -Rabindranath Tagore, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941) This week's theme: There is a word for it. parrhesia (puh-REEZ-i-uh) noun 1. Boldness of speech. 2. The practice of asking forgiveness before speaking in this manner. [From New Latin, from Greek, from pan (all) + rhesis (speech).] From political leaders to business heads, very few like to face the truth. Some claim to want candor but follow the dictum of filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn who said, "I want everybody to tell me the truth, even if it costs them their jobs." If you're not entirely sure about your boss, we recommend starting with parrhesia (sense 2), before giving in to parrhesia (sense 1). Preface your opinion of how pin-headed your supervisor's idea is, with: With all due respect ... If I may be so bold ... -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "But the Greek philosopher's intellectual honesty and contrariness were his downfall. 'Socrates says, parrhesia is the cause of my unpopularity,' [Cornel] West noted, citing Plato's book 'The Republic'." David Alire Garcia; What This Nation Needs Is Some Plain Talk; Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico); Jul 27, 2003. -------- Date: Thu Oct 27 00:01:12 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nychthemeron X-Bonus: I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now--only that place where the books are kept. -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968) This week's theme: There is a word for it. nychthemeron (nik-THEM-er-on) noun A full period of a day and night: 24 hours. [From Greek, a combination of nykt- (night) and hemera (day).] Ever wondered why day and night were divided into 12 hours? The number 12 is not as random as it sounds. There are 12 moons in a year. The number 12 is easy to divide into halves, thirds, and quarters. Also, some cultures counted in base 12: three joints on each finger (thumb as the counter). Aren't we glad a nychthemeron isn't divided in metric? Who wants to sleep 30 hours every night? -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) PS: Thanks for your overwhelming response to the new book and for making it #1 in reference on Amazon.com: http://amazon.com/o/asin/0471778788/ws00-20 "Newborns alternate between sleep and wake many times during a nychthemeron." William H Moorcroft and Paula Belcher; Understanding Sleep and Dreaming; Springer; 2003. -------- Date: Fri Oct 28 00:01:08 EDT 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--velleity X-Bonus: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (1910-1997) This week's theme: There is a word for it. velleity (vuh-LEE-i-tee) noun Volition at its faintest. [From Latin velle (to wish), ultimately from Indo-European root wel- (to wish, will) which is also the ancestor of well, will, wealth, wallop, gallop, voluptuous, and voluntary.] Finally, a word to describe a few of those things we can't wait to do: filling out tax forms, for example. Velleity is volition at its weakest. It's a mere wish or inclination, without any accompanying effort. But who could tell just by looking at the word? So next time you're late in filing your tax return and the tax department sends a reminder, just send them a polite letter vouching for your velleity. The taxman will think the check (or cheque, as our Canadian grammar guru Carolanne Reynolds would write) is coming soon and you've been completely forthright. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Croatia briefly mouthed velleities about inviting the Serbs to return. But last week, Croatia's President, Franjo Tudjman, expressed his true sentiments." Roger Cohen; Finally Torn Apart, The Balkans Can Hope; The New York Times; Sep 3, 1995. -------- Date: Mon Oct 31 00:01:08 EST 2005 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--parisology X-Bonus: The power to command frequently causes failure to think. -Barbara Tuchman, author and historian (1912-1989) Words that aren't what they appear to be. Most of the time, we can figure out a newly encountered word by context or by its constituent parts. Take the word Egyptology. Even if you have never heard of the word, you can guess that it has something to do with Egypt and you'd not be too far off: the word means the study of Egyptian antiquities. But there are times when our assumptions fall flat, as in today's word. Given how much parisology is going around these days, it's surprising this word hasn't been more in circulation. The only examples I could find were where the word was mentioned in a glossary. It's about time we put this good word to some real use. You don't have to write an epic to be able to make use of this word. Maybe you can employ it in a letter to the editor to your local newspaper, perhaps in your company newsletter, or in an article for a magazine. Ideally, the meaning of the word would be clear from the context without the need to explain it. Send your citations to the email address below. The author of the best example during the next month gets an autographed copy of my new book "Another Word A Day". parisology (pa-ri-SOL-uh-jee) noun The use of equivocal or ambiguous language. [From Ancient Greek parisos (almost equal, balanced) + logos (word).] -Anu Garg garg AT wordsmith.org PS: Don't forget the global virtual booksigning of "Another Word A Day" tomorrow, Nov 1. It runs for 12 hours (8-8 PM Pacific, GMT -8) to make sure readers in all time zones can participate: https://wordsmith.org/virtual Come get a virtual bookplate inscribed, chat, play words games, and have fun!