A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Oct 1 00:01:27 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--canter X-Bonus: A smile is a whisper of a laugh. -A child's definition canter (KANT-uhr) noun. A smooth gait, especially of a horse, that is slower than a gallop but faster than a trot. canter intr.verb 1. To ride a horse at a canter. 2. To go or move at a canter. canter tr.verb To cause (a horse) to go at a canter. [Ultimately from phrases such as Canterbury gallop after Canterbury, England, toward which pilgrims rode at an easy pace.] "You don't have to be an expert rider, but you should be able to canter over rough ground and be up to spending about six hours a day in the saddle." Rupert Isaacson, Ride to the heart of the Black Mountains, Independent on Sunday, 25 May 1997. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Fri Oct 2 00:01:28 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--geyser X-Bonus: The angels know that too many practical men eat their bread with the sweat of the dreamer's brow. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] geyser (GIE-zuhr) noun 1. A natural hot spring that intermittently ejects a column of water and steam into the air. 2. (GEE-zuhr). Chiefly British. A gas-operated hot-water heater. [After Icelandic Geysir, name of a hot spring of southwest Iceland, from geysa, to gush, from Old Norse.] "With Old Faithful erupting less frequently and less regularly, scientists speculate that its underground feeder system is literally losing steam. For the moment, only seasoned geyser gazers notice the difference." Old Faithful becoming, well, less faithful // Eruptions grow less regular; scientists say it may be losing steam, Star Tribune, 5 Feb 1996. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Sat Oct 3 00:01:30 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tenderloin X-Bonus: The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. -Martina Navratilova tenderloin (TEN-duhr-loin) noun 1. The tenderest part of a loin of beef, pork, or similar cut of meat. 2. A city district notorious for vice and graft. [Sense 2, after the Tenderloin, an area of New York City (from the easy income it once afforded corrupt policemen).] "STREETWISE is the striking and sobering account of the daily lives of abandoned children in Seattle's seamy Tenderloin district." STREETWISE, Magill's Survey of Cinema, 15 Jun 1995. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Sun Oct 4 00:01:36 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--alpine X-Bonus: Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time. -Hebrew proverb alpine (AL-pien) adjective 1. Alpine. Of, relating to, or characteristic of the Alps or their inhabitants. 2. Of or relating to high mountains. 3. Biology. Living or growing on mountains above the timberline. 4. Sports. Intended for or concerned with mountaineering. Of or relating to competitive downhill racing and slalom skiing events. [Middle English, from Latin Alpinus, from Alpes, the Alps.] "At 11,500 feet we exit the rain forest and enter the alpine moorlands that overlook the blanket of clouds covering the forest.' Chuck graham, Knocking on Heaven's Door, The World & I, 1 Jan 1998. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Mon Oct 5 00:01:41 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--orrery X-Bonus: It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? -Henry David Thoreau orrery (OR-uh-ree) noun A mechanical model of the solar system. [After Charles Boyle, Fourth Earl of Orrery (1676-1731), for whom one was made.] "In 1774, the largest orrery ever built into the ceiling of a house was installed in the Netherlands. It's still in operation today and shows the planets moving around the sun at their actual rate of speed." Mike Best, Modern-day Planetariums Like Down-to-earth Devices, Gannett News Service, 10 May 1994. You may have seen them in science museums or observatories and now you know what they are called. It is strange that an orrery is called an orrery and not a graham considering that George Graham was the person who invented it, circa 1700. Instrument-maker John Rowley made a copy for the Earl of Orrery and named it in honor of his client. And that name has stuck ever since. To see a picture of Rowley's creation, visit: http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/on-line/treasure/objects/1952-73.HTML Even though orrery was ostensibly named after a person, it is really a word adopted from a place name. Stay tuned for more words derived after place names this week. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Oct 6 00:01:32 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--capitol X-Bonus: The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] capitol (KAP-i-tol) noun 1. A building or complex of buildings in which a state legislature meets. 2. Capitol. The building in Washington, D.C., where the Congress of the United States meets. [Middle English Capitol, Jupiter's temple in Rome, from Old French capitole, from Latin Capitolium after Capitolinus, Capitoline, the hill on which Jupiter's temple stood, perhaps akin to, caput, head.] "March 1990. National Student News Service, a biweekly digest of campus events, reported that 10,000 students had marched on 40 state capitols to challenge continued deforestation of U.S. public lands." Loeb, Paul Rogat; Brockway, Michele, Greeks and granolas and steeps and slackers: a guide to the surprising new activists on campus - and the people who loathe them, Mother Jones, 1 Sep 1994. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Wed Oct 7 00:01:24 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--piedmont X-Bonus: You can lead a computer to the Superhighway but you can't make it think. -Des Waller piedmont (PEED-mont) noun An area of land formed or lying at the foot of a mountain or mountain range. piedmont adjective Of, relating to, or constituting such an area of land. [After Piedmont.] Piedmont 1. A historical region of northwest Italy bordering on France and Switzerland. Occupied by Rome in the 1st century BCE, it passed to Savoy in the 11th century and was the center of the Italian Risorgimento after 1814. 2. A plateau region of the eastern United States extending from New York to Alabama between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastal plain. "Those along the northern piedmont consider themselves Bughtis and owe their allegiance to the Nawab in the remote tribal capital of Dera Bughti." Times, 2 June 1962 . This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Thu Oct 8 00:01:36 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--balkanize X-Bonus: I can't go back to yesterday, because I was a different person then. -Lewis Carroll [Through the Looking Glass] (1832-1898) Balkanize or balkanize (BAWL-kuh-nyz) tr.verb To divide (a region or territory) into small, often hostile units. [From the political division of the Balkans in the early 20th century.] "Two things worry conservatives about immigrants: that immigrants will become a dependent class producing a huge infusion of new clients for the welfare state; and that Asian and, especially, Latin culture will transcend our Anglo-American heritage, leaving us a polyglot, balkanized people with no common culture. I share concerns about the effect on American society of both the welfare state and multiculturalism; I just do not believe that either problem is caused, or even much exacerbated, by immigration. Immigrants, for the most part, are more likely to be in the labor force and less likely to be dependent on welfare than the native-born." Chavez, Linda, Linda Chavez (effects of immigration on society) (responses to questions about U.S. stability and the future of America) (The National Prospect: A Symposium), Commentary, 1 Nov 1995. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Fri Oct 9 00:01:31 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--monadnock X-Bonus: The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men. -Alice Walker monadnock (muh-NAD-nok) noun A mountain or rocky mass that has resisted erosion and stands isolated in an essentially level area. [After Mount Monadnock, a peak of southwest New Hampshire.] "...and Ahab was fairly within the smoky mountain mist, which, thrown off from the whale's spout, curled round his great, Monadnock hump..." Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, 1851. "O stiffly stand, a staid monadnock, On her peneplain." Auden, Age of Anxiety, 1947 . This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Sat Oct 10 00:01:38 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mocha X-Bonus: To my mind to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) mocha (MOE-kuh) noun 1. A rich, pungent Arabian coffee. 2. Coffee of high quality. 3. A flavoring made of coffee often mixed with chocolate. 4. A soft, thin, suede-finished glove leather usually made from sheepskin. 5. Color. A dark olive brown. [After Mocha, a town of southwest Yemen.] "The minimum opening bid is set at $100,000, says Gund spokeswoman Stephanie Azzarone, who describes the bear as if it's a fine piece of art: `The mohair is silky ... and the color is mocha brown at the base and warm mahogany at the tips.'" Greg Barrett, Wanna buy an untouchable $100,000 teddy bear?, Gannett News Service, 3 Jun 1998. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Sun Oct 11 00:01:31 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sodom X-Bonus: Climb mountains to see lowlands. -Chinese Proverb Sodom (SOD-uhm) A city of ancient Palestine possibly located south of the Dead Sea. In the Old Testament, it was destroyed along with Gomorrah because of its wickedness and depravity Sodom or sodom (SOD-uhm) noun A place well known for vice and corruption. [After Sodom.] "And yet he can see it all now, can permit himself to see it with righteous certainty: this place, Venice, with its art and beach, and all its local color, is really Sodom." Goodman, Allegra, The art biz.(short story), Commentary, 1 Sep 1996. This week's theme: words derived from place names. -------- Date: Mon Oct 12 00:04:38 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--heteronym X-Bonus: And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery [The Little Prince] heteronym (HET-uhr-uh-nim) noun One of two or more words that have identical spellings but different meanings and pronunciations, such as row (a series of objects arranged in a line), pronounced (roe), and row (a fight), pronounced (rou). [Back-formation from heteronymous.] "You also can use heteronyms (words with the same spelling but with different pronunciations and meanings) as in: `A deer hunter does hunt for does.'" Bugeja, Michael J., Practice makes pantoums, Writer's Digest, Oct 1995 This week's theme: meta words or words about words. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Oct 13 00:04:23 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pangram X-Bonus: Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons. -Bertrand Russell pangram (PAN-gram, -gruhm, PANG-) noun A sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet. "A pangram is a sentence that contains every letter of the alphabet -- pan means all -- and your assignment is to write the shortest sentence you can manufacture that uses each letter." Michael Gartner, Gram Crackers, Austin American-Statesman, 1 Aug 1998. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Wed Oct 14 00:04:21 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--toponym X-Bonus: I have no enemies, O God, but if I am to have an enemy \ Let his strength be equal to mine, \ That truth alone may be the victor. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] toponym (TOP-uh-nim) noun 1. A place name. 2. A name derived from a place or region. [Back-formation from toponymy.] "I hope the exhibit on local Indians that the Atlanta History Center plans to mount next year will try to answer such questions. Maybe it will also tell us whether Kenneth Krakow's book "Georgia Place Names" is correct in tracing these `peachtree' toponyms to the English translation of the name for a Cherokee village, Pakanahuili." Colin Campbell, Atlanta's ties to Cherokee overlooked, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 5 Jun 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Thu Oct 15 00:04:14 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--word-hoard X-Bonus: Always hold your head up, but be careful to keep your nose at a friendly level. -Max L. Forman word-hoard (WURD-hoard) noun The sum of words one uses or understands; a vocabulary. To him the stateliest spake in answer; the warriors' leader his word-hoard unlocked: - "We are by kin of the clan of Geats, and Hygelac's own hearth-fellows we." Traditional, Beowulf: Part IV, Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Fri Oct 16 00:04:20 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--etymon X-Bonus: Yes, there is Nirvanah; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] etymon (ET-uh-mon) noun 1. An earlier form of a word in the same language or in an ancestor language. For example, Indo-European -duwo and Old English twa are etymons of Modern English two. 2. A word or morpheme from which compounds and derivatives are formed. 3. A foreign word from which a particular loanword is derived. For example, Latin duo, "two," is an etymon of English duodecimal. [Latin, from Greek etumon, true sense of a word, from etumos, true.] "First of all, I should explain that the term femme semantically covers three basic words in Latin: MULIER, which is the more generic meaning of `woman'; UXOR, `spouse'; and FEMINA, `young woman.' Morphologically, femme comes from the Latin etymon FEMINA, whose meaning would also be the same." Baider, Fabienne, Feminism and Linguistics: How Technology Can Prove Our Point, Contemporary Women's Issues Database, 1 Dec 1996. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sat Oct 17 00:04:16 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--logogram X-Bonus: In giving advice, seek to help, not please, a friend. -Solon logogram (LO-guh-gram, LOG-) noun A written symbol representing an entire spoken word without expressing its pronunciation; for example, for 4 read "four" in English, "quattro" in Italian. Also called ideogram, logograph. "Are our alphabets, decimal counting, Arabic numerals, and Gregorian calendar really superior to Chinese logograms, Babylonian base-60 counting, Roman numerals, and the Mayan calendar?" Diamond, Jared, The curse of QWERTY.(why an inferior typewriter keyboard became the standard), Discover Magazine, 1 Apr 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sun Oct 18 00:04:21 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wordmonger X-Bonus: Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong. -Zen proverb wordmonger (WURD-mung-guhr, -mong-) noun A writer or speaker who uses language pretentiously or carelessly. "But now word came that Henry would still sit for yet another pitch by the ambitious and flashy wordmonger who, not yet 40, headed up the huge Ford Div." Murphy, Walter T., Mustang's birthing pains; Iacocca scores on his third pitch to Henry Ford II.(Lee Iacocca)(U.S. Automotive Centennial), Ward's Auto World, 1 May 1996. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Mon Oct 19 00:04:31 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cremains X-Bonus: I have every sympathy with the American who was so horrified by what he had read about the effects of smoking that he gave up reading. -Henry G. Strauss cremains (kri-MAYNZ) noun The ashes that remain after cremation of a corpse. [Blend of cremated and remains.] "My cup, between the saucer and my lip, will soon slip. My cremains will be dug into the soil to nourish a rose bush. Then I will begin a new and glorious life and I will like it fine." Harvey F. Egan, At 80, he sees that it's not what we do that counts, but who we are - and whose..., Star Tribune, 26 Nov 1996. This week's selection features words coined by fusion of two separate words. What is unique about these words, as opposed to the words formed by simply placing two words next to each other, e.g. lovesick, is that the former are blended together in such a way that each of the participating words contributes a fragment of its whole, both in letters and in meaning to the new word. Such an amalgamated word is also known as portmanteau 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). -Anu -------- Date: Tue Oct 20 00:04:16 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pennant X-Bonus: Worry is like a rocking chair - it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere. -Dorothy Galyean pennant (PEN-uhnt) noun 1. Nautical. A long, tapering, usually triangular flag, used on ships for signaling or identification. 2. A flag or an emblem similar in shape to a ship's pennant. 3. Sports. A flag that symbolizes the championship of a league, especially a professional baseball league. The championship symbolized by such a flag. [Blend of pendant and pennon.] "Robinson had to agree to play a season in the minors. With Montreal in 1946, Robinson batted .349. After the team won the International League pennant, he recalled Montreal fans hurrying after him outside the ballpark. He began to run. The crowd ran behind him. He began to weep. `I started crying,' he told me, `because I thought here are all these whites running after a Negro, to get his autograph, not to lynch him.'" The Jackie Robinson I Remember, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 31 Dec 1996. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Wed Oct 21 00:04:22 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fruitarian X-Bonus: People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost. -H. Jackson Brown, Jr. fruitarian (froo-TAR-ee-uhn) noun One whose diet includes fruits, seeds, and nuts but no vegetables, grains, or animal products. [Blend of fruit and (veget)arian.] "Opponents often claim that the fruitarian diet is nutritionally incomplete, and yet on close scrutiny the standard nutritional tables show that raw fruits and vegetables contain all the essential minerals, vitamins, proteins, essential fatty acids and carbohydrates needed even by growing children. "Wilfred Crone, fruitarian: born 1909; died Christchurch, Dorset 17 August 1996." Susie Miller, Obituary: Wilfred Crone, Independent, 23 Sep 1996. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Thu Oct 22 00:04:28 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cinematheque X-Bonus: Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it. -Plato cinematheque (sin-uh-muh-TEK) noun A small movie theater showing classic or avant-garde films. [French cinematheque, blend of cinema and bibliotheque, library (from Latin bibliotheca).] "Shlomo Vazana and Moshe Karif choose to meet The Economist in the cafe of Jerusalem's cinematheque, which has Hollywood posters on the walls and offers a magnificent view of the Old City." Rough guide to a fractious society: A nation of tribes, The Economist, 25 Apr 1998. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Fri Oct 23 00:04:20 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--blaxploitation X-Bonus: Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. -Will Rogers blaxploitation (blak-sploi-TAY-shuhn) noun Exploitation of Black people, especially in the American film industry, by casting them in negative, stereotypical roles and by failing to depict in the films the realities of Black life. Attributive. Often used to modify another noun: blaxploitation movies; the blaxploitation genre. [Blend of black and exploitation.] "Yes, I know it's a form of black comedy and an imaginative reworking of genres -- `pulp,' after all -- yet do we really need to celebrate a kind of juvenile, mindless nihilism -- and an attitude toward nihilism quite different from West's -- and the recycling of blaxploitation stereotypes in the form of Jackson's Bible-quoting hitman and the African American gang boss, Marcellus..." Richard Oyama, `Pulp Fiction': A Minority View, Asian Week, 3 Feb 1995. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Sat Oct 24 00:04:27 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--carmine X-Bonus: The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. -Henry Ward Beecher carmine (KAHR-min, -MYN) noun 1. Color. A strong to vivid red. 2. A crimson pigment derived from cochineal. carmine adjective Color. Strong to vivid red. [French carmin, from Medieval Latin carminium, probably blend of Arabic qirmiz, kermes, and Latin minium, cinnabar.] "Carmine is used to color candy, ice cream, juice drinks, yogurt, fruit fillings in baked goods, port wine cheese, lipsticks, vitamins and other products. It has previously been implicated in attacks of anaphylaxis, asthma, hives and other symptoms..." Susan Okie; Coloring in Food, Makeup Tied to Allergic Attack, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 27 Dec 1997. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Sun Oct 25 00:04:15 EDT 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--birl X-Bonus: Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another. -Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) birl (burl) tr.verb To cause (a floating log) to spin rapidly by rotating with the feet. birl intr.verb 1. To participate in birling. 2. To spin. birl noun A whirring noise; a hum. [Blend of birr and whirl.] "In April, the UM Woodsmen will be putting on a full demonstration of events like the caber toss, where contestants wearing kilts throw telephone poles, and birling when two people balancing on a log try to roll the other into the water." Tom Greene, Fun with Forestry and ax tossing, University Wire, 4 Feb 1998. This week's theme: portmanteaux, or blend words. -------- Date: Mon Oct 26 01:04:27 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bildungsroman X-Bonus: To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil of love. -George Santayana (1863-1952) bildungsroman (BIL-doongz-roe-mahn, -doongks-) or Bildungsroman nnoun A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character. [German : Bildung, formation (from Middle High German bildunge, from Old High German bildunga, from bilodi, form, shape) + Roman, novel, from French, a story in the vernacular, novel.] "And that plot makes China Eggs conform to one type of Bildungsroman: the story of choosing an artist's life, despite all odds." Rosenberg, Karen, The courage of the scorpion, Women's Review of Books, 1 Mar 1998. -------- Date: Tue Oct 27 01:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--palinode X-Bonus: I often quote myself; it adds spice to my conversation. -George Bernard Shaw palinode (PAL-uh-noad) noun 1. A poem in which the author retracts something said in a previous poem. 2. A formal statement of retraction. [From Late Latin palinodia, from Greek palinoidia : palin, again. kwel + oide, song.] "Just so there's no confusion, a palinode is a poem that retracts something the poet said earlier. The most famous was written by Gelett Burgess who wrote `The Purple Cow.' It became so popular that five years later, he wrote: Ah, yes, I wrote `The Purple Cow,' I'm sorry now I wrote it! But I can tell you anyhow, I'll kill you if you quote it." Rebecca Jones, Expanding Knowledge of Underwear Sizes, Rocky Mountain News, 31 Jan 1997. This week's theme: words about writing. -------- Date: Wed Oct 28 00:52:51 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--litterateur X-Bonus: Is not the core of nature in the heart of man? -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) litterateur (lit-uhr-uh-TUR, lit-ruh-) noun One who is devoted to the study or writing of literature. [French, from Latin litterator, critic, lettered person, from littera, letter.] "Hankering for a hot page-turner in the new year? Check out Escape to Hell, a tour de force without remorse, penned originally in Arabic by Libyan strongman and litterateur Muammar Gaddafi." Adam Zagorin: Arts & Letters Stephen King Has Nothing on This Guy, Time, 17 Nov 1997. This week's theme: words about writing. -------- Date: Thu Oct 29 00:04:29 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--palimpsest X-Bonus: Unless a man has been taught what to do with success after getting it, the achievement of it must inevitably leave him a prey to boredom. -Bertrand Russell palimpsest (PAL-imp-sest) noun 1. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible. 2. An object, a place, or an area that reflects its history. [Latin palimpsestum, from Greek palimpseston, neuter of palimpsestos, scraped again : palin, again. kwel + psen, to scrape.] "All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed exactly as often as was necessary." George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949 This week's theme: words about writing. -------- Date: Fri Oct 30 00:04:23 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--peripeteia X-Bonus: Law...begins when someone takes to doing something someone else does not like. -Karl Llewellyn peripeteia also peripetia (per-uh-puh-TEE-uh, -TIE-uh) noun A sudden change of events or reversal of circumstances, especially in a literary work. [Greek, from peripiptein, to change suddenly : peri-, peri- + piptein, to fall.] "Beckham's fateful kick was a moment Euripides would have recognised as peripeteia - an unexpected reversal of fortune that provides a fulcrum on which the plots of Greek tragedies turn for better or, in this case, worse." Anne McElvoy, The abiding fascination of defeat, Independent, 2 Jul 1998. This week's theme: words about writing. -------- Date: Sat Oct 31 00:04:22 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--excursus X-Bonus: Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it. -Cousin Woodman excursus (ik-SKUR-suhs) noun 1. A lengthy, appended exposition of a topic or point. 2. A digression. [Latin, from past participle of excurrere, to run out.] "Richard Feynman introduces a mathematical excursus in his physics text: `We could bring forth this formula in two minutes or so... But science is as much for intellectual enjoyment as for practical utility, so instead of just spending a few minutes on this amazing jewel, we shall surround the jewel by its proper setting.'" Gelernter, David, Truth, beauty, and the virtual machine. (the concept of beauty in software design), Discover Magazine, 1 Sep 1997. This week's theme: words about writing.