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Jan 3, 2018
This week’s theme
Blend words

This week’s words
voluntourism
hokum
squirl
satisfice
scrouge

squirl
Photo: Richard
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

squirl

PRONUNCIATION:
(skwuhrl)

MEANING:
noun: A flourish or curve, especially in handwriting.

ETYMOLOGY:
Perhaps a blend of squiggle + twirl or whirl. Earliest documented use: 1843.

USAGE:
“Some of [the suits] came decorated in an elaborate squirl of crayon-like art.”
Liza Foreman; The Week Men Went Unisex in Paris; The Daily Beast (New York); Jan 27, 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Not all those who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien, novelist and philologist (3 Jan 1892-1973)

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

“There are exotic species of words jumping out inviting me to play. I weave them into a theme, a garland of words.”

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