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Mar 25, 2025
This week’s themeThere’s a word for it This week’s words whatness fleshment pejorism uniquity whereness ![]() ![]() Cover: Life magazine, Dec 15, 1967
The first human-to-human heart transplant happened on Dec 3, 1967 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargfleshment
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: Excitement resulting from a first success at something.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old English flǣsc (flesh). Earliest documented use: 1616.
NOTES:
The verb to flesh historically referred to the practice of
rewarding hunting animals, such as a hound or a hawk, with flesh,
thereby instilling a desire to hunt. This connection highlights the
concept of initial, visceral excitement associated with both a successful
hunt and a first achievement.
USAGE:
“Lexicographers sought out the thrill of the chase as much as detectives
did. She remembered her linguistic fleshment, when she’d discovered as
a student that ‘thrill’ itself, in medieval times, had meant to pierce
someone with a sword; only later did the ‘piercing’ move to excitement.” Susie Dent; Guilty by Definition; Bonnier Books; 2024. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the
Establishment -- and nothing more corrupting. -A.J.P. Taylor, historian (25
Mar 1906-1990)
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