A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jun 3 00:01:08 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--niddering X-Bonus: Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. -William Wordsworth (1770-1850) niddering (NID-uhr-ing) noun, adjective A coward or wretch. [From erroneous reading of Middle English nithing, from Old English nithing. This form of the word originated in the 1596 text of historian William of Malmesbury.] "And so it goes on without ever reaching the heart of the matter, which is that the BBC is really a state of mind. It is, as Colin Morris once put it, the collective memory of the people who made it a great broadcasting organisation. This idea is quite beyond the niddering regime currently running the Corporation." John Naughton, Inside Job on Awkward Customers Inside the BBC, The Guardian (London), Apr 24, 1994. "Even William the Conqueror, hated as he was by them, continued to draw a considerable army of Anglo-Saxons to his standard, by threatening to stigmatize those who staid at home, as nidering." Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1819. Ever misspell a word in your school report that cost you a grade? Ever make a typo in an office memo for which you paid a heavy price? Don't be disheartened if you think you may never master the whimsies of the English language. Take comfort in the fact that there's no universal god of orthography who once decreed, "And ye shall spell potato as p-o-t-a-t-o." The spelling of a word is merely something we've collectively agreed upon. Your version of spelling might have been the right one if you were born just at the right time and read or wrote just the right text. As we'll see this week, there are words that were once misspelled and those misspellings somehow stuck. All the words featured this week had their spellings altered in the course of history because someone mis-read, mis-printed, mis-wrote, or mis-copied and missed the "right" spelling. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jun 4 00:01:07 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obsidian X-Bonus: Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) obsidian (ob-SID-ee-uhn) noun A dark volcanic glass formed by rapid cooling of lava. [From Latin obsidianus, from obsidianus lapis, from mis-reading of obsianus lapis (Obsius's stone), after Obsius, a Roman, who (according to Pliny the elder) was the discoverer of this kind of stone in Ethiopia.] Here's a picture of obsidian: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/images/pglossary/obsidian.php "Hernan Cortes didn't conquer Mexico: it was just one stroke of bastard's luck after another that his head didn't end up on the Aztec skull racks. With his cackhanded squad dead before Spanish typhus could sap their empire, the Aztecs could have challenged European settlement in North America (wagon trains versus obsidian knives - now there's a scenario)." Veronica Horwell, The What If Game: Veronica Horwell Speculates on History's Near Misses, The Guardian (London), Jun 10, 2000. This week's theme: words formed erroneously. -------- Date: Wed Jun 5 00:01:08 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--helpmeet X-Bonus: If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) helpmeet (HELP-meet) noun A helpmate, usually applied to a wife. [From the phrase "an help meet for him" (a help suitable for him, Adam) from Genesis. It was incorrectly written as "an help-meet for him" and erroneously interpreted as "a helper for him".] "There is, for one thing, Ms. Connelly, keen and spirited in the underwritten role of a woman who starts out as a math groupie and soon finds herself the helpmeet of a disturbed, difficult man." A.O. Scott, From Math To Madness, And Back (Movie review: A Beautiful Mind), The New York Times, Dec 21, 2001. This week's theme: words formed erroneously. -------- Date: Thu Jun 6 00:01:15 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zenith X-Bonus: We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love. -Madame De Stael, writer (1766-1817) zenith (ZEE-nith, ZEN-ith) noun 1. The point on the celestial sphere that's directly above the observer, opposite of nadir. 2. The highest point, acme, culmination. [From Middle English zenith, from Old French cenith, from Old Spanish zenit incorrectly copied from Arabic samt (path), in the sense of "path over the head", opposite of nadir.] "Unlike Huntington, I therefore maintain that clashes of civilizations reached their peak in the age of imperialism, the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when Europe's world dominance was at its zenith." Sato Seizaburo, Clash of Civilizations or Cross-fertilization of Civilizations?, Japan Echo (Tokyo), Oct 1997. This week's theme: words formed erroneously. -------- Date: Fri Jun 7 00:01:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--derring-do X-Bonus: For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography. -Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (1905-1989) derring-do (DER-ing DOO) noun Daring acts, often tinged with recklessness. [From Middle English dorryng do (daring to do) misprinted as derrynge do and interpreted as a noun form.] "Kids and mice -- can't beat the combination. That's what the creators of children's entertainment seem to think, since they're forever casting versions of the adorable mus musculus domesticus (that's house mouse, since you ask) in tales of derring-do for the younger set." Zofia Smardz, Watch Your Whiskers, The Washington Post, Mar 31, 2002. "David McTaggart, founder of Greenpeace, died on March 23rd, aged 68. ... Their raw material was publicity, much of it gained by derring-do exploits of Greenpeace's front-line `soldiers'. Mr McTaggart would be first over the top. He continued his war with the French over nuclear testing, again visiting Mururoa. The angry French retaliated in 1985 by blowing up a Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland harbour, killing one person aboard." Obituary: David McTaggart, The Economist (London), Apr 7, 2001. This week's theme: words formed erroneously. -------- Date: Mon Jun 10 00:01:04 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--randy X-Bonus: All art, all education, can be merely a supplement to nature. -Aristotle (B.C. 384-322) randy (RAN-dee) adjective Lustful; lewd; lecherous. Scots: rude; coarse. [Probably from obsolete Scots rand (to rant).] "(Mike) Myers, it turns out, is not at all the randy man-about-town he has often played in films and television but a happily married guy whose wife, Robin Ruzan, plays the role of off-screen critic and mentor." Mary K. Feeney, All About Comedy Cover to Cover, The Hartford Courant (Connecticut), May 26, 1999. "What's in a name?" Shakespeare once wrote, "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Tell that to the new parents who scour countless baby-names books, scan the naming lists on the Internet, and urge their friends and families to suggest just the right name for their brand new child. While many of these names (Sandy, Penny, ...) have obvious meanings there are other common names that have not-so-well-known connotations. This week we'll look at some of these. Here's a story of a Randy who became Dave: http://www.inkdrop.net/name/ -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jun 11 00:01:06 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tony X-Bonus: Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (1900-1980) tony (TO-nee) adjective Having a high-toned manner; stylish. [From tone.] "(Masound) Aboughaddareh, 30, publishes DC One, a glossy, glitzy magazine dedicated to the tony nightclub scene." David A. Fahrenthold, Entrepreneurs Put Their Passions in Print, The Washington Post, Feb 10, 2001. This week's theme: What's in a name? -------- Date: Wed Jun 12 00:10:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ted X-Bonus: Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -Carl Jung, psychiatrist (1875-1961) ted (ted) verb tr. To spread or strew for drying (newly mown grass, for example). [From Middle English tedde, from Old Norse tethja (to manure).] "During the course of a year, a wedding and a funeral take place, along with events such as the cutting and tedding of hay and the livestock auction on Monaghan Day." Jim Coan, By the Lake, Library Journal (New York), Apr 1, 2002. This week's theme: What's in a name? -------- Date: Thu Jun 13 00:01:04 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bobby X-Bonus: There are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight. -Vaclav Havel, writer, Czech Republic president (1936- ) bobby (BOB-ee) noun British: A policeman. [After Sir Robert Peel, who was Great Britain's Home Secretary when the 1828 Metropolitan Police Act was passed.] "The fish and chip shop may be as 'Truly British' as the bobbies patrolling in their pointed black helmets, but the tidy streets, royalist sentiments and low crime rate hark back to an era that faded away decades ago in Britain." Emma Daly, Gibraltar Residents Fight for Identity, The New York Times, Apr 30, 2002. This week's theme: What's in a name? -------- Date: Fri Jun 14 00:01:06 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--brad X-Bonus: We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910) brad (brad) noun A thin wire nail with a small, deep head, or a projection on one side of the head. [From Middle English, from Old Norse broddr (spike).] Here's a picture of a brad: http://www.shur-fast.com/english/produits/clous/finition/finition.html "Joey Lapland quipped that she spelled words as though she herself created them, as though what she uttered became real. She could never be wrong. Preposterous, we snickered, looking at the wizard, sketching in her notebook, bent brad nails as posts adorning her earlobes." Stephen Guinan, The Queen of Spelling, The Massachusetts Review (Amherst), Winter 2000/2001. "Every day, she takes about 70 pills. She has a plastic divided box, similar to those used to hold screws, nails, brads, etc. The compartments are labeled with each day, and further labeled as morning, midmorning, noon, afternoon, dinner, bedtime. Each is loaded with pills." Patricia Swanson, A Used Heart: Evansville Woman Finds A Second Chance With A Heart Transplant, The Evansville Courier & Press (Indiana), May 14, 2000. This week's theme: What's in a name? -------- Date: Mon Jun 17 00:01:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--minnow X-Bonus: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb minnow (MIN-o) noun 1. Any of the small freshwater fish of the Cyprinidae family. 2. Someone or something considered insignificant. [Ultimately from Old High German munewa, a kind of fish, via Old English and Middle English.] "Compared with the Scottish Parliament, a regional authority in the north-east would indeed be a minnow." Tony Travers, The Long Struggle, New Statesman (London), May 20, 2002. I remember the day I caught my first, and last, fish. I was in college. During the winter break, a friend invited me to visit him. With makeshift fishing rods in our hands we went to the dam near his house. I sat there uneasily, holding the rod with the line dipped in the still water of the reservoir. A while later there was a tug and I promptly handed over the rod to my friend. He pulled the line in. There was a small orange fish on the end. It was alive, wildly flailing at its sudden change of fortune. With a promise of food I had tricked it out of its life. More than a decade has passed since then. Today I live next to a small lake. While strolling around the water I often come across someone sitting there with a fishing rod extended over the lake. I softly say "Good luck!" in his general direction. He thanks me. I tell him I was saying that to the fish. He smiles at the apparent joke... But I wasn't joking. All of this week's words refer to fish, but they are more than just fish words. They can also be used metaphorically in other senses. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jun 18 00:01:07 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gudgeon X-Bonus: The instinct of a man is to pursue everything that flies from him, and to fly from all that pursue him. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) gudgeon (GUJ-uhn) noun 1. A small European fresh-water fish (Gobio gobio) or any of the related fishes, often used as bait. 2. A gullible person. 3. A bait. [From Latin gobion, variant of gobius, via Old French and Middle English.] gudgeon (GUJ-uhn) noun A pivot, usually made of metal, at the end of a beam, axle, etc., on which a wheel or a similar device turns. [From Middle English gudyon, from Old French goujon.] "Even his (Charles Frazier) saws sound authentic. `Clenched tight as a dogwood bud in January.' `As useless by itself as the gudgeon to a door hinge with no pintle.'" Review of Books And Multimedia: Hearts And Minds to Win, The Economist (London), Jun 13, 1998. This week's theme: words based on fish names. -------- Date: Wed Jun 19 00:01:09 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--remora X-Bonus: The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. -E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962) remora (REM-uhr-ah) noun 1. Any of several fishes of the family Echeneididae that have a dorsal fin modified in the shape of a suction disk that they use to attach to a larger fish, sea-turtles, or ships. Also called sharksucker or suckerfish. 2. Hindrance, drag. [From Latin, literally delay, from remorari (to linger, delay), from re- + morari (to delay), from mora (delay).] "Demur" and "moratorium" are other words that share the same root as remora. They all involve the idea of delay. Remora got their name from the belief that they slowed ships down by attaching themselves to the hull. Remora's suction power is so strong that, in some parts of the world, lines are attached to their tails and lowered into the water to fish for sea turtles. Remora eat scraps from the fish they attach to. But they don't just get a free ride and free food in this way. It's a truly symbiotic relationship as they, in turn, remove parasites from their bigger buddies. Here are a few pictures: http://www.oceanlight.com/html/remora_sp.html "Ryder has been a remora to the Heathers but boils over and, with Slater's crucial aid, kills one kind of accidentally." Ted Mahar, High School Confidential, The Oregonian (Portland), Sep 3, 1999. This week's theme: words based on fish names. -------- Date: Thu Jun 20 00:01:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--inconnu X-Bonus: TV is chewing gum for the eyes. -Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (1867-1959) inconnu (in-kuh-NOO) noun 1. A whitefish (Stenodus leucichthys) found in arctic and subarctic. Also known as sheefish. 2. A stranger. [From French, literally unknown. In 1789, explorer Alexander Mackenzie and his crew traveled the waterways of the Northwest Territories in search of a Northwest passage. They came across an unknown fish and the French-Canadian voyageurs who were part of his crew called it inconnu.] "Seven charred bodies had been recovered from the house, none identified, all interred by the government. The incident was characterized as gang activity, `probably drug-related.' Mason winced at the words. The line had grown to be a bad joke around the mission, the explanation they almost always got whenever a group of inconnus turned up dead." Ben Fountain, Reve Haitien, Harper's Magazine (New York), Jan 2000. This week's theme: words based on fish names. -------- Date: Fri Jun 21 00:01:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tope X-Bonus: A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. -Walt Whitman, poet (1819-1892) tope (tope) verb tr., intr. To drink (liquor) habitually and copiously. [Of uncertain origin, perhaps from obsolete top (to drink) as in "top off".] tope (tope) noun A small shark with a long snout (Galeorhinus galeus). [Of unknown origin.] tope (tope) noun A usually dome-shaped monument built by Buddhists. Also known as a stupa. [From Hindi top, from Prakrit or Pali thupo, from Sanskrit stupa (head). Some pictures of, tope, the fish: http://www.seatrek.org/curriculum/reference/species/tope.htm tope, the building: http://www.buddhanet.net/sanchi.htm "There are the tope strategists, who chartered the brand's repositioning and the agency folks who turned out snappy creative, not to mention a cadre of bottlers pushing Sprite in the retail trenches." Karen Benezra, Brandweek's Marketers of the Year, Adweek (Dallas, Texas), Oct 20, 1997. This week's theme: words based on fish names. -------- Date: Mon Jun 24 02:01:04 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--triolet X-Bonus: Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626) triolet (TREE-uh-lit, -lay) noun A poem or stanza of eight lines, having a rhyme scheme ABaAabAB, in which the first, fourth, and seventh lines are the same, and second is the same as the eighth line. [From French, literally small trio.] "The teaching of English has so degenerated these days that it's hard to believe that Ira's school curriculum included a rigorous training in classical verse forms such as the ballad, the triolet, the rondeau, the villanelle and the sonnet, but it did. In the first decades of the century the daily newspapers in New York were full of poetry, too: there were columns devoted to light verse, and often a theatre review or sports notice would be written in couplets or quatrains." John Tranter, He's Got Rhythm, The Australian (Sydney), Mar 30, 1996. The Canary Islands got their name from dogs, a light-year is a unit of distance, and a triolet is a poem of, well, eight lines. These are red-herring words that appear to mislead us in the beginning but if we look deeper, everything becomes obvious. Triolets are so called because the key line in the poem appears thrice. Here's a lighthearted triolet by G.K. Chesterton: I wish I were a jelly fish That cannot fall downstairs: Of all the things I wish to wish I wish I were a jelly fish That hasn't any cares, And doesn't even have to wish 'I wish I were a jelly fish That cannot fall downstairs.' Wish to write your own triolet? Help is near: http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/triolet.html For inspiration, check out these computing triolets written by MIT students: http://web.mit.edu/6.033/1997/www/triolets.html -Anu -------- Date: Tue Jun 25 00:01:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--attic salt X-Bonus: Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. -Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797) attic salt (AT-ik salt) noun Refined, delicate wit. Also known as attic wit. [From Attic (of Greece or of Athens, after Attica, a region in southeast Greece surrounding Athens) + salt (wit).] "On minor occasions anyone possessing a fluent tongue, and knowledge and nerve, and a pinch of the Attic salt of humour will probably speak best on the spur of the moment, but trusting to inspiration may sometimes prove a broken reed, and those who have to obey the orders of the toast master when important issues are at stake may be advised to make more or less careful preparation." After-dinner Speeches, British Medical Journal (London), May 12, 2001. "No one was spared in a city of so much liberty, or rather license, as Athens was at that time. Generals, magistrates, government, the very gods, were abandoned to the poet's satirical vein; and all was well received, providing the comedy was diverting, and the Attic salt not wanting." Charles Rollin, Rollin's Ancient History, Jan 1, 1992. This week's theme: words that appear misleading. -------- Date: Wed Jun 26 00:19:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prick-song X-Bonus: The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941) prick-song (prik song) noun Written music. [From picked-song, music sung from pricked (written) notes, as compared to that sung from memory.] "My last hope before Election Day is that each will put down his prick-song and sing a plain-song in debates before a national audience." Billy Porterfield, Perot, Bush, Clinton Leave Voter Swerked in Mubblefubbles, The Austin American Statesman, Jun 24, 1992. "Mercutio: More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song ..." William Shakespeare, Romeo And Juliet: Act II, Scene IV. This week's theme: words that appear misleading. -------- Date: Thu Jun 27 00:19:06 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--histrionic X-Bonus: My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go. -Shakespeare, poet and dramatist (1564-1616) histrionic (his-tree-ON-ik) adjective 1. Of or pertaining to actors, acting, or theater. 2. Overly dramatic or affected. [From Late Latin histrionicus, from Latin histrion-, histrio (actor).] "The playwright's intent together with his moral input ignored, a drama of great depth is trivialized. An unbearably boring, histrionic horror takes its place." Naomi Doudai, Histrionic Horror, The Jerusalem Post, Sep 7, 1999 "Eventually, Dickens fused his talents in the public readings from his own novels, which dominated his last years, in the course of which he astounded huge crowds on both sides of the Atlantic with his histrionic genius." Simon Callow, To Be a Shape-Shifting Cast of One, The New York Times, Apr 21, 2002. This week's theme: words that appear misleading. -------- Date: Fri Jun 28 00:19:05 EDT 2002 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mense X-Bonus: We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. -William R. Inge, clergyman, scholar, and author (1860-1954) mense (mens) noun Propriety, decorum. verb tr. To adorn, grace. [From Middle English menske (honor), from Old Norse mennska (humanity).] "Auld Vandal! ye but show your little mense, Just much about it wi' your scanty sense: Will your poor, narrow foot-path of a street, Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet." Robert Burns, The Brigs Of Ayr, 1787. These lines are from a poem Burns wrote about a dialog between two bridges when the construction of a new bridge began over the Ayr in Scotland in 1786. The Auld Brig retorts to the above mocking by New Brig that one shouldn't get carried away in vanity and pride: "I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!" The poet's words proved prophetic when in the 1877 flood the New Brig collapsed into a heap of stones while the Auld Brig still stands. You can read the complete poem at: http://bartleby.com/6/133.html -Anu This week's theme: words that appear misleading.