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A.Word.A.Day--ghost word

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ghost word (gost wurd) noun

A word that has come into a language through the perpetuation of a misreading of a manuscript, a typographical error, or a misunderstanding.

"Reading a text in facsimile form is like a trapeze performance without a net: there's no glossary, for instance, and nothing to warn the unwary they may be puzzling over a scribally created ghost word rather than discovering something entered in no dictionary." Ralph Hanna, Facsimile of Oxford, The Huntington Library Quarterly, Jan 1, 1999.

This week's theme: words about words.

X-Bonus

Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment. -Robert Benchley, humorist, drama critic, and actor (1889-1945)

What they say

“Garg works in the great tradition of Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis... Garg, however, is more fun.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune


More articles

Anu Garg on words

“Each word comes with a biography. These words have fascinating stories to tell, if only we take the time to listen.”

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