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Permanent link for this word: flathat

Apr 25, 2011

This week's theme
Words related to clothing

This week's words
flathat
turncoat
shirty
pantywaist
bootstrap

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

France recently began enforcing its ban on burqa veils. It's about time these wearers realize that the burqa is a symbol of oppression and leave it where it belongs -- in the Middle Ages.

That said, I'm leery of government telling people what they should or should not wear. In Saudi Arabia a woman can be arrested for not covering herself from top to bottom in public while in the US a woman could be arrested for not covering her top.

As I see it, people should be able to dress as they like: cover themselves from head to toe, or not at all, or anything in between.

In late December, temperatures dip to near freezing in the Seattle area and there's snow on the roads. When I go out for my morning walk with our dog Flower, it might look like I'm in a burqa from a distance. It's a different scene in July, but if someone wants to dress in a burqa under the hot sun, more power to them (especially to crank up that heavy-duty air conditioner they may need).

This week in AWAD we'll cover you with words from head to toe, metaphorically speaking. We'll start with a hat and make our way down to boots.

flathat

PRONUNCIATION:

(FLAT-hat)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To fly close to the ground.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the allusion to a plane flying so low as to flatten a hat on someone's head. Earliest documented use: 1940.

USAGE:

"Those impromptu flights often took him only feet above the beach on Cumberland Island where he'd practice 'touch-and-go's and flathatting."
Scott Keepfer; Record Still Stands After 75 Years; The Greenville News (South Carolina); Jun 24, 2007.

See more usage examples of flathat in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Co-existence / or no existence. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

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