A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Wed Feb 1 00:01:14 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--debark X-Bonus: If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992) This week's theme: less-known synonyms of everyday words. debark (di-BARK) verb tr., intr. To disembark. [From French debarquer, de- from + barque ship.] debark (dee-BARK) verb tr. To remove the bark from a log or a dog. [De- + bark.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Another stop is scheduled for pad 34, site of the Apollo 1 tragedy that claimed the lives of astronauts Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Thomas asks tourists to remove their caps when they debark." Billy Cox; Tour Space History 'Then and Now'; Florida Today (Melbourne, Florida); May 28, 2000. -------- Date: Thu Feb 2 00:01:32 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sartorial X-Bonus: Lying is done with words and also with silence. -Adrienne Rich, writer and teacher (1929- ) This week's theme: less-known synonyms of everyday words. sartorial (sar-TOR-ee-uhl) adjective Related to a tailor or tailored clothes. [From Late Latin sartor, tailor.] Today's word has a cousin, sartorius, a long narrow muscle in the leg, the longest muscle in humans. What would tailored clothes have in common with a muscle of the leg? Sartorius is so named since it is concerned with producing the cross-legged position of tailors at work. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The dignified Muganda man will appear at formal occasions dressed in a kanzu, the long, white robe introduced by the Arabs at about the same time the European missionaries were arriving with their own sartorial ideas." John Matshikiza; Uganda Lives With The Old And New; The Daily Mail & Guardian (South Africa); Apr 7, 2000. -------- Date: Fri Feb 3 00:01:11 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cancrine X-Bonus: When we have the courage to speak out -- to break our silence -- we inspire the rest of the "moderates" in our communities to speak up and voice their views. -Sharon Schuster This week's theme: less-known synonyms of everyday words. cancrine (KANG-krin) adjective 1. Reading the same backwards as forwards, palindromic. For example, "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." (letter cancrine) "So patient a doctor to doctor a patient so!" (word cancrine) 2. Crab-like. [From Latin cancr- (stem of cancer) cancer + -ine.] J.S. Bach's Crab Canon is an example of cancrine music: http://www.derek-hasted.co.uk/takeaway/free-guitar-music-gifs/crab.html -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "At Hingham Church in Norfolk there is a curious cancrine inscription over the font." R. Hart; Ecclesiastical Records; 1846. (from the OED) -------- Date: Mon Feb 6 00:17:16 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dharma X-Bonus: It does not require many words to speak the truth. -Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce Nation (1840-1904) One of the hardest things in life isn't solving complex algebraic equations, it's not coming up with creative campaigns for a new client, it's not conquering a mountain peak. It's to sit still and do nothing. I recently attended a ten-day meditation retreat. In this residential program one is secluded from the outside world for the first nine days: no email, no cellphones, no reading, no writing. And no talking. When one sits still and tries to focus, the mind becomes turbulent. It mounts its horse and starts galloping in all directions, north and south, into past and future, to places real and imaginary, and who knows where else. Gradually, though, it does begin to be reined in. There were calmer moments too. The silence is relieved on the last day. I was one of the last ones to come out of the meditation hall. When I entered the dining area I expected little talk, a gradual easing into the world. What I encountered instead was a cacophony of talk. I felt I had returned to a world I didn't belong to. What was the normal conversation of a few dozen people sounded to me like the roar of a volcano. Before the departure for home, I overheard someone in the bathroom area say, "No one had the flow. I know everyone was faking it." For a moment I felt like telling him, "Looks like the program really worked for you. You can already read everyone's state of mind," but I didn't. Maybe he really could. Who was I to say? * * * This week we'll see a few loanwords from Sanskrit -- words from this ancient Indian language that are now part of English. dharma (DHAR-muh) noun 1. Duty; right behavior. 2. Law, especially the eternal law of the cosmos. 3. Religion. [From Sanskrit dharma (law, custom, duty). Ultimately from Indo-European root dher- (to hold firmly or support) that is also the source of firm, affirm, confirm, farm, fermata, and firmament.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The most important pedagogic dharma that should guide the teacher in such a situation is that he should not hastily jump to the conclusion that his learners are unfit, dull, stupid, lacking in motivation, can never be made to learn and so on." Dr. Aruna Chalam Angappan; The Teacher's Handicap, the Learners' Advantage; Yemen Times; Jan 9, 2006. -------- Date: Tue Feb 7 00:01:13 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mantra X-Bonus: As the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) This week's theme: loanwords from Sanskrit. mantra (MAN-truh) noun 1. A sound, word, or phrase that is repeated in prayer and is believed to have mystical powers. 2. An often repeated word or phrase that is closely associated with something; a slogan, byword, or a watchword. [From Sanskrit mantra (thought, formula). Ultimately from Indo-European root men- (to think) which is the source of mind, mnemonic, mosaic, music, mentor, money, and mandarin.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "These tips go beyond the 'test early and often' mantra and will improve your IT organization's testing capabilities." Meridith Levinson; Testing, 1, 2, 3; CIO (Framingham, Massachusetts); Nov 15, 2005. -------- Date: Wed Feb 8 00:01:12 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ahimsa X-Bonus: Why should I give them my mind as well? -Dalai Lama, when asked if he wasn't angry at the Chinese for taking over his country. (1935- ) This week's theme: loanwords from Sanskrit. ahimsa (uh-HIM-sah, uh-HIN-sah) noun The principle of refraining from harming any living being. [From Sanskrit ahimsa, from a- (not) + hinsa (injury).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "As my conception of ahimsa went on maturing, I became more vigilant about my thought and speech. The lines in the Anthem: Scatter her enemies And make them fall; Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks particularly jarred upon my sentiments of Ahimsa." M.K. Gandhi; The Story of My Experiments With Truth; 1927. -------- Date: Thu Feb 9 00:01:11 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sutra X-Bonus: Humans -- who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals -- have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and "animals" is essential if we are to bend them to our will, wear them, eat them -- without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and author (1934-1996) & Ann Druyan, author (1949- ) [Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, 1993] This week's theme: loanwords from Sanskrit. sutra (SOO-truh) noun A rule or formula; aphorism. [From Sanskrit sutra (thread). Ultimately from Indo-European root syu- or su- (to bind or sew) that is also the source of sew, suture, couture, Kamasutra, and hymen.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Even in autumn, when the apprentice is desperately agitated, having dragged the world's violence (and its modernity) back to the lake, the old monk is capable of writing down for his student an entire sutra, using as a pen the tail of a remarkably patient cat." Stuart Klawans; Chronicle of a Disappearance; The Nation (New York); Apr 26, 2004. -------- Date: Fri Feb 10 00:01:14 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nirvana X-Bonus: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) This week's theme: loanwords from Sanskrit. nirvana (nir-VAH-nuh) noun 1. Freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death and related suffering. 2. An idealized state or place free of pain, worries, etc. [From Sanskrit nirvana (blowing out, extinguishing, extinction), from nis- (out) + vati (it blows). Ultimately from Indo-European root we- (to blow) that is also the source of wind, weather, ventilate, window and wing.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "'Hawaii looks like nirvana' compared to the rest of the country, said Emily Friedman, a Chicago-based health policy analyst who authored a history on the island health care system." Matt Sedensky; Hawaii's Uninsured Population; Star Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii); Oct 22, 2003. -------- Date: Mon Feb 13 00:01:28 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eustasy X-Bonus: Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws. -John Adams, 2nd US president (1735-1826) "I coined this word. Could you tell me how I can get it into a dictionary?" From time to time I'm asked questions like this by folks wondering how to get a word to take up residence in the hallowed halls of lexiconia. Thousands of new words do enter the dictionaries every year. So, what's the criterion for their inclusion? What does a word have to do to be worthy of being called 'legitimate'? Who decides what's a good word and what isn't? Usage is the most important factor to determine if a word gains membership of that exclusive club. It has to appear extensively, in many different sources, such as newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio, Internet, etc., over several years to show that it is gaining currency. It has to fill a need and describe a phenomenon for which no other word exists. Also, it doesn't hurt if the word is catchy and captures public imagination. Dictionary editors read a wide variety of sources to monitor the language. They take notes -- known as citations -- on little index cards or in a computer database. Once there is enough evidence, they consider whether to include it in the next edition of their dictionary, and if the answer is yes, they work to define it precisely. So how do you win that honor for your little baby? It's not easy. Share it with family and friends, use it, and encourage them to publish letters, articles, stories using that word. And even if it doesn't make it into the dictionary, remember that it's still a bona fide word -- nothing in the definition of the word 'word' says that a word has to be in a dictionary to be called one. Have fun coining words, and enjoy this week's coinages that did reach the dictionaries. eustasy (YOO-stuh-see) noun A uniform global change in sea level. [From eustatic, from German eustatisch, coined by Austrian geologist Edward Suess.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "She wasn't asking for trouble... she demanded it. Not the trouble eustasy would cause her ex shacked up in his beachfront bachelor pad, but trouble still." David Breskin; Literary Fiction; Triquarterly (Evanston, Illinois); Winter 2000. -------- Date: Tue Feb 14 00:01:15 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pangaea X-Bonus: People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools. -Alice Walker, writer (1944- ) Pangaea (pan-JEE-uh) noun A supercontinent that existed when all the major landmasses of the earth were joined. [From Greek pan (all) + gaia (earth), supposedly coined by German meteorologist Alfred Wegener (1880-1930).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "About 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, something killed some 90 percent of the planet's species. ... Before the extinction the continents had drifted together and formed a single landmass called Pangaea." Hillel J. Hoffmann; When Life Nearly Came to an End; National Geographic (Washington, DC); Sep 2000. -------- Date: Wed Feb 15 00:01:26 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--McJob X-Bonus: War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off. -Karl Kraus, writer (1874-1936) McJob (muhk-JOB) noun A low-paying, non-challenging job with few benefits or opportunities, typically in the service sector. [Coined by Douglas Coupland, in his novel Generation X, after McDonald's fast-food chain.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "While Manitoba's Doer administration negatively labelled the customer contact centre opportunities as McJobs, Hamm saw the potential of customer contact centres for creating high-calibre careers." Steve Demmings; Province Missing Boat Attracting High-tech Jobs; Winnipeg Free Press; Feb 3, 2006 -------- Date: Thu Feb 16 00:01:14 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--locust years X-Bonus: Half the truth is often a great lie. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) This week's theme: coined words. locust years (LO-kuhst yeerz) noun A period of economic hardship. [Coined by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to refer to the mid 1930s in Britain, after "the years that the locust hath eaten" from the Bible, Joel 2:25.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "President Olusegun Obasanjo's numerous foreign trips have been rationalized on account of rebuilding the country's global image, dented during the country's locust years of military dictatorship." Charles Onunaiju; National Power and Foreign Policy; The Vanguard Daily (Nigeria); Sep 14, 2000. -------- Date: Fri Feb 17 00:01:13 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prehensile X-Bonus: To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet (1850-1919) This week's theme: coined words. prehensile (pri-HEN-sil, -syl) adjective 1. Capable of seizing or grasping, especially by wrapping around. 2. Skilled at keen perception or mental grasp of an idea or concept. 3. Greedy. [From French prehensile, coined by French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc De Buffon, from Latin prehensus.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The drugstore toothbrush rack has become a circus of ergonomic grips, flexing heads, and prehensile gum-probes -- an entire retail sector transformed by design." Philip Nobel; Can Design in America Avoid the Style Trap?; The New York Times; Nov 26, 2000. -------- Date: Mon Feb 20 00:01:27 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sextet X-Bonus: The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe. -Joanna Macy, writer and teacher (1929- ) The word sextet has nothing to do with sex, unless of course, the six people in question engage in some questionable calisthenics. That's what the English language does -- often leading us on, only to make things limpid in the end. There we go again. Take the word friable, for instance. All the evidence leads us to suggest this word could be used to refer to raw potato chips. But in truth, something friable is that which could be easily crumbled. Well, it could be used to refer to potato chips, after all. This week we visit these red-herring words, words with meanings that are not the first things that come to mind. (limpid = clear) sextet (seks-TET) noun 1. A group of six. 2. A group of six singers or musicians, or a piece of music composed for them. [Alteration of sestet, influenced by Latin sex (six).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "With the local hockey sextet locked in a Stanley Cup series it would be loyal to stop by and pick up a six-pack." Dick Kreck; Raise a Glass to Avs; The Denver Post; May 18, 2001. -------- Date: Tue Feb 21 00:01:13 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--potatory X-Bonus: A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free. -Nikos Kazantzakis, writer (1883-1957) This week's theme: red-herring words. potatory (POH-tuh-tor-ee) adjective Pertaining to or given to drinking. [From Latin potatorius, from Latin potatus, past participle of potare (to drink).] The word potatory has little to do with potatoes, unless the drink in question happens to be aquavit (a dry spirit made from potatoes). Two more familiar cousins of today's word are potion and potable. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "An expert's guide to the potatory pleasures of port, sherry, montilla, and madeira." James Ainsworth; Vat City; Punch (London, UK); Feb 23, 1990. -------- Date: Wed Feb 22 00:01:40 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gyrovague X-Bonus: Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way to teach or write or sing, no magic diet, no world poets, and no chosen races, but only the wretched and wonderfully diversified human race. -Jacques Barzun, professor and writer (1907- ) This week's theme: red-herring words. gyrovague (JYE-ro-vayg) noun A monk who travels from one place to another. [From French, from Late Latin gyrovagus gyro- (circle) + vagus (wandering).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Other forms of religious life on Mount Athos fall outside these two major categories and include anchorites, hermits who live alone in secluded cells or in groups of two or three in remote houses with their own chapels, and gyrovagues - itinerant, mendicant monks." Plutarchos Theocharides; The Holy Mountain; UNESCO Courier; Jan 1998. -------- Date: Thu Feb 23 00:01:13 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--discommode X-Bonus: My life is my message. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) This week's theme: red-herring words. discommode (dis-kuh-MOD) verb tr. To put to inconvenience. [From French discommoder, from dis- + commode (convenient). Ultimately from Indo-European root med- (to take appropriate measures) that is also the source of medicine, modern, modify, modest, and modulate.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Much art today has abandoned the ambition to please the viewer aesthetically. Instead, it seeks to shock, discommode, repulse, proselytize, or startle." Roger Kimball; Art Without Beauty; The Public Interest (Washington, DC); Apr 15, 1997. -------- Date: Fri Feb 24 00:01:14 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obsequy X-Bonus: It came to me that reform should begin at home, and since that day I have not had time to remake the world. -Will Durant, historian (1885-1981) This week's theme: red-herring words. obsequy (OB-si-kwee) noun A funeral rite or ceremony. [From Middle English obsequie, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin obsequiae, alteration (after Latin exsequiae, funeral rites) of Latin obsequia, plural of obsequium (compliance).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "When (Anthony) Powell died, in March of last year, at the age of ninety-four, the New York Times Book Review devoted a Bookend column to the obsequy." Christopher Hitchens; An Omnivorous Curiosity; The Atlantic Monthly (Boston); Jun 2001. -------- Date: Mon Feb 27 00:01:23 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--volitant X-Bonus: Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week we feature a potpourri of words. We opened a dictionary, shook it gently, and these words fell out. They came in all shapes, sizes, and senses. They're short and long. They're flighty and grouchy. Call 'em what you will, a medley of words, a farrago, or a gallimaufry. They're disparate, they're diverse. They are varied and variegated, unclassified and unsorted. And they're all ready to serve. volitant (VOL-i-tuhnt) adjective 1. Flying or capable of flight. 2. Active; moving about rapidly. [From Latin volitare (to flutter), from volare (to fly). Volatile and volley descended from the same source.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Notwithstanding the volitant simmerings of Gershwin's right-sided tumor, his left brain could have assumed, over time, essential functions of his musical genius, allowing for his terminal inventiveness." Spencer Nadler; Brain-cell Memories; Harper's (New York); Sep 2000. -------- Date: Tue Feb 28 00:01:20 EST 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adit X-Bonus: The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh, writer (1906-2001) This week's theme: a medley of words. adit (AD-it) noun 1. Access; entrance; admission. 2. A nearly horizontal passage leading into a mine. [From Latin aditus (approach, entrance), from adire (to approach), from ire (to go). Ultimately from Indo-European root ei- (to go) that is also the ancestor of words such as exit, transit, circuit, itinerary, and obituary.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "As the tramcar passed beneath the low-slung adit, [Sam] Sanders's head was crushed against the timbers." Fred Girard; The Last Bus Stop; The Detroit News; Jan 30, 2006.