A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jul 3 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--grimthorpe X-Bonus: It has been said that a pretty face is a passport. But it's not, it's a visa, and it runs out fast. -Julie Burchill, writer and journalist (b. 3 Jul 1959) You can do good things or bad, but if you do them greatly, differently, or intensely, chances are your name will become a word. There was a real man named Boycott https://wordsmith.org/words/boycott.html who became a verb (and noun) in English (and other languages: French boycotter, Spanish boicotear, and so on). And there are many more people, from fact and fiction, who live on in the English language as verbs. This week we'll meet five such people from real life and fiction and mythology. grimthorpe (GRIM-thorp) verb tr. To restore or remodel something without paying attention to its original character, history, etc. [After Edmund Beckett, first Baron Grimthorpe (1816-1905), an architect whose restoration of St. Albans Cathedral in England was criticized for radical changes made to the building. Earliest documented use: 1890.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/grimthorpe_large.jpg A caricature of Edmund Beckett, from "Vanity Fair", Feb 2, 1889 "Hey, let's zone against any further grimthorping in Springfield." Take My Word for it; State Journal Register (Springfield, Illinois); Apr 21, 2005. -------- Date: Tue Jul 4 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mithridatize X-Bonus: Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. -Robert King Merton, sociologist (4 Jul 1910-2003) This week's theme: People who became verbs mithridatize (MITH-ri-day-tyz) verb tr. To develop immunity to a poison by gradually increasing the dose. [After Mithridates VI, king of Pontus (now in Turkey) 120-63 BCE, who is said to have acquired immunity to poison by ingesting gradually larger doses of it. Earliest documented use: 1866.] NOTES: Mithridates VI's father was poisoned. No wonder VI wanted to develop tolerance to poison. The story goes that after VI's defeat by Pompey, he didn't want to be captured alive. So he tried to end his life by taking poison. That didn't work, so he had a servant stab him with a sword. Mithridates VI on a coin https://wordsmith.org/words/images/mithridatize_large.jpg From Coins of the Ancients, 1889 "They can parry all chemical poisons by mithridatizing." Bernard Werber; Empire of the Ants; Bantam; 1999. "Grandpa Socrates ... eats toxins to mithridatise himself and is having an affair with a ghost." Sarah Birke; Bedazzled by Gadgets; New Statesman (London, UK); Dec 11, 2006. -------- Date: Wed Jul 5 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--penelopize X-Bonus: We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like? -Jean Cocteau, author and painter (5 Jul 1889-1963) This week's theme: People who became verbs penelopize (puh-NEL-uh-pyz) verb intr. To delay or gain time to put off an undesired event. [From Penelope, the wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus in Greek mythology. She waited 20 years for her husband's return from the Trojan War (ten years of war, and ten years on his way home). She kept her many suitors at bay by telling them she would marry them when she had finished weaving her web, a shroud for her father-in-law. She wove the web during the day only to unravel it during the night. Earliest documented use: 1780. Her name has become a synonym for a faithful wife https://wordsmith.org/words/penelope.html .] "Penelope and the Suitors" (1912) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/penelopize_large.jpg Art: John William Waterhouse "There will my wife penelopize and teach Such love as liquefies adulterous man." Karl Jay Shapiro; Selected Poems; Library of America; Jan 27, 2003. "I was tempted to penelopize, to go back to the beginning and start again in order to postpone the moment of discussion." Roger Green; Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen; Basic Books; 2003. -------- Date: Thu Jul 6 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Robinson Crusoe X-Bonus: Animal factories are one more sign of the extent to which our technological capacities have advanced faster than our ethics. -Peter Singer, philosopher, professor of bioethics (b. 6 Jun 1946) This week's theme: People who became verbs Robinson Crusoe (ROB-in-suhn KROO-soh) verb tr.: To maroon, to isolate, or to abandon. noun: A castaway; a person who is isolated or without companionship. [After the title character of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel "Robinson Crusoe". Crusoe was a shipwrecked sailor who spent 28 years on a remote desert island. Earliest documented use: 1768. Crusoe's aide has also become an eponym in the English language: man Friday https://wordsmith.org/words/man_friday.html] A still from the film Robinson Crusoe (1902) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/robinson_crusoe_large.jpg Image: Wikipedia Commons See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Robinson%20Crusoe "I had not seen any people ... while I was Robinson Crusoed out there on the wet international border." Robert Wehrman; Walking Man: The Secret Life of Colin Fletcher; BookBaby; 2016. -------- Date: Fri Jul 7 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--out-Herod X-Bonus: A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (7 Jul 1907-1988) This week's theme: People who became verbs out-Herod (out-HER-uhd) verb tr. To surpass in cruelty, evil, extravagance, etc. [After Herod the Great (74/73 BCE - 4 BCE), who was depicted as a tyrant in old mystery plays. Earliest documented use: 1604.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/out-Herod "The Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem" (1481-88) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/out-herod_large.jpg Art: Matteo di Giovanni "The direct damage done by us, by practicing doctors, who see patients mainly for profit is likely on a scale that easily out-Herods any of the harm produced by the pharmaceutical industry." S Nassir Ghaemi; Postmodern Medicine; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland); Spring 2013. "Mr. Burroughs himself, however, out-Herods them all in the arts of whitewash." Thomas M. Disch; Pleasures of Hanging; The New York Times; Mar 15, 1981. -------- Date: Mon Jul 10 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eke X-Bonus: Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought. -Arthur Helps, writer (10 Jul 1813-1875) A company called CyberHound was blocking our email because it claimed the message included a "spam URL". So I decided to reach out via their Contact Us form https://cyberhound.com/contact-us/ . After I filled it out and pressed the submit button, the form complained that I needed to enter a minimum of five letters for my first name. Never met anyone named Jane? I wondered. Well, since the field was labeled "First Names", I just entered my name twice -- AnuAnu -- and pressed the submit button again. This time it suggested that the last name also be a minimum of five letters. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cyberhound-minimum-five-letters.png At this point I gave up. Well, Procrustes is alive and well. https://wordsmith.org/words/procrustes.html I figured even if my message reaches them, they might write back to confirm that my height is a minimum of five feet, my hands have a minimum of five digits each, and I chew a minimum of five times. Unlike some corporations out there, we don't discriminate against short names. Or short words. In fact, we'll take this week to highlight them. PS: Their CEO is named John and the Head of Products is Adam. https://cyberhound.com/company/#managementteam eke (eek) verb tr.: To earn a living, to supplement, or to make something last with great effort. (usually used in the phrase "to eke out") [From Old English ecan (increase). Ultimately from the Indo-European root aug- (increase), which also gave us auction, author, auctorial https://wordsmith.org/words/auctorial.html , authorize, inaugurate, augment, august, auxiliary, nickname ("a nickname" is a splitting of the earlier "an ekename", literally, an additional name), and wax (the verb) https://wordsmith.org/words/wax.html . Earliest documented use: 888.] adverb: Also. [From Old English éac. Earliest documented use: 700.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/eke%20out https://wordsmith.org/words/images/eke.gif Cartoon: Terry Colon http://terrycolon.com "It was hard enough eking out the time for illustrations and storyboards while the baby was napping." Maureen Child; Have Baby, Need Billionaire; Silhouette; 2011. -------- Date: Tue Jul 11 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hap X-Bonus: When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. -Ingrid Newkirk, animal rights activist (b. 11 Jul 1949) This week's theme: Short words hap (hap) noun: 1. Chance; fortune. 2. An occurrence. verb tr.: To occur. [From Old Norse happ (good luck). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kobe (to suit, fit, or succeed), which also gave us happen, happy, hapless, and mishap. Earliest documented use: 1350.] verb tr.: To clothe, cover, or wrap. See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hap [Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1390.] "Well, my hap, against astronomic odds, was to fly to Australia on a film project." Herman Wouk; The Lawgiver; Simon and Schuster; 2012. -------- Date: Wed Jul 12 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aver X-Bonus: There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (12 Jul 1817-1862) This week's theme: Short words aver (uh-VUHR) verb intr. To affirm; to assert; to allege. [From Old French averer, from Latin ad- (to) + verus (true). Earliest documented use: 1380.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/aver https://wordsmith.org/words/images/aver_large.jpg Cartoon: Jantoo "'Our biggest challenge is fiscal,' he averred during a press conference ... Markets are not so sure." Brazil's Worrying Change of Finance Ministers; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 19, 2015. -------- Date: Thu Jul 13 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lam X-Bonus: The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. -Wole Soyinka, playwright, poet, Nobel laureate (b. 13 Jul 1934) This week's theme: Short words lam (lam) verb tr., intr.: To beat soundly; to thrash. verb intr.: To escape from the law. noun: An escape from the law. [Perhaps of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented use: 1595.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lam Bosie - on the lam: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/lam_large.jpg Image: WiggyToo https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiggytoo/13776318665/ "Garvel got lammed for using a Senior's bat." Christopher Isherwood; All the Conspirators; Jonathan Cape; 1928. "And all the time he's lamming out of the country -- with our plane." Don Pendleton; Acapulco Rampage; Open Road; 2014. -------- Date: Fri Jul 14 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ana X-Bonus: Literature encourages tolerance -- bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them also as possibilities. -Northrop Frye, writer and critic (14 Jul 1912-1991) This week's theme: Short words ana (A-nuh) noun: A collection of items, such as quotations, anecdotes, etc. related to a person, place, etc. [From the suffix -ana (collection of information related to someone or something, as in Shakespeareana, Victoriana, etc.). Earliest documented use: 1728.] adverb: In equal quantities (used in prescriptions). [From Greek aná (of each). Earliest documented use: 1500.] "Someone surely has an ana of 'The Wit and Wisdom of Salman Rushdie' well underway." Ranjan Ghosh & Antonia Navarro-Tejero; Globalizing Dissent; Routledge; 2009. -------- Date: Mon Jul 17 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--retral X-Bonus: We must dissent from the fear, the hatred, and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that buried its head in the sand waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education, or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and timeless absence of moral leadership. We must dissent, because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better. -Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice (1908-1993) A saying goes: If you always do what you've always done, you always get what you've always gotten. Which makes sense, unless you are generating random numbers (the "true" kind). Well, today we've picked some random words for this week's A.Word.A.Day. As the human mind can find design in random patterns -- animals in star clusters, Jesus on toast, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia, and messages in a record played in reverse -- so may you find some connections among these words. You can get a random word from A.Word.A.Day archives at any time here: https://wordsmith.org/words/random.cgi https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pareidolia.gif Image: Pete Jelliffe https://www.flickr.com/photos/petroleumjelliffe/1389722/ retral (REE-truhl, RE-) adjective 1. Located at the back. 2. Backward. [From Latin retro (back). Earliest documented use: 1822.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/retral "Donley and Lindsay worked their way to retral chairs furthest from the speaker." J.M. Barlog; Necessary Measures; BAK Books; 1997. -------- Date: Tue Jul 18 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lateritious X-Bonus: If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. -Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel laureate (18 Jul 1918-2013) This week's theme: Random words lateritious (lat-uh-RISH-uhs) adjective Resembling, made of, or the color of, bricks. [From Latin later (brick). Earliest documented use: 1656.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/lateritious_large.jpg Image: Margaret Clough https://www.flickr.com/photos/8682461@N04/3106275131/ "All that I know is that I always feel otherness burning in my driftings. I call them storms which the sighted world would describe as rufescent*, would term them lake-coloured, rubiginous**, carnelian***, lateritious. True, there exists in me anger, there exists in me bits of poison." Will Alexander; Diary as Sin; Skylight Press; 2011. *from Latin rufus (red) **from Latin ruber (red) ***from Latin cornum (cherry) or caro (flesh) -------- Date: Wed Jul 19 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--coadjutant X-Bonus: I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. -George McGovern, senator, author, professor, and WWII pilot (19 Jul 1922-2012) This week's theme: Random words coadjutant (ko-AJ-uh-tuhnt) noun: A helper or an assistant. adjective: Helping or cooperating. [From Latin co- (with) + ad- (about) + juvare (to help). Earliest documented use: 1708.] "Kosa Pan is aboard the Oiseau, the ship that has brought him and two coadjutants from Siam on a diplomatic mission to the court of Louis XIV." Daniela Bleichmar & Peter Mancall; Collecting Across Cultures; University of Pennsylvania Press; 2011. -------- Date: Thu Jul 20 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--empyrean X-Bonus: The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace. -Carlos Santana, musician (b. 20 Jul 1947) This week's theme: Random words empyrean (em-PIR-ee-uhn, -pye-REE-) adjective 1. Relating to the highest heaven, believed to contain pure light or fire. 2. Relating to the sky; celestial. 3. Sublime; elevated. [From Latin empyreus, from Greek empyrios (fiery), from pur (fire). Other words derived from the same root are fire, pyre, pyrosis (heartburn), and pyromania (an irresistible impulse to set things on fire). Earliest documented use: 1500. A synonym of the word is empyreal https://wordsmith.org/words/empyreal.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/empyrean NOTES: This is where the idiom "to be in seventh heaven" (a state of great bliss) comes from. In many beliefs, heavens are a system of concentric spheres, the seventh heaven being the highest and a place of pure bliss. The "Divine Comedy"'s Empyrean: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/empyrean_large.jpg Illustration: by Gustave Doré, 1892 "Schubert's sprawling Ninth Symphony is an empyrean masterpiece." Robert Battey; NSO Shaky Ahead of Russia Concerts; The Washington Post; Mar 10, 2017. -------- Date: Fri Jul 21 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--niveous X-Bonus: All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time. -Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (21 Jul 1899-1961) This week's theme: Random words niveous (NIV-ee-uhs) adjective Snowy or resembling snow. [From Latin niveus, from nix (snow). Earliest documented use: 1623.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/niveous_large.jpg Photo: David Syzdek https://www.flickr.com/photos/dsyzdek/6834146023/in/photostream/ "Here, wooded hills rolled gently away to a horizon wrapped in a niveous haze." Cecilia Dart-Thornton; The Ill-Made Mute; Warner Books; 2015. -------- Date: Mon Jul 24 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--unitasking X-Bonus: For a long time we have gone along with some well-tested principles of conduct: that it was better to tell the truth than falsehoods; that a half-truth was no truth at all; that duties were older than and as fundamental as rights; that, as Justice Holmes put it, the mode by which the inevitable came to pass was effort; that to perpetuate a harm was always wrong, no matter how many joined in it, but to perpetuate it on a weaker person was particularly detestable ... Our institutions are founded on the assumption that most people will follow these principles most of the time because they want to, and the institutions work pretty well when this assumption is true. -Dean Acheson, statesman and lawyer (1893-1971) Ever wondered if "postpone" is a word, why there isn't a "prepone"? https://wordsmith.org/words/prepone.html . Well, there is, though for some reason people outside India don't feel a need to move events ahead. And why does the English language have the word warmth, but not coolth? Yet, there's the word coolth, it's just not as common as warmth. And if you think coolth is slang coined by some kid last year, you may be surprised that the word has been in use since 1547, and has been used by the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound, and Seamus Heaney. This week's A.Word.A.Day may answer similar questions you may have about other words. So you can say, again and again: Yes, Virginia, there's a word for it. unitasking (YOO-ni-tas-king) noun Doing one thing at a time. [Patterned after the word multitasking. Earliest documented use: 1985 (multitasking is from 1966).] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/multitasking.jpg https://wordsmith.org/words/images/unitasking.jpg Art: Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) "He stopped everything he was doing and looked up ... going from multi- to unitasking in a flash." Leslie Schnur; Late Night Talking; Atria; 2007. -------- Date: Tue Jul 25 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--allision X-Bonus: Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (25 Jul 1902-1983) This week's theme: There's a word for it allision (uh-LIZH-uhn) noun The act of a moving object striking against a stationary object. [From Latin allidere (to strike against), from ad- (toward) + laedere (to harm). Earliest documented use: 1615 (collision is also from 1615).] NOTES: In maritime usage, the term allision is used for a vessel striking a fixed object, while collision is between two moving ships. Frequently, the word collision is used in both cases. M/V Rio Haina's allision with the breakwall, Miami Beach Marina, June 22, 2008 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/allision_large.jpg Photo: Wikimedia Commons "She watched the beam of the flashlight play dully over the surface, and then she heard something, a faint splash, the sweet allision of breaking water." T.C. Boyle; East Is East; Penguin; 1991. -------- Date: Wed Jul 26 00:01:03 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--middlescence X-Bonus: So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (26 Jul 1894-1963) This week's theme: There's a word for it middlescence (mid-uhl-ES-uhns) noun The middle-age period of life. [Patterned after adolescence. Earliest documented use: 1965 (adolescence is from 1425).] "Just as poor Alonso Quijano, in middle age, was so bewitched by the novels of chivalry that he declared himself Don Quixote ... so the skipper of 'Rocinante Cuatro' in his own middlescence, was led by his passion for Cervantes's novel to identify himself with both its hero and, eventually, its author." John Barth; The Tidewater Tales; Putnam; 1997. -------- Date: Thu Jul 27 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yeasayer X-Bonus: It was my shame, and now it is my boast, That I have loved you rather more than most. -Hilaire Belloc, writer and poet (27 Jul 1870-1953) This week's theme: There's a word for it yeasayer (YE-say-uhr) noun 1. A person with a confident and positive outlook. 2. A person who agrees uncritically; a yes-man. [Patterned after the term naysayer. Earliest documented use: 1934 (naysayer is from 1628).] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/yeasayer_large.jpg Image: Madhava https://www.flickr.com/photos/madhava/3548734739/ "In the past his eternal yeasayer friend had always managed somehow to extract a nugget of cheer (or at the very least some twisted dark humor) from the abundant dross of life's insults and reversals." Tom Kakonis; Double Down; Brash Books; 2014. "Do you really think you could ever work with a yeasayer, who never dares to challenge you?" Gun Brooke; Sheridan's Fate; Bold Strokes Books; 2007. -------- Date: Fri Jul 28 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--longlist X-Bonus: Euphemism is a euphemism for lying. -Bobbie Gentry, singer and songwriter (b. 27 Jul 1944) This week's theme: There's a word for it longlist (LONG-list) noun: A preliminary list of candidates, such as people, places, things, etc. (for a prize, job, etc.), from which a shortlist is compiled. verb tr.: To place on a longlist. [Patterned after the word shortlist. Earliest documented use: 1972 (shortlist is from 1927).] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/longlist_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia "I've just come from the ceremony where it was announced my recent novelette has been nominated to be nominated to be nominated for the longlist for the Pulitzer Prize." Matt Potter, et al; Freak; Pure Slush Books; 2016. -------- Date: Mon Jul 31 00:01:04 EDT 2017 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--birminghamize X-Bonus: It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. -J.K. Rowling, author (b. 31 Jul 1965) In the late 19th century, men were often kidnapped to work on ships. Google hadn't been born yet, so the innovation of paying attractive wages and onsite massages was still in the future. That left drugging and kidnapping as the most common HR technique for acquiring talent on a ship. Since China was often the destination for these ships, Shanghai became a verb, meaning to recruit forcibly https://wordsmith.org/words/shanghai.html . (The name Shanghai literally means upon-the-sea). Shanghai may be the best-known example of a place name turning into a verb, but there are many such words in the English language. A few weeks back, we met people who became verbs https://wordsmith.org/words/grimthorpe.html in the English language. This week, let's visit places that became verbs. If your city, village, state, or country were to become a verb, how would you define it? Share it on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/birminghamize.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. birminghamize (BUHR-ming-ham-aiz) verb tr. To render artificial. [After Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Another word with a similar sense has formed from the corruption of the name Birmingham: brummagem https://wordsmith.org/words/brummagem.html . Earliest documented use: 1856.] NOTES: True to their name, in Birmingham, they have artificial grass https://www.yelp.co.uk/search?cflt=artificialturf&find_loc=Birmingham%2C+West+Midlands, artificial body parts http://birminghamvascularassociatespc.com/prosthetics/, artificial collections http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/cadbury/archives/artificial/index.aspx, and even colleges offering degrees in artificial intelligence: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/computer-science/artificial-intelligence-computer-science.aspx "Artificial tutors with human capabilities" https://wordsmith.org/words/images/birminghamize.jpg Birmingham, birminghamizing things since the 17th century Image: University of Birmingham http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/02/18-Feb-13-A-class-act-empathic-robot-tutors-in-classrooms-to-facilitate-teaching-and-learning.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20160605053719/http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2013/02/18-Feb-13-A-class-act-empathic-robot-tutors-in-classrooms-to-facilitate-teaching-and-learning.aspx "The manners and customs of society are artificial -- made-up men with made-up manners -- and thus the whole is Birminghamized." Ralph Waldo Emerson; English Traits; 1856.