A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Tue Dec 1 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quacksalver X-Bonus: I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me. -Woody Allen, author, actor, and filmmaker (b. 1 Dec 1935) This week's theme: Illustrated words quacksalver (KWAK-sal-vuhr) noun A quack: one pretending to have skills or knowledge, especially in medicine. [From obsolete Dutch (now kwakzalver), from quack (boast) + salve (ointment). Earliest documented use: 1579.] NOTES: Did the quacksalver hawk their concoctions of quicksilver (mercury) as a panacea to earn the name quacksalver? While the connection with quicksilver is enticing, it's their duck-like behavior while peddling the snake oil that gave us this colorful synonym for a charlatan. Imagine someone mounted on a bench, holding vials of solutions in assorted colors while claiming to cure everything from chronic back pain to pyorrhea to migraine, and you'd have a good idea of a quacksalver. In fact, this image is the source of another term for these cure-alls: mountebank https://wordsmith.org/words/mountebank.html . https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quacksalver_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "In Elizabethan times nutmeg ... was trumpeted by the physicians and quacksalvers as a sovereign remedy against the plague." Charles Nicholl; Scary Tales of an Old Spice World; The Independent (London, UK); Feb 20, 1999. -------- Date: Wed Dec 2 00:01:04 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--viridity X-Bonus: The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived. -Ann Patchett, writer (b. 2 Dec 1963) This week's theme: Illustrated words viridity (vi-RID-i-tee) noun 1. The quality or state of being green. 2. Youthful innocence. [From Latin viridis (green). Earliest documented use: 1430.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/viridity https://wordsmith.org/words/images/viridity_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "Penobscot Bay shimmered blue against the viridity of the forested hills in a true postcard moment." Mary Ann Anderson; Of Moose and Men: Maine's Central Coast; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Aug 16, 2009. -------- Date: Thu Dec 3 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yobbery X-Bonus: A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but not necessarily in that order. -Jean-Luc Godard, film director (b. 3 Dec 1930) This week's theme: Illustrated words yobbery (YOB-uh-ree) noun Rowdy, destructive behavior by the youth. [From yob (a rowdy youth), coined by reversing the spelling of the word boy. Earliest documented use: 1974.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/yobbery_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "A police crackdown on yobbery during the Bonfire Night period in Stirlingshire proved effective. Police report the number of calls concerning antisocial behaviour between October 30 and November 6 were down by over a third." Yobs Getting the Message; Stirling Observer (UK); Nov 13, 2013. -------- Date: Fri Dec 4 00:01:04 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--xenophile X-Bonus: Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (4 Dec 1795-1881) This week's theme: Illustrated words xenophile (ZEN-uh-fyl, ZEE-nuh-) noun One who is attracted to foreign things or people. [From Greek xeno- (foreign) + -phile (love). Earliest documented use: 1934.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/xenophile_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ With this, Leah has completed illustrations for words starting with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet. See them all at https://wordsmith.org/words/xenophile.html I believe these deserve to be in a book. Are you an editor at a publishing house? Contact Leah at (curiouser AT mindspring.com) or at her website http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ . "Mr. Hall, 30, admits to being a bit of a xenophile, so 'getting to know new people is my thing anyway'." Linda Bock; Changing Face of Grief; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Jan 10, 2010. NOTES: With this, Leah has completed illustrations for words starting with each of the 26 letters of the alphabet: antediluvian https://wordsmith.org/words/antediluvian.html bursiform https://wordsmith.org/words/bursiform.html concinnity https://wordsmith.org/words/concinnity.html disprize https://wordsmith.org/words/disprize.html equable https://wordsmith.org/words/equable.html felicitous https://wordsmith.org/words/felicitous.html gramarye https://wordsmith.org/words/gramarye.html hegemony https://wordsmith.org/words/hegemony.html ineluctable https://wordsmith.org/words/ineluctable.html juggernaut https://wordsmith.org/words/juggernaut.html klatsch https://wordsmith.org/words/klatsch.html lachrymal https://wordsmith.org/words/lachrymal.html malinger https://wordsmith.org/words/malinger.html nimiety https://wordsmith.org/words/nimiety.html oneiric https://wordsmith.org/words/oneiric.html phantasmagoria https://wordsmith.org/words/phantasmagoria.html quacksalver https://wordsmith.org/words/quacksalver.html redolent https://wordsmith.org/words/redolent.html scandent https://wordsmith.org/words/scandent.html terrene https://wordsmith.org/words/terrene.html uberous https://wordsmith.org/words/uberous.html viridity https://wordsmith.org/words/viridity.html wassail https://wordsmith.org/words/wassail.html xenophile https://wordsmith.org/words/xenophile.html yobbery https://wordsmith.org/words/yobbery.html zymology https://wordsmith.org/words/zymology.html -------- Date: Mon Dec 7 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jaculate X-Bonus: If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. -Noam Chomsky, linguistics professor and political activist (b. 7 Dec 1928) As if "OK" weren't a small enough word, some shorten it to "K". If you're one of those people, you'll love this week's words. If you are not, you'll say: Where's the rest of my word? The words featured this week appear to be truncated forms of some everyday words. But these are valid words that can be found in (an unabridged) dictionary. Why use them? Well, it's hard to type on the tiny keyboard on a cellphone, so why not make use of these words and save wear and tear on your fingertips? jaculate (JAK-yuh-layt) verb tr. To emit or hurl. [From Latin jaculare (to dart), from jaculum (dart, javelin), from jacere (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1623.] "She pushed past him again, her wounds still jaculating blood, and this time managed to get out of the room." Christina Vella; Intimate Enemies; LSU Press; 2004. -------- Date: Tue Dec 8 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cognize X-Bonus: If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (8 Dec 1894-1961) This week's theme: Where's the rest of my word? cognize (KOG-nyz) verb tr. To perceive; to understand; to know. [Back-formation from cognizance, via French from Latin cognoscere (to learn). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which is also the source of know, recognize, acquaint, ignore, diagnosis, notice, normal, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition or discovery) https://wordsmith.org/words/anagnorisis.html , and prosopagnosia (inability to recognize faces) https://wordsmith.org/words/prosopagnosia.html . Earliest documented use: 1659.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cognize "So imperceptible is it that it cannot be cognized." Alina Grigorovitch; Magic Artinia; New to the Public; 2011. -------- Date: Wed Dec 9 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plaint X-Bonus: The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. -John Milton (9 Dec 1608-1674) This week's theme: Where's the rest of my word? plaint (playnt) noun 1. Complaint. 2. Protest. 3. Lamentation. [From from Old French plainte (complaint, cry), from Latin planctus (lamentation), from plangere (to beat one's breast). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to strike), which also gave us plaintiff, plague, plankton, fling, complain, apoplectic https://wordsmith.org/words/apoplectic.html and plangent https://wordsmith.org/words/plangent.html . Earliest documented use: 1225.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/plaint "That's how it works in this era of Internet preening, out-of-control partisanship and press-a-button punditry, when anything and everything becomes prompt for a plaint, a rant, a riff." Frank Bruni; The Exploitation of Paris; The New York Times; Nov 14, 2015. -------- Date: Thu Dec 10 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--suage X-Bonus: Fame is a bee. / It has a song / It has a sting / Ah, too, it has a wing. -Emily Dickinson, poet (10 Dec 1830-1886) This week's theme: Where's the rest of my word? suage (swaz) verb tr. To assuage: to make something unpleasant less severe. [From Latin suavis (sweet). Ultimately from the Indo-European root swad- (sweet, pleasant), which also gave us sweet, suave, hedonism, persuade, and Hindi swad (taste). Earliest documented use: 1400.] "London Mayor Boris Johnson, who addressed the 2009 dinner, told the financiers: 'If you have a sense of guilt and obligation and you want to suage the guilt, give.'" Louise Armitstead; Arki Reveals Killer Instinct for Annual Ball; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); May 12, 2010. -------- Date: Fri Dec 11 00:01:04 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gratulate X-Bonus: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008) This week's theme: Where's the rest of my word? gratulate (GRACH-uh-layt) verb tr. 1. To congratulate. 2. To express joy at the sight of something or someone. [From Latin gratulari (to congratulate), from con- (with) + gratulari (to show joy), from gratus (pleasing). Earliest documented use: 1567.] "Dr. Israel's truncated declarations of how proud he was of his accomplishments came across as bland, self-gratulating and unfeeling." Walter Goodman; A Few Scary Pictures Can Go a Long Way; The New York Times; Mar 20, 1994. "The wine flowed freely and after an hour I began to feel good and silently gratulated myself on the good fortune of missing out on each and every item that I had absolutely no use for." Ben Wicks; A Boyhood Idol Next Door Better Than Boots in the Closet; Toronto Star (Canada); May 28, 1988. -------- Date: Mon Dec 14 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bouillabaisse X-Bonus: Style is time's fool. Form is time's student. -Stewart Brand, writer and editor (b. 14 Dec 1938) Food is, literally, a matter of life. No wonder, it's also a metaphor for life. Some things are a piece of cake, while others may be a hard nut to crack. Sometimes you have to take a carrot-and-stick approach to make things work. Ultimately, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. At any rate, having to eat one's words is never fun. Well, variety is the spice of life and this week we'll feature five words having food-related origins. bouillabaisse (boo-yuh-BAYS, BOO-yuh-bays, BOOL-yuh-bays, bool-yuh-BAYS) noun 1. A rich and spicy fish stew or soup. 2. A mixture of incongruous things. [From French bouillabaisse, from Provençal bouiabaisso, from Latin bullire (to boil) + bassus (low). Earliest documented use: 1855.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bouillabaisse Veg bouillabaisse https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bouillabaisse_large.jpg Photo: Alex Dizon http://www.recyclebinofamiddlechild.com/ "Though he was born and raised in Southern California, Kish has an odd, almost foreign-sounding accent -- a bouillabaisse of Canadian, British, and relaxed Los Angeleno." Michael Finkel; The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See; Men's Journal (New York); Mar 2011. http://www.mensjournal.com/the-blind-man-who-taught-himself-to-see/ -------- Date: Tue Dec 15 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cherry-pick X-Bonus: The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -Muriel Rukeyser, poet and activist (15 Dec 1913-1980) This week's theme: Food as metaphor cherry-pick (CHER-ee-pik) verb tr. To pick in a highly selective manner. Example, to cherry-pick data to suit a hypothesis. [From the idea of picking the best cherries from a tree. Earliest documented use: 1966.] "Inevitably, there will be factions that cherry-pick findings from our study to bolster their agendas." Michael Casserly; A Cap on the Amount of Testing Time is the Wrong Answer for Schools; The Washington Post; Oct 30, 2015. NOTES: Agenda (a list of things under consideration) is a plural of Latin agendum, but it's now fairly well established as a singular. So the plural agendas in today's example sentence is perfectly fine. If it bothers you, perhaps you'd like to use today's term as cherise-pick, instead of cherry-pick. The word cherry is from Middle English cherise/cheris, which was mistaken for a plural and a singular cheri made from it. In French, a cherry is still une cerise. -------- Date: Wed Dec 16 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rechauffe X-Bonus: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (16 Dec 1901-1978) This week's theme: Food as metaphor rechauffe (ray-sho-FAY) noun 1. Warmed leftover food. 2. Rehash: old reworked material. [From French réchauffé (reheated, rehashed), from chauffer (to warm), from Latin calefacere (to make warm), from calere (to be hot) + facere (to make). Other (some hot, some not) words derived from the Latin root calere are chafe, nonchalant, calefacient https://wordsmith.org/words/calefacient.html , and chauffeur (literally, a stoker, who warmed up the engine in early steam-driven cars). Earliest documented use: 1778.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/rechauffe "Lines like that inspire forgiveness for what is essentially sitcom rechauffe." Choice; Sunday Times (London, UK); Jun 29, 2014. -------- Date: Thu Dec 17 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--saccharine X-Bonus: Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence. -Thomas Chandler Haliburton, author, judge, and politician (17 Dec 1796-1865) This week's theme: Food as metaphor saccharine (SAK-uh-rin, -REEN, -ruhn, -ryn) adjective Excessively sweet, sentimental, or ingratiating. [From Latin saccharum (sugar), from Greek sakkharon, from Sanskrit sarkara (gravel, sugar). Earliest documented use: 1674.] NOTES: The name of the synthetic sweetening compound, saccharin, is derived from the same Latin word as today's term. The compound was first produced in 1879, but the usage of the word saccharine goes much earlier. For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1841: "One might find argument for optimism in the abundant flow of this saccharine element of pleasure in every suburb and extremity of the good world." See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/saccharine Ingredient list for Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters https://wordsmith.org/words/images/saccharine.jpg Image: Mariposa Naturals http://mariposanaturals.com/reading-food-labels/ "The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history." Robert A. Heinlein; Time Enough for Love; Putnam; 1973. -------- Date: Fri Dec 18 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--farrago X-Bonus: The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. -Steve Biko, anti-apartheid activist (18 Dec 1946-1977) This week's theme: Food as metaphor farrago (fuh-RAH-goh) noun A confused mixture. [From Latin farrago (mixed fodder). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhares- (barley), which also gave us barn, barley, and farina. Earliest documented use: 1637.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/farrago https://wordsmith.org/words/images/farrago_large.jpg Photo: McBeth https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcbeth/953278630/ "Max Landis's script cobbles together a farrago of cod* psychology and makeshift backstory to prop up a plot that never finds any cohesive direction." Donald Clarke; Creaking at the Seams; Irish Times (Dublin) Dec 4, 2015. * not genuine -------- Date: Mon Dec 21 00:01:07 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quoz X-Bonus: I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or prostitute. -Rebecca West, author and journalist (21 Dec 1892-1983) Those of you who have been receiving A.Word.A.Day for a while know how we select words for this time of the year. For those who joined recently, well, see if you can figure out the rhyme or reason behind this week's words. Here's a hint: it's nothing to do with the meanings of the words. quoz (kwaz) noun An odd person or thing. [Of uncertain origin. Perhaps it's a variant of the word quiz which has a similar meaning. Or maybe the word quiz is a variant of quoz. It's all very quizzical. Or quozzical. Earliest documented use: 1780.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quoz_large.jpg Photo: Novak Greenlee https://www.flickr.com/photos/n0vk/2238126456/ "That juggling trick of yours is growing older than a floorboard split under the weight of countless eager feet, and rendering you a quoz to the ears." Neil Baker; G Day: Please God, Get Me Off the Hook; AuthorHouse; 2010. "While everything that exists is a potential quoz for somebody, one must embrace the mystery for it to open itself." William Least Heat-Moon; Roads to Quoz; Little, Brown and Company; 2008. -------- Date: Tue Dec 22 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vidimus X-Bonus: No one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell. -Charles de Lint, writer (b. 22 Dec 1951) This week's theme: Yours to discover vidimus (VAI-di-muhs) noun 1. An attested copy of a document. 2. An official inspection. [From Latin vidimus (we have seen), from videre (to see). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see), which also gave us guide, wise, vision, advice, idea, story, history, vizard https://wordsmith.org/words/vizard.html , videlicet https://wordsmith.org/words/videlicet.html , prudential https://wordsmith.org/words/prudential.html , previse https://wordsmith.org/words/previse.html , and invidious https://wordsmith.org/words/invidious.html . Earliest documented use: 1436.] "The final letter was a vidimus bearing the great seal of Philip the Fair, purportedly confirming the marriage contract between Philip of Artois and Blanche of Brittany." Margaret Reeves, et al.; Shell Games; CRRS Publications; 2004. -------- Date: Wed Dec 23 00:01:04 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pinchbeck X-Bonus: I've also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create. -Yousuf Karsh, portrait photographer (23 Dec 1908-2002) This week's theme: Yours to discover pinchbeck (PINCH-bek) adjective: Counterfeit or spurious. noun: An alloy of zinc and copper, used as imitation gold in jewelry. [After watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck (1670-1732), who invented it. It's ironic that today his name is a synonym for something counterfeit, but in his time his fame was worldwide, not only as the inventor of this curious alloy, but also as a maker of musical clocks and orreries*. The composition of this gold-like alloy was a closely-guarded secret, but it didn't prevent others from passing off articles as if made from this alloy... faking fake gold!] *Orrery: https://wordsmith.org/words/orrery.html See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pinchbeck https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pinchbeck_large.jpg Print by John Faber the Younger "There had been something precious between them, like true gold among pinchbeck." Jo Beverley; The Secret Wedding; Signet; 2009. -------- Date: Thu Dec 24 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jayhawker X-Bonus: You have not converted a man because you have silenced him. -John Morley, statesman and writer (24 Dec 1838-1923) This week's theme: Yours to discover jayhawker (JAY-haw-kuhr) noun 1. A robber. 2. A native or resident of Kansas. [Originally, a Jayhawker was a member of antislavery guerrillas in Kansas or Missouri during the US Civil War. It's not clear why they were called Jayhawkers. Earliest documented use: 1860.] The Jayhawk, mascot of the University of Kansas https://wordsmith.org/words/images/jayhawker.jpg It's now explained as the hybrid of the two birds: blue jay and sparrow hawk. Photo: Garry Thompson https://www.flickr.com/photos/sneakindeacon/4717073505 "On occasion, Jennison's men joined Jim Lane's jayhawkers in a series of hit-and-run raids." Wilmer L. Jones; Behind Enemy Lines; Taylor Trade Publishing; 2015. "Some Kansans are complaining that Miss America Tara Dawn Holland isn't exactly a Jayhawker. 'She wasn't really Miss Kansas,' Joyce Carron of Wichita said as Holland arrived for appearances in the state. Responded Holland: 'I learned a long time ago that home is where you hang your hat.' She attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City, after three attempts at becoming Miss Florida." Arlene Vigoda; Losing Faith; USA Today; Oct 16, 1996. -------- Date: Fri Dec 25 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--expergefacient X-Bonus: Why are so many people shy, lonely, shut up within themselves, unequal to their tasks, unable to be happy? Because they are inhabited by fear, like the man in the Parable of the Talents, erecting walls around themselves instead of building bridges into the lives of others; shutting out life. -Joseph Fort Newton, minister and attorney (1876-1950) This week's theme: Yours to discover expergefacient (eks-puhr-juh-FAY-shuhnt) adjective: Awakening or arousing. noun: A drug or other agent that awakens or arouses. [From Latin expergefacere (to awaken), from expergisci (to become awake) + facere (to make or do). Earliest documented use: 1821.] "These symptoms of nervous excitement, brought on by an overdose of the expergefacient, soon passed off, and next day he was himself again." The London Lancet; 1864. This week's theme: So how were this week's words selected? These five words had all the letters of the alphabet, except the letter L. Joyeux Noel! Now, a pangram is a sentence that uses all letters of the alphabet. The most well-known is "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog" which makes use of 33 letters. People have come up with shorter pangrams too. Let's call it a noelgram -- a sentence that uses all letters of the alphabet, except the letter L. What noelgrams can you come up with? -------- Date: Mon Dec 28 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--paternoster X-Bonus: In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler, philosopher, educator, and author (28 Dec 1902-2001) New parents cherish the first word that comes out of their baby's mouth. What was the first word of a human? Define word. Define human. OK, that's not easy, but this week we feature words that we know for sure were the first words in certain compositions, such as theological, legal, and financial. The new year is around the corner. The first day of the year will be here soon. To mark this, this week we'll feature five first words. paternoster (PAY-tuhr NOS-tuhr, PAH-, PAT-) noun 1. A sequence of words used as a formula, a charm, etc. 2. A continuously moving endless elevator that goes in a loop. 3. The Lord's Prayer; one of the certain larger beads in a rosary on which the Lord's Prayer is said. [From Latin pater noster (our father), opening words of the Lord's Prayer in Latin. Earliest documented use: before 900.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/paternoster https://wordsmith.org/words/images/paternoster_large.jpg Photo: Johannes Jansson/norden.org "She trudged doggedly across the last field, inwardly muttering her paternoster." Christina Shea; Smuggled: A Novel; Grove/Atlantic; 2011. "We'd ride the open-sided paternoster elevators and giggle at the scare they gave us." Mary Helen Dirkx; A Great Adventure in The Shadow of War; Newsweek (New York); Sep 13, 2004. -------- Date: Tue Dec 29 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mittimus X-Bonus: The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all. -Pablo Casals, cellist, conductor, and composer (29 Dec 1876-1973) This week's theme: First words mittimus (MIT-uh-muhs) noun An official order to commit someone to prison. [From Latin mittimus (we send), the first word of such an order, from mittere (to send). Earliest documented use: 1443.] "Problems with the mittimus have recently been blamed in hundreds of errors allowing early releases of inmates, including Ebel and Blecha." Kirk Mitchell; Beyond Bars; Denver Post (Colorado); Jun 12, 2013. -------- Date: Wed Dec 30 00:01:02 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gaudeamus X-Bonus: The most important discoveries will provide answers to questions that we do not yet know how to ask and will concern objects we have not yet imagined. -John N. Bahcall, astrophysicist (30 Dec 1935-2005) This week's theme: First words gaudeamus (gau-di-AHM-uhs) noun A convivial gathering or merry-making of students at a college or university. [From the students' song "De Brevitate Vitae" (On the Shortness of Life) whose first word is gaudeamus (let's rejoice). Earliest documented use: 1823.] German fraternity students singing https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gaudeamus_large.jpg Art: Georg Mühlberg, c. 1900 Listen to the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUKfU2AOBY (3.5 sec.) "I have apologized for not attending the Royal Society Club, who have a gaudeamus on this day." The Journal of Sir Walter Scott; Jan 1826. -------- Date: Thu Dec 31 00:01:03 EST 2015 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--debenture X-Bonus: An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc. -Henri Matisse, artist (31 Dec 1869-1954) This week's theme: First words debenture (di-BEN-chuhr) noun A certificate acknowledging a debt. [From Latin debentur (they are due/owing), the first word in early certificates of indebtedness. From Latin debere (to owe), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghabh- (to give or to receive), which is also the source of give, gift, able, habit, prohibit, due, duty, adhibit https://wordsmith.org/words/adhibit.html , and habile https://wordsmith.org/words/habile.html . Earliest documented use: 1455.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/debenture Motto of the Debenham family: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/debenture_large.jpg Laboranti bona debentur (Good things are owed to the one who works hard) Photo: Owen Massey McKnight https://www.flickr.com/photos/addedentry/6481814337/ "'My dear Violet,' Allen said, leaning over to be heard, 'you must recall that Foster's idea of fun is curling up with a debenture agreement that includes an especially ingenious reordering of priorities in bankruptcy.'" David O. Stewart; The Wilson Deception; Kensington Books; 2015.