A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Aug 1 00:01:04 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mores X-Bonus: It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) This week's theme: Words seen in their plural forms mores (MOHR-ayz) noun Customs and conventions of a social group. [Plural of Latin mos (custom). Earliest documented use: 1898.] "The Diamond Jubilee has prompted a slew of new royal biographies, making familiar points about how the monarchy has shrewdly adapted to modern mores." The Death of Meritocracy; The Economist (London, UK); Feb 11, 2012. -------- Date: Fri Aug 2 00:01:03 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antipodes X-Bonus: How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward. -Spanish proverb This week's theme: Words seen in their plural forms antipodes (an-TIP-uh-deez) noun 1. Two places situated on the diametrically opposite sides of the earth. 2. The exact opposite of someone or something. 3. Australia and New Zealand. [Via Latin from Greek antipodes (literally, those having the feet opposite, i.e. having feet on opposite sides of the earth), plural of antipous, from anti- (opposite) + pous (foot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot) which gave us peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall) https://wordsmith.org/words/peccadillo.html , pedal, impeccable, podium, octopus, and impeach. Earliest documented use: 1398.] Find your antipodal point at http://antipodr.com/. "Tasmania's most celebrated attraction now is the Museum of Old and New Art, outside Hobart. Everyone in the antipodes knows its titillating backstory." James Fallows; Tasmania: Maybe the Most Unforgettable Place Ever; The Atlantic Monthly (Boston); Jun 19, 2013. "At no other time have the sensibilities of America's Atlantic and Pacific cosmopolitan antipodes stood in sharper contrast." Peter Schjeldahl; Seeing and Disbelieving; The New Yorker; Jul 2013. -------- Date: Mon Aug 5 00:01:04 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Ponzi scheme X-Bonus: The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly. -Charles Reznikoff, poet (1894-1976) Getting yourself into the dictionary may be considered the ultimate way to immortality. There's more than one way to do it. You could write great works of literature (orwellian https://wordsmith.org/words/orwellian.html, kafkaesque https://wordsmith.org/words/kafkaesque.html ) or you could devise a medical procedure (Apgar score https://wordsmith.org/words/apgar_score.html ) that helps countless sick people regain good health, for example. Or you could do things so bad your name becomes enshrined in the language. This week we'll feature five baddies who took the last route and are now an integral part of the English language, even though that wasn't their motivation. We'll look at a cheater, a traitor, a killer, a faker, and an infector. To meet the characters in this rogues' gallery, we'll start with the US, then visit Norway, Scotland, and Ukraine, and then back to the US. Ponzi scheme (PON-zee skeem) noun An investment swindle in which high profits are promised from fictitious sources and early investors are paid off with funds raised from later ones. [After Charles Ponzi (1882-1949), a speculator who organized such a scheme during 1919-1920. He was neither the first nor the last person to float this or a similar scheme, just someone who did it on a massive scale. See the list of Ponzi schemes in history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ponzi_schemes . Earliest documented use: 1920.] Charles Ponzi: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/ponzi_scheme.jpg [Source: Smithsonian] "In China efforts to educate the unwary extend to the streets. Walls are daubed with murals illustrating the dangers of Ponzi schemes." Stoneless Rivers; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 5, 2013. -------- Date: Tue Aug 6 00:01:07 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quisling X-Bonus: As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to live it more and more. -Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910) This week's theme: Words coined after baddies quisling (KWIZ-ling) noun A traitor, especially one who aids an invading enemy. [After Major Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), a Norwegian army officer who collaborated (1940-1945) with the German occupying forces during World War II and ruled Norway as head of the puppet government. He was shot for treason after the German defeat. Besides a noun, his name has become a verb as well https://wordsmith.org/words/quisle.html . Earliest documented use: 1940.] Benedict Arnold was another army officer whose name turned into an eponym, as a synonym for a traitor: https://wordsmith.org/words/benedict_arnold.html . Quisling visiting a German propaganda exhibition in Oslo, Aug 15, 1944 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quisling_large.jpg Photo: National Archives of Norway http://www.flickr.com/photos/national_archives_of_norway/5492195359/ "Zoran Djindjic will be remembered as a quisling who enriched himself by selling his country to those who had waged war against it." Neil Clark; The Quisling of Belgrade; The Guardian (London, UK); Mar 13, 2003. -------- Date: Wed Aug 7 00:01:03 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--burke X-Bonus: We must not be frightened nor cajoled into accepting evil as deliverance from evil. We must go on struggling to be human, though monsters of abstractions police and threaten us. -Robert Hayden, poet and educator (1913-1980) This week's theme: Words coined after baddies burke (buhrk) verb tr. 1. To murder by suffocation. 2. To silence or suppress. 3. To avoid or bypass. [After William Burke (1792-1829), who killed people to sell their bodies for dissection. His preferred method was smothering so as to leave the body unmarked and suitable for dissection. He was captured, hanged, and on the judge's orders, his body was publicly dissected. Earliest documented use: 1829.] William Burke: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/burke_large.jpg Illustration: T. Clerk, National Galleries of Scotland "When Logeto came in, the killer burked him. Logeto never made a sound." William Diehl; Hooligans; Villard Books; 1984. "There is no point in burking the truth: Gandhi and India are fast going to be at odds with each other." Does Mahatma Gandhi Matter?; Business Line (Chennai, India); Oct 1, 2007. -------- Date: Thu Aug 8 00:01:04 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Potemkin village X-Bonus: Most institutions demand unqualified faith; but the institution of science makes skepticism a virtue. -Robert King Merton, sociologist (1910-2003) This week's theme: Words coined after baddies Potemkin village (po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) noun An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts. [After Prince Grigory Potemkin, who erected cardboard villages to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Ukraine and Crimea in 1787. Earliest documented use: 1904.] Prince Potemkin: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/potemkin_village_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia "In Berlin, Lindbergh's wife, Anne, was blinded by the glittering façade of a Potemkin village." Susan Dunn; The Debate Behind U.S. Intervention in World War II; The Atlantic (Boston); Jul 8, 2013. -------- Date: Fri Aug 9 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Typhoid Mary X-Bonus: There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. -Henry van Dyke, poet (1852-1933) This week's theme: Words coined after baddies Typhoid Mary (TY-foid MAIR-ee) noun A person from whom a disease or something undesirable spreads. [After Mary Mallon (1869-1938), a cook in New York, who was a healthy carrier (contagious but showing no symptoms) of typhoid. She died of pneumonia. Earliest documented use: 1909.] Typhoid Mary (on the left in the photograph) quarantined in a hospital https://wordsmith.org/words/images/typhoid_mary_large.jpg . Photo: Wikimedia Read/watch more about Typhoid Mary on PBS Nova: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/typhoid/ . "I walked out of the ward wearing the surgical mask and kept it on for forty-eight hours to avoid becoming Typhoid Mary." Kenneth Schneyer; Life of the Author Plus Seventy; Analog Science Fiction & Fact (New York); Sep 2013. "Insomnia is a global pandemic whose Typhoid Mary was Thomas Edison, forcing fake sunlight into hours when ancient biology demands shut-eye." Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep; The Scientist (Midland, Canada); Sep 2012. -------- Date: Mon Aug 12 00:01:05 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--snowbroth X-Bonus: You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. -Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate (1911-2006) If you don't like the world you live in, why not create the kind of world you'd like to live in? Fix what's broken, fill what needs to be filled. The same can be said about words. If you don't have a word to describe what you want to describe, why not dig into a dictionary and find it? Failing that, why not create a word for it? That's how a language grows, as well as by borrowing and adapting existing words into new meanings, etc. This week we'll feature five words that are already part of the English language, but not well known. snowbroth (SNO-broth) noun Melted snow. [From Old English snaw (snow) + broth (broth). Earliest documented use: 1600.] "Snowballs and snowmen and snowbroth boiled on our tinny fires on the beach." Christopher Rush; A Twelvemonth and a Day; Canongate Books; 2010. -------- Date: Tue Aug 13 00:01:07 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--anatopism X-Bonus: It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. -George H. Lorimer, editor (1868-1937) This week's theme: There is a word for it anatopism (uh-NAT-uh-piz-ehm) noun The error of placing something out of its proper place; also something placed erroneously. [From Greek ana- (against) + topos (place). Anatopism is to place what anachronism https://wordsmith.org/words/anachronism.html is to time. Earliest documented use: 1812.] In an alternate universe, Egypt is a landlocked country: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55362030@N02/5405104018/ "The Bard is often accused of anatopism -- that is, getting his geography wrong. Why else would he, in 'The Taming of the Shrew', put a sailmaker in Bergamo, a landlocked city in Italy, ask critics?" D. Murali; Shakespeare, 'Literary Equivalent of an Electron'; The Hindu (Chennai, India); Dec 2, 2007. "Homer may have taken some slight and temporary liberty with the facts, but it does not amount to the major anatopism that some commentators have found in it and should not be taken as evidence that Homer did not have firsthand knowledge of the area." John Victor Luce; Celebrating Homer's Landscapes; Yale University Press; 1998. -------- Date: Wed Aug 14 00:01:05 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quaternary X-Bonus: They defend their errors as if they were defending their inheritance. -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797) This week's theme: There is a word for it quaternary (KWOT-uhr-ner-ee, kwuh-TUHR-nuh-ree) adjective: 1. Of the fourth order. 2. Consisting of or arranged in fours. noun: 1. A group of four. 2. The number four. [From Latin quattuor (four). Earliest documented use: 1450.] "The patient referral system started at the primary, to secondary, to tertiary, and finally to the quaternary level of health care." Jane Kanchense; Zimbabwe's Child Brides; Trafford; 2011. -------- Date: Thu Aug 15 00:01:05 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--elflock X-Bonus: A sneer is the weapon of the weak. -James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891) This week's theme: There is a word for it elflock (ELF-lok) noun A tangled lock of hair. [An elflock is a mass of hair supposedly tangled by elves, as a mother might explain to her daughter while untangling her snarled locks after a slumber. From Old English aelf. Ultimately from the Indo-European root albho- (white), which is also the source of oaf, albino, album, albumen, and albedo https://wordsmith.org/words/albedo.html . Earliest documented use: 1596.] "Rowling's stories hurtle along like an out-of-control broomstick; her plots are as tangled as elflocks." Harry Potter and the Magic Brew-haha; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Dec 19, 1999. -------- Date: Fri Aug 16 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--allochthonous X-Bonus: A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. -John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist (1806-1873) This week's theme: There is a word for it allochthonous (uh-LOK-thuh-nuhs) adjective Originating in a region other than where it is found. [From Greek from allos (other) + chthon (earth, land). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhghem- (earth), which also sprouted human, homicide, humble, homage, chamomile, exhume, inhume https://wordsmith.org/words/inhume.html, chthonic https://wordsmith.org/words/chthonic.html , disinter https://wordsmith.org/words/disinter.html , chameleonic https://wordsmith.org/words/chameleonic.html , and Persian zamindar (landholder). Earliest documented use: 1888.] "Like many other countries with a colonial legacy, Rwanda's constitutions before 1994 were rather allochthonous. The existing constitutions were based on foreign models which never took into account the peculiarities of the Rwandan nation." Michael Ngabo; Alleged Lack of Political Space; The New Times (Rwanda); Apr 6, 2011. "Fish populations have been deeply altered, allochthonous fish species accounting for the 42% of the total fish species in the Ebro." Damià Barceló and Mira Petrovic; The Ebro River Basin; Springer; 2011. -------- Date: Mon Aug 19 00:01:03 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bluebeard X-Bonus: To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797) A few weeks ago we saw baddies from the real world (https://wordsmith.org/words/ponzi_scheme.html), and now it's time to visit the rogues' gallery from fiction. This week we'll see a killer, a maimer, a seducer, a petrifier, and an evil scientist. Which world do you think has worse baddies? Factual or fictional? Bluebeard (BLOO-beerd) noun A man who marries and kills one wife after another. [After Bluebeard, nickname of Raoul, the blue-bearded main character in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (1628-1703). In the story, Bluebeard's wife finds the bodies of his previous wives in a room she was forbidden to enter. The feminine equivalent of the word could be black widow. Earliest documented use: 1795. Bluebeard attempting to kill his last wife: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bluebeard_large.jpg Art: Frédéric Lix (1830-1897) "I'd always considered you more of a monk than a Bluebeard. This new pattern is somewhat a concern." Cathy Maxwell; Treasured Vows; Avon; 2004. -------- Date: Tue Aug 20 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--procrustes X-Bonus: The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) This week's theme: Baddies from fiction Procrustes (pro-KRUS-teez) noun A person imposing conformity without concern for individuality. [After Procrustes, a giant in Greek mythology, who stretched or cut his victims to make them fit his bed. He was killed by Theseus. From Greek Procroustes (stretcher). The word is more often used in its adjective form procrustean https://wordsmith.org/words/procrustean.html . Earliest documented use: 1581.] Theseus slaying Procrustes: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/procrustes_large.jpg Photo: Wikimedia "But is not almost every man a Procrustes? We have not the power of showing our cruelty exactly in the same method, but actuated by the like spirit, we abridge of their liberty, and torment by scorn, all who either fall short, or exceed the usual standard." Sarah Scott; Millennium Hall; Broadview Press; 1995. -------- Date: Wed Aug 21 00:01:07 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--siren X-Bonus: Insanity in individuals is something rare -- but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900) This week's theme: Baddies from fiction siren (SY-ruhn) noun 1. A beautiful and seductive woman, especially one leading others into disaster. 2. Something attractive that is potentially disastrous. 3. A device that makes loud sounds, used for warning signals. [After Siren, one of a group of sea nymphs, whose enchanting singing lured sailors to shipwreck on the rocks around their island. Also see femme fatale https://wordsmith.org/words/femme_fatale.html . Earliest documented use: 1340.] The Siren https://wordsmith.org/words/images/siren_large.jpg Art: Edward Armitage (1817-1876) "That woman is a siren of cooking. She calls a man's soul through his stomach." Ariana Franklin; Mistress of the Art of Death; Penguin; 2007. "In the mid-17th century Russians first heard its [The Amur River, bordering Russia and China] siren song and appeared on its banks, drawn by greed and fantasy." The Amur's Siren Song; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 17, 2009. -------- Date: Thu Aug 22 00:01:05 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gorgon X-Bonus: The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. -Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and novelist (1811-1896) This week's theme: Baddies from fiction gorgon (GOR-guhn) noun An ugly, repulsive, or terrifying woman. [After Gorgon, any of the three monstrous sisters Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa in Greek mythology, who had snakes for hair. They turned into stone anyone who looked into their eyes. From Greek gorgos (dreadful). Earliest documented use: 1398.] Medusa, a gorgon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gorgon_large.jpg Sculpture: Gian Lorenzo Bernini Photo: Jane Marie Cleveland http://www.flickr.com/photos/janeland/6971822220/ "Without warning, she fell to the floor in labor pains, screaming like a gorgon." Douglas Coupland; Miss Wyoming; Random House; 2000. -------- Date: Fri Aug 23 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Dr. Strangelove X-Bonus: An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. -Don Marquis, humorist and poet (1878-1937) This week's theme: Baddies from fiction Dr. Strangelove (DOK-tuhr STRAYNJ-luv) noun Someone who is reckless about the use of weapons such as nuclear bombs. [After Dr. Strangelove, title character of the 1963 film directed by Stanley Kubrick. Strangelove, a former Nazi, is a nuclear expert and adviser to the president. Earliest documented use: 1968.] Actor Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove https://wordsmith.org/words/images/dr_strangelove_large.png Photo: Wikimedia "In both the world of new science and that of quick-fix military technology we need, more than ever, to be on perpetual guard against the Dr. Strangeloves of the future." Dr. J Richardson; War Science and Terrorism; Frank Cass; 2002. -------- Date: Mon Aug 26 00:01:06 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--apheresis X-Bonus: Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live. -Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy (b. 1932) Words are the lifeblood of the human species. They help circulate thoughts, ideas, and dreams from one person to another. They nourish us. They soothe us. They make us boil. Words can cure, mend, and heal. The right word can work like medicine. This week we'll see five words about words. Each of these words also has a meaning related to medicine. apheresis (for 1: uh-FER-i-sis, for 2: af-uh-REE-sis) noun 1. The loss of one or more sounds or letters from the beginning of a word. For example, the change in pronunciation of the word knife from k-nyf to nyf or the formation of till from until. 2. A method in which blood is drawn from a donor, one or more blood components (such as plasma, platelets, or white blood cells) are removed, and the rest is returned to the donor by transfusion. [From Latin aphaeresis, from Greek aphairesis (taking away), from aphairein (to take away), from apo- (away) + hairein (to take). Earliest documented use: 1550.] "Williams gives the Narragansett word in full [poquauhock], though common usage reduced it and Anglicized it through apheresis [to quahog]." Ray Huling; Harvesting the Bay; Lyons Press; 2012. "He had quartered in Memphis with Cynthia for weeks, giving over his stem cells through apheresis." Jan Karon; In the Company of Others; Viking; 2010. -------- Date: Tue Aug 27 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--syncope X-Bonus: New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. -John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704) This week's theme: Words and Medicine syncope (SING-kuh-pee) noun 1. The shortening of a word by omission of sounds or letters from its middle. For example, "did not" to "didn't" or Worcester to Wooster. 2. Fainting caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain. [From Latin syncope, from Greek synkope (contraction, cutting off), from syn- (together) + koptein (to cut). Earliest documented use: c. 1400.] "There were important books on vowel syncope in Greek and Indo-European." Robert Coleman; Oswald Szemerenyi -- Hungary's Eclectic Cockney Linguist; The Guardian (London, UK); Feb 24, 1997. "'I'm no doctor, but they say I just fainted,' said Pavelec, who had what is termed a neurocardiogenic syncope episode." NHL Report; The Philadelphia Inquirer; Oct 20, 2010. -------- Date: Wed Aug 28 00:01:03 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aspirate X-Bonus: A timid question will always receive a confident answer. -Charles John Darling, lawyer, judge, and politician (1849-1936) This week's theme: Words and Medicine aspirate (verb: AS-puh-rayt, noun: AS-puhr-it) verb tr. verb tr.: 1. To pronounce a sound with an exhalation of breath. 2. To pronounce the h sound at the beginning of a word as "hwich" for "which". 3. To inhale something (such as a fluid) into the lungs, as after throwing up. 4. To draw a fluid from a body cavity by suction. noun: 1. The sound represented by h. 2. A speech sound followed by an audible puff of breath. 3. The matter removed from a body cavity by suction. [From Latin aspirare (to breathe, blow). Earliest documented use: 1669.] "Woody Allen's tone is often aspirated and screechy, lacking the clarinet's melted chocolate smoothness." Steven Mirkin; Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band at UCLA; The Hollywood Reporter; Dec 31, 2011. "Whitney Houston brings out the aspirates or glottals at the start of each word." Alexandra Coghlan; A Voice That Destroyed Itself; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 20, 2012. "This condition causes everything that he eats to aspirate into his lungs." Benefit Dinner; Idaho State Journal (Pocatello); Dec 1, 2011. -------- Date: Thu Aug 29 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--prolepsis X-Bonus: A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder. -English proverb This week's theme: Words and Medicine prolepsis (pro-LEP-sis) noun 1. The use of a descriptive word in anticipation of the result. Example: The word "hot" in "hot water heater". 2. The anticipation and answering of an objection or argument before it's raised. Also known as prebuttal. 3. The representation of an event before it actually happened. Example: He lost the game even before the match began. 4. The anachronistic representation of an event before its actual time. Also known as prochronism. Example: A depiction of people talking wirelessly over long distances in 18th century. 5. A literary technique in which the author drops hints of things to come. Also known as foreshadowing. 6. The return of a paroxysm of a periodic disease before its usual time or at progressively shorter intervals. [From Greek prolepsis, from prolambanein (to anticipate), from pro- (before) + lambanein (to take). Earliest documented use: 1450.] "As preservationists and residents threatened with displacement join 're-open Charity' proponents, planners symbolically engage in prolepsis, rhetorically precluding opposing arguments with flash forward of supposedly 'done deals.'" Anne Lovell; Debating Life After Disaster; Medical Anthropology Quarterly; Jun 2011. "You have no right to interrupt the council's session, and such a dangerous prolepsis as this will not be allowed to change the debate." Kim Stanley Robinson; Galileo's Dream; Spectra; 2009. "The thought threw me into a vernal prolepsis, a mental flash-forward to spring." Verlyn Klinkenborg; The Farm From Afar; The New York Times; Mar 22, 2013. -------- Date: Fri Aug 30 00:01:02 EDT 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--agglutinate X-Bonus: Questions show the mind's range, and answers its subtlety. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824) This week's theme: Words and Medicine agglutinate (verb: uh-GLOOT-n-ayt, adjective: uh-GLOOT-n-it, -ayt) verb tr., intr.: 1. To form words by combining words or word elements. 2. To join or become joined as if by glue. 3. To clump or cause to clump, as red blood cells. adjective: 1. Joined or tending to join. 2. Relating to a language that makes complex words by joining words or word elements extensively. For example as in Turkish. [From Latin gluten (glue). Earliest documented use: 1541.] "Directorate of Agriculture and Food Industry": https://wordsmith.org/words/images/agglutinate_large.jpg A trilingual sign from Romania (in Romanian, Hungarian, and German) Hungarian is an agglutinate language, but German also makes heavy use of agglutination Photo: Wikimedia "Like Turkish, Tuyuca is heavily agglutinating, so that one word, hóabãsiriga means 'I do not know how to write.'" Tongue Twisters; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 17, 2009. http://www.economist.com/node/15108609 "There were two kinds of blood on that laboratory floor, and they do not agglutinate." Arthur B. Reeve; The Dream Doctor; Echo; 2007.