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Oct 1, 2013

This week's theme
Fossil words

This week's words
petard
druthers
dudgeon
caboodle
shrift

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with Anu Garg

druthers

PRONUNCIATION:

(DRUTH-uhrz)

MEANING:

noun: One's own way; preference.

ETYMOLOGY:

Plural of druther, contraction of ’d rather, as in "I/he/etc. would rather ..." Earliest documented use: 1895.

NOTES:

The word is mostly used in the form "If I had my druthers ..." i.e. "If I had my way, I'd rather ..."

USAGE:

"If I had my druthers, I'd put you on a plane this second."
Laura Marie Altom; A Baby in His Stocking; Harlequin; 2011.

"Brazil is aware of its own significance in world affairs, and is charting an appropriately constructive and quite independent course ... despite Washington's druthers."
Paul Heinbecker; Getting Back in the Game; Dundurn; 2011.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. -Jimmy Carter, 39th US President, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)

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