A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Feb 1 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--diegetic X-Bonus: Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them. -Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, editor and orator (c. Feb 1817-1895) This week's theme: There's a word for it diegetic (dy-uh-JET-ik) adjective Happening inside a story. [From Greek diegesis (narrative). Earliest documented use: 1970.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/diegetic NOTES: In a movie or a play when a character turns on the television and the news comes on, it's diegetic -- it's happening inside the story. Contrast that with a narrator doing a voice-over -- "It's 1941. WWII is raging" -- that's audible only to the viewers and thus non-diegetic. The term is usually used with sounds. A character performing a song in a nightclub in the story is diegetic, while a character in a musical singing a song that tells the turmoils of her heart is non-diegetic -- people don't live their lives as a musical -- they don't break out into song at random times to describe the ups and downs of their lives. The term can be used for things besides the sound too. For example, a caption in a film is non-diegetic because it's not happening inside the story -- it's only visible to the viewers. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/diegetic_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Each pop song begins as a tinny diegetic insert (on a radio or gramophone) before flowering into a booming soundtrack accompaniment." Adrian Martin; December Boys; Sight and Sound (London, UK); Nov 2007. "Much of the book is pure chronicle, told in a diegetic prose." Marcel Theroux; No One Prayed Over Their Graves by Khaled Khalifa; The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 26, 2023. "That's why I loved Moultrie's dance staging for 'Fat Ham', in which characters discovered their truth through what you might call diegetic movement. They were actually dancing in the story, while lip-syncing to karaoke at a party." Jesse Green, et al; Choreographers Shape New Shows; The New York Times; May 14, 2023. -------- Date: Fri Feb 2 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yesterweek X-Bonus: The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw. -Havelock Ellis, physician, writer, and social reformer (2 Feb 1859-1939) This week's theme: There's a word for it yesterweek (YES-tuhr-week) noun: Last week. adverb: During last week. [From yester- (a time one period before the present one), from Old English giestran (previous day) + week, from Old English wice (week). Earliest documented use: 1830.] "I told you of all this yesterweek, when you visited my chamber last." Michael Canfield; The Woods Wife & Other Tales of Mystery & Magic; CreateSpace; 2015. -------- Date: Mon Feb 5 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tzimmes X-Bonus: A hungry man is not a free man. -Adlai Stevenson II, lawyer, politician, and diplomat (5 Feb 1900-1965) We use the word *food* for humans, *fodder* for animals, but ultimately, both go to the same root. This week we went *foraging* in pastures where words abound. We filled our *pantry* with words derived from food. Be our *companion* as we share these food words often used metaphorically. Eat up and get your linguistic sustenance for the week. All the highlighted words above are derived from the Indo-European root: pa- (to feed or to protect). tzimmes or tsimmes (TSIM-is/uhs) noun 1. Fuss; confusion. 2. A stew of fruits and vegetables, and sometimes meat. [From Yiddish tsimes (stew). Earliest documented use: 1892.] NOTES: A tzimmes is a stew made of carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, raisins, etc. It's a typical part of a Rosh Hashanah meal. It can also be a dessert. As making a tzimmes takes time and many ingredients, the term is used in its fussy meaning as well. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tzimmes_large.jpg Photo: Sara Welch https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/tzimmes-recipe/ "But to admit his error, he realized, would be to jeopardize his own infallible reputation, as well as that of his future wife, who had set this whole tsimmes boiling in the first place." Naomi Ragen; The Saturday Wife; St. Martin's Press; 2008. -------- Date: Tue Feb 6 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gravy train X-Bonus: There's a schizoid quality to our relationship with animals, in which sentiment and brutality exist side by side. Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us pause to consider the miserable life of the pig -- an animal easily as intelligent as a dog -- that becomes the Christmas ham. -Michael Pollan, professor and writer (b. 6 Feb 1955) This week's theme: Words derived from food gravy train (GRAY-vee trayn) noun A situation offering a lot of money or benefits for little work. [The word gravy has been used for easily acquired money. Eventually it began to be used in the phrase: to ride the gravy train. Earliest documented use: 1895. See also sinecure https://wordsmith.org/words/sinecure.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/gravy%20train "The Gravy Train" By Ben Darlington https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gravy_train.jpg https://www.lulu.com/shop/ben-darlington/the-gravy-train/paperback/product-24293651.html "Plum overseas foreign postings are handed out to ex-federal cabinet members and former premiers, sometimes on merit, sometimes to get them out of the political sphere, and sometimes just as a gratuitous reward. It’s a seat on the gravy train paid for by taxpayers." Editorial; Sunday Herald (Melbourne, Australia); Sep 3, 2023. -------- Date: Wed Feb 7 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cold turkey X-Bonus: I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (7 Feb 1812-1870) This week's theme: Words derived from food cold turkey (KOLD TUHR-kee) noun: 1. An abrupt and complete withdrawal, especially from an addiction. 2. A frank and direct expression of views. adjective: Abrupt and complete. adverb: Abruptly. verb tr., intr.: To abruptly and completely withdraw, especially from something addictive. [Apparently from the serving of cold roast turkey which requires no preparation. Earliest documented use: 1921.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cold%20turkey https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cold_turkey.jpg Cover: https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Turkey-Corey-Rosen-Schwartz/dp/0316430110 "When [Paul Denino] turned sixteen, he quit them all cold turkey. These days, he often talks about the drugs as a mental prison." Adrian Chen; No More Secrets; The New Yorker; Jul 9-16, 2018. -------- Date: Thu Feb 8 00:01:01 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nothingburger X-Bonus: When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. -Charles Reade, writer (8 Jun 1814-1884) This week's theme: Words derived from food nothingburger (NUH-thing-buhr-guhr) noun Someone or something that turns out to be inconsequential. [From the metaphorical use of a burger missing a patty. Coined by Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Earliest documented use: 1942.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/nothingburger_large.jpg Image: Phillustrations / Threadless https://www.threadless.com/shop/%40Phillustrations/design/nothing-burger-1/home "So was this the start of something beautiful, or a great big German nothingburger?" Angela Plays it Cool; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 9, 2018. -------- Date: Fri Feb 9 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plain-vanilla X-Bonus: Activism is the rent I pay for living on the planet. -Alice Walker, author (b. 9 Feb 1944) This week's theme: Words derived from food plain-vanilla (PLAYN vuh-NIL-uh) adjective Basic, plain, or bland. [From plain + vanilla, from Spanish vainilla (little pod), from vaina (sheath), from Latin vagina (sheath) + -illa (diminutive suffix). Earliest documented use: 1942.] NOTES: Once vanillin, the organic compound that gives vanilla its flavor, was synthesized, it became cheap to use vanilla flavor. It became the default flavor of ice-cream and soon the term was used for anything basic, unadorned, without any extras. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/plain-vanilla_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vanilla_beans#/media/File:Vainilla-k2zB--620x349@abc.jpg "Dad was expecting your plain-vanilla legislative report. Instead, Paul bound it in a four-color magazine stock cover with a beach scene and with the title 'Footprints ... on the Sands of Time'." Mimi Swartz; Remembering Paul Burka; Texas Monthly (Austin); Oct 2022. -------- Date: Mon Feb 12 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--reptilian X-Bonus: I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (12 Feb 1809-1882) [Ichneumonidae: The family of parasitic wasps that deposit eggs inside or on top of the larvae of other insects. Once hatched, the ichneumonid larva slowly eats its host alive from inside out.] Darwin once said, "The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind." Living beings lie on a continuum, from the single-celled amoeba to us humans, "H. Sapiens", supposedly wise. We, sapient ones, have judged the animals. Hares are supposedly harebrained https://wordsmith.org/words/harebrained.html . Stormy petrels supposedly bring trouble https://wordsmith.org/words/stormy_petrel.html (well, Stormy does bring trouble, at least to one person who totally deserves it.) Such characterizations are often unfair to the poor animal. Sometimes the coined word is apt though, as in the case of chameleonic https://wordsmith.org/words/chameleonic.html because chameleons do change color based on their surroundings. This week we'll look at five words that are coined after animals. Imagine if the tables were turned: if animals could coin terms based on human behavior, what might they create? Share your inventive words, complete with definitions and examples of use on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/reptilian.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. As always, include your location (city, state). reptilian (rep-TIL-ee-uhn, -TIL-yuhn) adjective 1. Contemptible. 2. Treacherous. 3. Like a reptile. [From Latin reptile, from repere (to creep). Earliest documented use: 1835.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/reptilian https://wordsmith.org/words/images/reptilian_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Whoever this individual was, he was an unmitigated villain -- a reptilian villain!" Theodore Dreiser; An American Tragedy; Boni & Liveright; 1925. -------- Date: Tue Feb 13 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eager beaver X-Bonus: In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997) This week's theme: Words coined after animals eager beaver (ee-guhr BEE-vuhr) noun One who is enthusiastic and hard-working, sometimes to the point of being overzealous. [From eager, from Old French egre, from Latin acer (sharp) + beaver, from Old English beofor. Earliest documented use: 1942.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/eager%20beaver NOTES: Originally, the term eager beaver was military slang, used for especially dedicated cadets in an aviation school, but the term's roots go back further. The expression "to work like a beaver" (to work hard) has been with us since at least 1741, reflecting the animal's reputation for industriousness. Looking at the massive dams beavers construct, the reputation is entirely justified. It also helps that the words eager and beaver rhyme. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/eager_beaver_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "He was surprised when he met the head of security in the lobby and learned that the building was not as empty as he had anticipated. One eager beaver, as the man put it, was still plugging away on the sixth floor at almost nine o'clock at night. That eager beaver was Serena Van Buren." Judy Angelo; Tamed by the Billionaire; Phoenix Publishing; 2016. -------- Date: Wed Feb 14 00:01:03 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--testudinal X-Bonus: Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. -George Jean Nathan, author and editor (14 Feb 1882-1958) This week's theme: Words coined after animals testudinal (tes-TOOD/TYOOD-i-nuhl) adjective 1. Slow. 2. Arched. 3. Old. [From Latin testudo (tortoise). Earliest documented use: 1823.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/testudinal_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Time now assumed a testudinal pace, and a pain that had been growing in the small of O'Malley's back intensified." R.E.G. Sinke, Jr.; When None of Their Dreams Were Dead: Book 1; Eloquent Books; 2009. "Greenspan has startled others into cutting rates too, but not the testudinal Wim Duisenberg: the man who runs the European Central Bank (but who runs it very slowly)." Give Credit Where It's Due; Sunday Business (London, UK); May 13, 2001. -------- Date: Thu Feb 15 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--weasel X-Bonus: In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (15 Feb 1564-1642) This week's theme: Words coined after animals weasel (WEE-zuhl) noun: 1. Any of various small slender carnivorous mammals of the genus Mustela. 2. A sneaky, cunning person. verb intr.: 1. To evade an obligation. 2. To be evasive by using ambiguous or misleading words. [From Old English wesule. Earliest documented use: c. 450 CE.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/weasel https://wordsmith.org/words/images/weasel_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "The CEO of the Washington Post Company, Don Graham, and Mark Zuckerberg shook hands over the deal, making a verbal contract, but when Zuckerberg weaseled out of it to take a better offer, Graham, out of kindness to a young fella just starting out, simply let him walk away." Jill Lepore; Hard News; The New Yorker; Jan 28, 2019. -------- Date: Fri Feb 16 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--big fish X-Bonus: A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. -Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918) This week's theme: Words coined after animals big fish (big fish) noun An important person or entity. [From big, perhaps of Scandinavian origin + fish, from Old English fisc (fish). Earliest documented use: 1827.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/big%20fish NOTES: Fish, as a species, exhibit a wide range of sizes, far more so than humans. This significant variation makes the metaphor "big fish" apt for describing someone important or influential, distinguishing them from the rest. The phrase "big fish in a small pond" refers to someone who is significant within a limited scope. Conversely, the terms "small fry" and "minnow" https://wordsmith.org/words/minnow.html are used to describe entities of lesser importance or influence. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/big_fish_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "In December alone, Britain signed terms with 11 countries ranging from big fish such as Canada and Turkey to minnows such as Cameroon and North Macedonia." Nice Work; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 30, 2021. -------- Date: Mon Feb 19 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bridewell X-Bonus: There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. -Carson McCullers, writer (19 Feb 1917-1967) For his anti-war stance, in 1918 the British government put Bertrand Russell in prison for six months. He wrote about his experience: "I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, 'Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy'... and began the work for 'The Analysis of Mind'. I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence as was shown by their having been caught." I hear about writers going to retreats to remove all distractions. Well, this is one way to do it. Do you have any experience with prisons, inside or out? Share on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/bridewell.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Include your location (city, state). Meanwhile, this week we'll feature five terms for prison from various places and languages that are now used in English. bridewell (BRYD-wel) noun A prison. [Originally it was a well, named for St. Bride (or Brigid) in London. The name St. Bride's Well became Bridewell. Over time, the site has served as a church, a palace, an orphanage, a hospital, and finally, gained notoriety as a prison. Earliest documented use: 1583.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bridewell_large.jpg Illustration: from John Strype's "An Accurate Edition of Stow's "A Survey of London"' (1720) NOTES: Some other terms related to prisons, named after actual places, are: Bastille https://wordsmith.org/words/bastille.html (from Paris) Newgate https://wordsmith.org/words/newgate.html (from London) Coventry https://wordsmith.org/words/coventry.html (from Coventry) "[Jack Straw] made clear that the kind of spare cells in old bridewells that meant 3,000 prisoners a night could be held in them in the 1980s no longer existed." Alan Travis; Send Fewer to Jail; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 22, 2008. -------- Date: Tue Feb 20 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gulag X-Bonus: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams, photographer (20 Feb 1902-1984) This week's theme: Words for prisons gulag (GOO-lahg) noun 1. The system of forced labor camps in the former Soviet Union. 2. Any prison or forced labor camp, especially one for political prisoners. 3. A place of great hardship. [From Russian Gulag, acronym from Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGerei (Chief Administration for Corrective Labor Camps). Earliest documented use: 1946.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/gulag https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gulag_large.jpg Photo: Museum of Occupation of Latvia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gulag#/media/File:20181223_143531_museum_of_occupation_latvia.jpg "Eritrea is ruled by a despot-for-life whose critics wind up dead or sweating in a gulag of shipping crates in the desert." How to Make Eritrea Less Horrible; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 4, 2018. -------- Date: Wed Feb 21 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--calaboose X-Bonus: Throw your dream into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, or a new country. -Anais Nin, author (21 Feb 1903-1977) This week's theme: Words for prisons calaboose (KAL-uh-boos) noun A prison. [From Louisiana French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo (dungeon), from Latin calafodium, from fodere (to dig). Earliest documented use: 1797. Another Spanish word for a prison that has become part of the English language is hoosegow https://wordsmith.org/words/hoosegow.html .] A restored calaboose in Kansas https://wordsmith.org/words/images/calaboose_large.jpg Photo: Kansas Tourism https://www.travelks.com/listing/calaboose/40105/ "[Hasan Baswaid] put his hands together as if he were in handcuffs. 'This could put you in the calaboose,' he said with a sheepish grin." Lawrence Wright; The Kingdom of Silence; The New Yorker; Jan 5, 2004. -------- Date: Thu Feb 22 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--panopticon X-Bonus: There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (22 Feb 1788-1860) This week's theme: Words for prisons panopticon (pan-OP-ti-kon, puh-NAHP-ti-kahn) noun 1. A circular prison with a watchtower in the center so that any inmate can be observed from a single point. 2. A place marked by constant surveillance. [The design of such a prison was proposed by the utilitarian and philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787. From Greek pan (all) + optikon (sight, seeing). Earliest documented use: 1787.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/panopticon Presidio Modelo (Model Prison) in Cuba, modeled as a panopticon. Not in use. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/panopticon_large.jpg Photo: Friman / Wikimedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon#/media/File:Presidio-modelo2.JPG "And the radical circular plan has yielded a kind of benevolent parental panopticon, allowing the couple to see whose rooms are lit and determine whether their independent teenagers are home for the night." Sam Cochran; Gear Shift; Architectural Digest (Los Angeles, California); Jan 2023. -------- Date: Fri Feb 23 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lob's pound X-Bonus: Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves. -Robert Neelly Bellah, sociologist and author (23 Feb 1927-2013) This week's theme: Words for prisons lob's pound (LOBZ pound or lobz POUND) noun 1. Prison. 2. Difficulty. 3. Entanglement. [From lob (a bumpkin, lout) + pound (enclosure). Earliest documented use: 1597.] "Keep your nose clean, keep growing. I'll have you out here in another six months." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/lobs_pound_large.jpg Cartoon: Dan Piraro https://www.facebook.com/bizarrocomics/ "I know I shall catch her in some lob's pound." Hannah Cowley; The World as It Goes; 1781. -------- Date: Mon Feb 26 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--alible X-Bonus: The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -Victor Hugo, novelist and dramatist (26 Feb 1802-1885) The adjective has a bad rep, and for good reason. Use too many and it looks to the reader as if you are hitting them over the head, telling them how to feel: The stubborn child demanded that his annoyed parents buy him the latest toy shown on TV. Consider instead: His foot pounded the floor with each "I want it!" as he pointed at the toy commercial on TV. His parents exchanged glances. Look ma, no adjectives! That said, the adjective has its place. I used two in the very first sentence of this intro. A judicious use of this part of speech doesn't hurt. This week we enrich your writing pantry with five unusual adjectives. Use them sparingly, like spices in a preparation. alible (AL-uh-buhl) adjective Nutritious; nourishing. [From Latin alere (to nourish). Ultimately from the Indo-European root al- (to grow or to nourish), which also gave us adolescent, adult, old, alumnus, altitude, enhance, coalesce, prolific, altricial https://wordsmith.org/words/altricial.html , adolesce https://wordsmith.org/words/adolesce.html , hauteur https://wordsmith.org/words/hauteur.html , and palimony https://wordsmith.org/words/palimony.html . Earliest documented use: 1653.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/alible_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Men who reached their seventies were often stooped and frail, but Guma Vetalda had been reared on mountain air and the alible food of Yscalin." Samantha Shannon; A Day of Fallen Night; Bloomsbury; 2023. -------- Date: Tue Feb 27 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fulgurant X-Bonus: The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second. -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (27 Feb 1902-1968) This week's theme: Adjectives fulgurant (FUHL/FULL-guh-ruhnt) adjective 1. Flashing like lightning. 2. Brilliant. [From Latin fulgurate (to flash), from fulgor (brightness), from fulgere (to shine). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhel- (to shine or burn), which also gave us blaze, blank, blond, bleach, blanket, flame, refulgent https://wordsmith.org/words/refulgent.html , fulminate https://wordsmith.org/words/fulminate.html , and effulgent https://wordsmith.org/words/effulgent.html . Earliest documented use: 1611.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/fulgurant https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fulgurant_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "The darkened kitchen, fulgurant with lightning beyond a rain-streaked window." Dale Bailey; Cockroach; Fantasy & Science Fiction (Hoboken, New Jersey); Dec 1998. "It was a beautiful spring day in Smyrna, Georgia, full of blooming Bradford pears and dogwood and other trees and shrubs that I couldn't name, blasting with the fulgurant petals of May." Doug Crandell; Back Story; Smithsonian (Washington, DC); May 2004. -------- Date: Wed Feb 28 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anfractuous X-Bonus: There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (28 Feb 1533-1592) This week's theme: Adjectives anfractuous (an-FRAK-choo-uhs) adjective Full of twists and turns. [From Latin anfractus (winding), from an- (around) + fractus, past participle of frangere (to break). Earliest documented use: 1425.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/anfractuous https://wordsmith.org/words/images/anfractuous_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "He was surprised how good it felt to have someone listen and ask questions about the anfractuous course his life had run to this point." Mel Reisner; The Leather Man; Archway; 2008. -------- Date: Thu Feb 29 00:01:02 EST 2024 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--heliotropic X-Bonus: Animals cannot speak, but can you and I not speak for them and represent them? Let us all feel their silent cry of agony and let us all help that cry to be heard in the world. -Rukmini Devi Arundale, dancer and choreographer (29 Feb 1904-1986) This week's theme: Adjectives heliotropic (hee-lee-uh-TROP-ik, -TROH-pik) adjective Turning toward the sun or the light. [From Greek helio- (sun) + -tropic (turning). Earliest documented use: 1875.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/heliotropic_large.jpg Illustration: Anu Garg + AI "Architects have toyed with the idea of heliotropic mirrors that pick up sunlight at the top of tall buildings and shine it back down to street level, bathing the pavement in natural sunlight." Robert Nelson; Ideas Travelling at the Speed of Light; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Apr 3, 2013.