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Oct 17, 2008
This week's theme
Words about words

This week's words
epeolatry
univocalic
paragoge
semasiology
cacology

Next week's theme
Words that appear to have been coined after the 2008 US presidential candidates

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

cacology

PRONUNCIATION:
(ka-KOL-uh-jee)

MEANING:
noun 1. Poor choice of words.
2. Incorrect pronunciation.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek caco- (bad) + -logy (word).

USAGE:
"The phenomena described in 1985 by Amos Joel, computer controlled digital switching system pioneer, are present realities: 'The trade press, which should know better, is party to the curtain of mysticism, clichés, and cacology around which they shroud the true technology of new products."
John Buckley; Telecommunications Regulation; Institution of Electrical Engineers; 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)

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