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A.Word.A.Day--philography

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes or prefixes.

philography (fi-LOG-ruh-fee) noun

The practice of collecting autographs.

[From Greek philo- (loving) + -graphy (writing).]

-Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org)

"Virtually anything to which ink will stick can be collected, swapped or sold, according to the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, a 2,000-member association of experts in the field of philography." Ben Steelman; While You're Standing in Line; The Wilmington Morning Star (North Carolina); Oct 22, 1998.

X-Bonus

One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (1901-1978)

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Anu Garg on words

“Overall, the universe’s apostrophe store stays in balance. It seems our linguistic world was intelligently designed -- for every gratuitous apostrophe there’s an instance where it’s omitted.”

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