A.Word.A.Day --kerf

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Today's Word

kerf

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuhrf)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A cut, notch, slit, etc. made by a cutting tool.
2. The width of such a cut.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English cyrf (a cutting). Earliest documented use: before 1150.

USAGE:

“The snow stood in razor kerfs atop the fencewires.”
Cormac McCarthy; The Road; Knopf; 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but MORE merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy -- everything. -George Orwell in "1984", writer (25 Jun 1903-1950)

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