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ZEN

PRONUNCIATION: (zen)

MEANING: noun: An activity, approach, state of mind, etc., emphasizing intuition and insights, instead of fixation on goals.
adjective: Calm, peaceful, unruffled.

ETYMOLOGY: After Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism. From Japanese zen (meditation), from Chinese chan (meditation), from Pali jhanam (jhanam), from Sanskrit dhyana (meditation). Earliest documented use: 1727. Also see satori.
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ZZ-EN - (German) infinitive verb: to sleep or snore

pZEN - the negative logarithm of serenity

ZIN - Wine not?

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BUTTERFINGERED

PRONUNCIATION: (BUHT-uhr fing-guhrd)

MEANING: adjective: Clumsy or careless, especially frequently dropping things.

ETYMOLOGY: From butter, from Old English butere, from Latin butyrum, from Greek boutyron, from bous (cow) + tyros (cheese) + finger, from Old English. Earliest documented use: 1615.
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BUTLERFINGERED - having blackened thumbs (from polishing the family silver so much)

BUTTER FINE RED - 1. churned wine; 2. a purebred crimson goat

BUTTERFIN GERE - a dolphin who's still Looking for Mr Goodbar

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CANARY

PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-NAYR-ee)

MEANING: noun:
1. A small finch, native to the Canary Islands, having greenish to yellow color, and known for its melodious song.
2. A bright yellow color.
3. A singer.
4. An informer.

ETYMOLOGY: From French canari (canary), from Spanish canario (canary; of the Canary Islands), from Latin canis (dog). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which also gave us canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic, cynosure, canaille, canicular, and cynophobia. Earliest documented use: 1568.

NOTES: The Canary Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Africa, are named after an animal, but it’s not canaries. It’s dogs. The island’s name is, literally, the Island of the Dogs, from Latin Canariae insulae...
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CABNARY - needing a ride when it's raining in the city

CANERY - walking-stick factory

CANART - Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup pictures

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PANACHE

PRONUNCIATION: (puh-NASH)

MEANING: noun:
1. A confident, stylish manner; swagger.
2. A tuft of feathers on a headdress, such as a helmet, hat, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From French panache, from Italian pennacchio, from Latin pinnaculum (small wing), diminutive of pinna (wing, feather). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, pterodactyl, and helicopter. Earliest documented use: 1584.
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PA NICHE - a corner where Pop fits in perfectly

PIÑA CHE - pineapple served à la Cuban revolutionary

PA. NOCHE - night in Philadelphia's "Little Havana" neighborhood

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ALTERITY

PRONUNCIATION: (al-TER-uh-tee)

MEANING: noun: Otherness: the state or quality of being other or different.

ETYMOLOGY: From French altérité, from Latin alteritas (otherness), from alter (other), from Greek heteros (other). Earliest documented use: 1500.
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ALGERITY - a fortuitous occurrence that ultimately leads to the success of an honest, charitable, kind, hard-working young man

ALTERIFY - scare the daylights out of everybody

ASTERITY - when money is so tight you can buy only a few simple fall flowers

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UNSHIRTED

PRONUNCIATION: (uhn-SHUHR-tid)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Serious; unmitigated.
2. Plain; undisguised.

ETYMOLOGY: From un- (not) + shirt, from Old English scyrte. Earliest documented use: 1932.
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UNS HURTED - we were in pain in Berlin

UNSHIRRED - I actually prefer my eggs unbaked like this

UNSHORTED - the safe way to use electrical appliances

UNSHIRED - exiled from the land of the Hobbits

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ARROW-COLLAR

PRONUNCIATION: (AR-o-kol-uhr)

MEANING: adjective: Conventionally attractive and suave.

ETYMOLOGY: After the detachable Arrow Collars sold by Cluett, Peabody & Co. in the early 1900s. The collars were shown on a supposedly idealized man, known as the Arrow Collar Man, in ads drawn by the illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. Earliest documented use: 1915.
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ARROW-CO. LIAR - advertising agent for the Arrow Shirt Company in the early 1900s

NARROW-COLLAR - dated, out of style

ARROW COLLARD - a leafy green vegetable with lanceolate foliage

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BUTTON-DOWN

PRONUNCIATION: (BUHT-uhn-daun)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Conservative, unimaginative, conventional, staid, repressed, etc.
2. Relating to a collar that can be fastened to the garment.
3. Relating to a garment having such a collar or having buttons from the collar to the waist.

ETYMOLOGY: From the association of a button-down shirt with people having such an outlook. Earliest documented use: 1883. The term also appears in the form buttoned-down.
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BUST ON DOWN - what's covered by a strapless gown

BUTT ON DAWN - hit with your head the moment the sun rises

BUT TEN-DOWN - I've solved everything from one-down to nine-down...

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SLEEVELESS

PRONUNCIATION: (SLEEV-luhs/lis)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Unprofitable; futile; unreasonable; irrelevant.
2. Without sleeves.

ETYMOLOGY: From sleeve, from Old English sliefe + less, from Old English laes (less). Earliest documented use: 950. Also see shirtsleeve.

NOTES: What does a sleeve have to do with profit? In former times, a lady would give her detachable sleeve (also known as a maunch/manche, from French) to a knight as a symbol of love and he would wear it as he went around in his adventures. A knight without a sleeve was, well, sleeveless. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1880) mentions: “Bayard took a lady’s sleeve and proclaimed it, with a valuable ruby, as a prize to be contended for.”
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SLEEVELETS - tiny openings in the fingers of gloves, to display the fingertips

SLEEVELASS - an itinerant seamstress who rides around repairing worn elbow holes for the Bourgeoisie (true gentry wouldn't stoop to having worn clothing repaired)

SLEEVELES - a nonsense word meaning a mild illness - see A.A.Milne: "Christopher Robin had Weevils and Sleeveles; they bundled him up in his bed..." etc. ;-)

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SHIRTTAIL

PRONUNCIATION: (SHUHRT-tayl)

MEANING: noun: 1. The part of a shirt reaching below the waist, especially in the back.
2. A brief item added at the end of a newspaper article.
3. Something small or unimportant.
adjective: 1. Very young or immature.
2. Very small or trivial.
3. Distantly related.

ETYMOLOGY: From shirt, from Old English scyrte (shirt) + tail, from Old English toegl (tail). Earliest documented use: 1659. Also see coattail.
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SHIFT-TAIL - the seventh, eighth, and even ninth and tenth hours of your scheduled work time

SHIRT TAMIL - garment for the upper body and arms, of a distinctive fabric made only in India and Sri Lanka

SHORT-TAIL - to follow and observe someone for just fifteen minutes

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