A.Word.A.Day Archives
from https://wordsmith.org/awad
--------
Date: Fri Dec 1 00:01:12 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--white elephant
X-Bonus: It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)
white elephant (hwyt EL-uh-fent) noun
1. A possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of.
2. A possession entailing great expense out of proportion to its
usefulness or value to the owner.
3. An abnormally whitish or pale elephant, usually found in Thailand;
an albino elephant.
[From the perhaps apocryphal tale that the King of Siam would award a
disagreeable courtier a white elephant, the upkeep of which would ruin the
courtier.]
"Now an orchestra opening a new hall has reason to pray, solemnly and at
length, that it will not be saddled with a white elephant with mediocre
acoustics."
Allan Kozinn, A Venerable Concert Hall That's the Belle of the Ball,
The New York Times, Sep 30, 2000.
This week's theme: animal words that are used figuratively.
--------
Date: Mon Dec 4 00:01:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Walter Mitty
X-Bonus: The palest ink is better than the best memory. -Chinese proverb
Walter Mitty (wol-tuhr MIT-ee) noun
An ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic
daydreams of personal triumphs.
[After the main character in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by
James Thurber.]
"The men you see rolling over the zoysia at 5 miles per hour are
pretending to be Mario Andretti at Indianapolis. Nothing draws
Walter Mitty from a soul like the sound of a riding lawn mower
engine."
Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Roar of the mower helps build a woman's psyche,
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, May 1, 1998.
One of the most important ingredients of fiction is its characters. Think
of any memorable book, play or movie and you'll recall its people--from
protagonist (and deuteragonist and tritagonist and ...) to antagonist are
folks one can feel, relate to, though not necessarily always agree with.
These are the people with depths, they are not cardboard characters or
people who live a 2D life, to use the publishing jargon. These multifaceted
people come alive on the pages of a book, on the stage of a theater, or on
the screen of a movie theater with all their foibles, follies and victories.
Perhaps the ultimate sign of their character is that they live on on the
pages of dictionaries. This week's AWAD focuses on a few of these fictional
persons who came alive and added a bit more color to our language. -Anu
--------
Date: Tue Dec 5 00:01:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gnathonic
X-Bonus: A man there was, tho' some did count him mad / The more he cast away, the more he had. -John Bunyan, preacher (1628-1688) [Pilgrim's Progress]
gnathonic (na-THON-ik) adjective
Sycophantic; fawning.
[From Latin gnathonicus, derivative of Gnathon- (stem of Gnatho) name of
a sycophantic character in the Roman comedy Eunuchus by Terence.]
"And that's why today any myrmidon, any gnathonic sycophant, any
obsequious assistant or menial hanger-on is called a toadeater or, more
often, a toady."
Michael Gartner, Words, Newsday, Dec 27, 1987.
This week's theme: fictional characters who live on in the dictionary.
--------
Date: Wed Dec 6 00:01:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bovarism
X-Bonus: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (1928- )
bovarism (BO-vuh-riz-em) noun
An exaggerated, especially glamorized, estimate of oneself; conceit.
[From French bovaryisme, after Emma Bovary, a character in Flaubert's
novel Madame Bovary.]
"The public property is not so much her as Bovarism. She is part of the
collective unconscious. She is, and can be, everyone."
Alan Franks, France's best-kept secret, The Times of London,
Aug 12, 1995.
This week's theme: fictional characters who live on in the dictionary.
--------
Date: Thu Dec 7 00:01:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Dr. Strangelove
X-Bonus: Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power. -Lao-Tzu, philosopher (6th century BCE)
Dr. Strangelove (DOK-tuhr STRAYNJ-luv) noun
A person, especially a military or government official, who advocates
initiating nuclear warfare. Also called Strangelove.
[After a character in a movie of the same name (1963) by U.S. director
Stanley Kubrick.]
"The US tests are part of a 13-year, $60 billion `stockpile stewardship'
program which will enable our Dr. Strangeloves to design new nuclear bombs
in computer-simulated virtual reality."
Stanley K. Sheinbaum & Alice Slater, It is time to abolish nuclear arms,
New Perspectives Quarterly, Summer 1999.
This week's theme: fictional characters who live on in the dictionary.
--------
Date: Fri Dec 8 00:01:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--griselda
X-Bonus: Trust in Allah, but tie your camel. -Arabic saying
Griselda (gri-ZEL-duh) noun
1. A woman of exemplary meekness and patience.
2. A female given name: from a Germanic word meaning `gray battle.'
[Def. 1 after a character in a tale of the same name in Giovanni Boccaccio's
Decameron.]
"Whereas Rosina in `Barber' is a spitfire, all flame and sass, Cenerentola
is a more demanding and less appealing role. She must bide her time but
persuade her audience and her Prince that she's more than a patient
Griselda who deserves happiness and redemption.
Willard Spiegelman, Opera: Cinderella is a ball, The Wall Street Journal,
Nov 2, 1995.
This week's theme: fictional characters who live on in the dictionary.
--------
Date: Mon Dec 11 00:04:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cataract
X-Bonus: The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization. -Sigmund Freud, neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939)
cataract (KAT-uh-rakt) noun
1. A large or high waterfall.
2. A great downpour; a deluge.
3. Opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, causing impairment of
vision or blindness.
[Middle English cataracte, from Old French, from Latin cataracta, from Greek
katarraktes, kataraktes, probably from katarassein, to dash down : kat-,
kata-, cata- + arassein, to strike.]
"The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong;
I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng,
The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep."
William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of
Early Childhood.
Have you seen the poem about a little girl who, with a lantern in her hands,
goes out in a snowstorm to light the path of her mother coming back from
town? Later, her parents go out to look for her, following her footprints in
the snow when they discover, "And further there were none!" My heart skipped a
beat when I came across those five words. I'm talking about Lucy Gray, a poem
by William Wordsworth ( http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww158.html ), that I read
in my early school days. Later, the emphasis on math and science, and
subsequent studies of computer science in college and grad school, blotted
out the world of poetry. I forgot the name of the poet and other details of
the poem but it had been haunting me ever since. Recently, while researching
some words, I came across the poem again and realized it had never really
left me. Does a poem ever do?
What is it in poetry that moves us so much? Perhaps it is a reminder that no
matter how tough, and worldly-wise we may or try to be, deep inside all of us
have the heart of a child. In this week's AWAD, I'll present words from some
of my favorite poets. Why don't you email me (garg AT wordsmith.org) about your
favorite poets and their poems? -Anu
--------
Date: Tue Dec 12 00:04:09 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dreary
X-Bonus: Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. -Voltaire, philosopher, historian, satirist, dramatist, and essayist (1694-1778)
dreary (DRIR-ee) adjective
1. Dismal; bleak.
2. Boring; dull.
[Middle English dreri, bloody, frightened, sad, from Old English dreorig,
bloody, sad, from dreor, gore.]
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali.
This week's theme: words from poetry.
--------
Date: Wed Dec 13 00:04:09 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nosegay
X-Bonus: The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. -Aristotle, philosopher (384-322 BCE)
nosegay (NOZ-gay) noun
A small bunch of flowers.
[Middle English : nose, + gai, joyous, ornament.]
"My nosegays are for captives;
Dim, long-expectant eyes,
Fingers denied the plucking,
Patient till paradise.
"To such, if they should whisper
Of morning and the moor,
They bear no other errand,
And I, no other prayer."
Emily Dickinson.
This week's theme: words from poetry.
--------
Date: Thu Dec 14 00:04:12 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tarry
X-Bonus: It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. -Edmund Hillary, mountaineer and explorer (1919- )
tarry (TAR-ee) verb intr.
1. To delay or be late in going, coming, or doing.
2. To wait.
3. To remain or stay temporarily, as in a place; sojourn.
verb tr.
To wait for; await.
noun
A temporary stay; a sojourn.
[Middle English tarien.]
tarry (TAR-ee) adjective
Of, resembling, or covered with tar.
"You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For Life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children,
as living arrows, are sent forth."
Kahlil Gibran, Prophet.
This week's theme: words from poetry.
--------
Date: Fri Dec 15 00:04:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--collyrium
X-Bonus: To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top. -Robert M. Pirsig, author [Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance]
collyrium (kuh-LIR-ee-ehm) noun, plural collyriums or collyria
A medicinal lotion applied to the eye; eyewash.
[Latin, from Greek kollurion, eye salve, poultice, diminutive of kollura,
roll of bread.]
"Kabir, in my eyes reddened by love
How can collyrium* be applied?
Within them dwells my Beloved,
Where is the place for anything else?"
(* Kajal, a type of lamp soot that is applied to the eyes by Indian
women for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. When the eyes are inflamed
or red, its use is given up until they become normal.)
Kabir as quoted in "Kabir, The Weaver of God's Name" by V.K. Sethi
Radha Soami Satsang Beas, India, 1994.
This week's theme: words from poetry.
--------
Date: Mon Dec 18 01:14:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--asinine
X-Bonus: A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1944)
asinine (AS-uh-nyn) adjective
1. Utterly stupid or silly.
2. Of, relating to, or resembling an ass.
[Latin asininus, of an ass, from asinus, ass.]
"Having stood up for so long to pompous politicians and asinine network
executives, the feisty news star (Candice Bergen) is about to learn she
can be humbled: by her own mortality."
Matt Roush, Cancer fight recharges 'Murphy', USA Today, Oct 1, 1997.
We often use our friends from the animal kingdom to characterize the
behavior of our fellow human beings, "She eats like a pig... he is savage
as a wolf..." These terms are frequently unfair -- the word hircine used
to refer to goats but has another sense indicating a lustful nature. Are
goats lascivious? Who are we to say?
This week's AWAD presents more words in a similar vein. So the next time you
employ one of these words to figuratively refer to a two-legged creature
around you, be careful. You may be slandering someone -- the four-legged
one. -Anu
P.S. Don't forget to join us tomorrow for an online chat with John Simpson,
Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. For more details, see
https://wordsmith.org/chat
--------
Date: Tue Dec 19 00:04:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anserine
X-Bonus: A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small haemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transfusions of new blood from other tongues. The day the gates go up, that day it begins to die. -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) [The American Language]
anserine (AN-suh-ryn, -rin) adjective, also anserous
1. Of or belonging to the subfamily Anserinae, which comprises the geese.
2. Of or resembling a goose; gooselike.
3. Stupid; foolish; silly.
[Latin anserinus, pertaining to geese, from anser, goose.]
"Then, with growing horror, I realised I was not a qualified anserine
counsellor."
David Stafford, Last word: Staffordshire bull: Boo hiss,
The Guardian (UK), Oct 10, 1998.
This week's theme: animal-related words that are used metaphorically.
--------
Date: Wed Dec 20 00:04:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--viperine
X-Bonus: What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
viperine (VY-puhr-in, -puh-ryn) adjective
Of, pertaining to, or resembling a viper; venomous.
[Middle English vipere, from Old French, from Latin vipera, snake,
contraction of *vivipera : vivus, alive + parere, to give birth.]
"Within months, a national firestorm erupted over Anita Hill's treatment
by a Senate Judiciary Committee consisting of fourteen white men--viperine
Republicans and gutless Democrats."
Marie Shear, Wake-up caller, Women's Review of Books, May 2000.
This week's theme: animal-related words that are used metaphorically.
--------
Date: Thu Dec 21 00:04:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pavonine
X-Bonus: One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
pavonine (PAV-uh-nyn) adjective
1. Of or resembling a peacock.
2. Resembling a peacock's tail in color, design, or iridescence.
[Latin pavoninus, from pavo, peacock.]
"The pool is shaded by a spreading fruit tree, and from it a cascade
burbles into a fish pond and thence to the pavonine sea."
Christopher Baker, Jamaica's quiet side, San Francisco Examiner,
Feb 15, 1998.
This week's theme: animal-related words that are used metaphorically.
--------
Date: Fri Dec 22 00:04:12 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bovine
X-Bonus: If a person is obviously mentally disabled, such as having Down's syndrome or Alzheimer's, decent people exercise sympathy and understanding in their interactions. So why, if someone merely has a low IQ, is he treated with ridicule and contempt? -Geoff Kuenning, computer science professor (1951- )
bovine (BO-vyn, -veen) adjective
1. Of, relating to, or resembling a ruminant mammal of the genus Bos,
such as an ox, cow, or buffalo.
2. Sluggish, dull, and stolid.
noun
An animal of the genus Bos.
[Late Latin bovinus, from Latin bos, cow.]
(Here is another word that refers to cows: vaccine. It comes from
vacca, Latin for cow, after inoculation prepared from cows. -Anu)
"This freedom from consequence permeated the social fabric. It affected
the way people drove, namely, in slow, dull, uncomprehending torpor; the
way they passed their days in bovine oblivion."
Howard Troxler, Job market full - of ineptitude, laziness,
St. Petersburg Times, Mar 15, 2000.
This week's theme: animal-related words that are used metaphorically.
--------
Date: Mon Dec 25 00:04:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antanaclasis
X-Bonus: My precept to all who build is that the owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner. -Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE)
antanaclasis (ant-an-uh-KLAS-is) noun
A form of speech in which a key word is repeated and used in a different,
and sometimes contrary, way for a play on words, as in The craft of a
politician is to appear before the public without craft.
[From Greek antanaklasis literally echo, reflection, equivalent to ant- +
ana- + klasis a breaking, bending.]
"Other types of puns, apart from antanaclasis, paronomasia and
syllepsis, are also frequently used... Antanaclasis; repetition of a
word in two different senses; Our frequent fliers can frequent other
fliers. (British Airways)"
James H.Leigh, The use of figures of speech in print ad headlines,
Journal of Advertising, Jun 1994.
What do you expect when you mess around with a wordy pal? Wordplay, of course!
And that's what you are going to get for the next five days. In this week's
AWAD, we feature words about words, words that describe play with words.
Just in case you haven't figured this out yourself by now, 'wordplay' is an
anagram of `wordy pal.' -Anu
--------
Date: Tue Dec 26 00:17:10 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antiphrasis
X-Bonus: A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)
antiphrasis (an-TIF-ruh-sis) noun
The use of a word or phrase in a sense contrary to its normal meaning
for ironic or humorous effect, as in a mere babe of 40 years.
[Late Latin, from Greek, from antiphrazein, to express by the opposite :
anti-, anti- + phrazein, to speak.]
"He was murmuring something between lips decorated by a little mustache,
which gave a sarcastic touch to his clerk-like expression, a mustache
folded over his mouth like an antiphrasis, which tinged whatever he said
with maliciousness, no matter how solemn it was."
Edoardo Albinati & John Satriano, Story Written on a Motorcycle,
Antioch Review, Summer 1992.
"Perhaps Charles McGrath, in The New Yorker, sums up the ambivalence most
eloquently. `How good are these books really?' he asks, and answers: not
so good--although he does so in the more flattering antiphrasis of `good
enough that you wish they were even better.'"
Neil Gordon, The admiral, Village Voice, Jun 6, 1995.
-------------------------Online Chat--------------------------
On Dec 29, our second online chat will be with Professor David
Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language. For more details, see https://wordsmith.org/chat
While you are there, don't forget to see the transcript of the
previous chat with John Simpson, Chief Editor of the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) and learn what he had to say about
words, languages, lexicography, and Microsoft.
--------------------------------------------------------------
This week's theme: words about words.
--------
Date: Wed Dec 27 02:04:17 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paralipsis
X-Bonus: All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers... Each one owes infinitely more to the human race than to the particular country in which he was born. -Francois Fenelon, theologian and writer (1651-1715)
paralipsis (par-uh-LIP-sis) noun, plural paralipses (-seez)
The suggestion, by deliberately concise treatment of a topic, that much
of significance is being omitted, as in "not to mention other faults.'
Also, paraleipsis, paralepsis. Also called preterition.
[From Late Latin paralipsis, from Greek paraleipsis an omitting, equivalent
to paraleip(ein) to leave on one side (para- + leipein to leave) + -sis.]
"He (William Trevor) makes significant use, for example, of ...
paralipsis, withholding to the end--in stories like `Mr. McNamara' and
`The Bedroom Eyes of Mrs. Vansittart'-some piece of information crucial
to the reader's understanding."
Miriam Marty Clark, The scenic self in William Trevor's stories,
Narrative, May 1, 1998.
This week's theme: words about words.
--------
Date: Thu Dec 28 00:04:09 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--oxymoron
X-Bonus: Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You, too? Thought I was the only one. -Clive Staples Lewis, novelist and essayist (1898-1963)
oxymoron (ok-see-MOR-on, -mor-) noun, plural oxymora or oxymorons
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are
combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.
[Greek oxumoron, from neuter of oxumoros, pointedly foolish : oxus, sharp +
moros, foolish, dull.]
"Myron Krueger, the man who coined the oxymoron `artificial reality' for
the title of a 1983 book, has created an installation called Video Place
at Connecticut's State Museum of Natural History, in Storrs."
D. Stewart & P. Menzel, Through the looking glass into an artificial
world--via computer, Smithsonian, Jan 1991.
This week's theme: words about words.
--------
Date: Fri Dec 29 00:04:11 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ploce
X-Bonus: If any man wishes to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832)
ploce (PLO-see) noun
The repetition of a word or phrase to gain special emphasis or to
indicate an extension of meaning, as in Ex. 3:14: "I am that I am.'
[Earlier ploche, from Late Latin ploce, from Greek ploke, plaiting, akin to
plekein, to plait.]
"Theme and irony both seem to echo through the following lines, in which
ploce and pronouns play off one another. Duncan speaks to Lady Macbeth
about love and thanks her for the "trouble" of hosting his visit:
The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you
How you shall bid God 'ild us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble."
Paul Pellikka, `Strange things I have in head, that will to hand': Echoes
of sound and sense in Macbeth, Style, Spring 1997.
REMINDER: Today's online chat with David Crystal, author of The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of the English Language, starts at 4 PM GMT (11 AM EST U.S.).
To join, visit https://wordsmith.org/chat/dc.html
This week's theme: words about words.