A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Sun Aug 1 00:01:48 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--irredentist X-Bonus: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. -Haida Indian Saying irredentist (ir-i-DEN-tist) noun One who advocates the recovery of territory culturally or historically related to one's nation but now subject to a foreign government. [Italian irredentista, from (Italia) irredenta, unredeemed (Italy), Italian- speaking areas subject to other countries, feminine of irredento : in-, not (from Latin in-) + redento, redeemed, from Latin redemptus, past participle of redimere, to redeem.] "It (China) is a rising regional power with irredentist claims on Taiwan, the Spratley Islands, and border areas abutting both Vietnam and India." The China Syndrome, The New Republic, 29 Mar 1999. Ok, it is not a tooth word but I couldn't resist. Well, maybe an irredentist is one who advocates the recovery of lost teeth. -Anu (-; -------- Date: Mon Aug 2 00:01:51 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hydra X-Bonus: The community as a whole doesn't listen patiently to critics who adopt alternative viewpoints. Although the great lesson of history is that knowledge develops through the conflict of viewpoints. -Walter Gilbert hydra (HIGH-druh) noun Any of several small freshwater polyps of the genus Hydra and related genera, having a naked cylindrical body and an oral opening surrounded by tentacles. [New Latin Hydra, genus name, from Latin Hydra.] Hydra 1. The many-headed monster that was slain by Hercules. 2. A constellation in the equatorial region of the southern sky near Cancer, Libra, and Centaurus. Also called Snake. 3. A persistent or multifaceted problem that cannot be eradicated by a single effort. [Middle English Idra, from Latin Hydra, from Greek Hudra, Hydra, a water serpent.] "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has smitten several of the heads springing from the political Hydra seemingly out to get him." Sarah Honig, Fighting a many-headed serpent, Jerusalem Post, 31 Dec 1997. When you call your good-humored friend jovial, do you know you are comparing him to Jupiter, the principal god in classical mythology? Also known by the names Jove and Zeus, he is considered the source of joy and happiness. That's the reason astrologers proclaim jolliness, conviviality, and sociability as attributes of those born under the planet Jupiter. The mythology of the Greeks and Romans is the source of scores of metaphors in the English language. This week's AWAD features seven of them. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Aug 3 00:01:38 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vulcanian X-Bonus: When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld vulcanian (vul-KAY-nee-uhn) adjective 1. Geology. Of, relating to, or originating from an explosive volcanic eruption. 2. Of or relating to Vulcan. 3. Of or relating to metalworking or craft. [From Vulcan, the god of fire and metalworking in Roman Mythology.] "Fuego, in Guatemala, has had vulcanian eruptions every few years." Richard E. Stoiber, Volcanoes, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 28 Feb 1996. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Wed Aug 4 00:01:29 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cornucopia X-Bonus: The little I know, I owe to my ignorance. -Sacha Guitry, actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright (21 Feb 1885-1957) cornucopia (kor-nuh-KO-pee-uh) noun 1. A goat's horn overflowing with fruit, flowers, and grain, signifying prosperity. Also called horn of plenty. 2. Greek Mythology. The horn of the goat that suckled Zeus, which broke off and became filled with fruit. In folklore, it became full of whatever its owner desired. 3. A cone-shaped ornament or receptacle. 4. An overflowing store; an abundance. [Late Latin cornucopia, from Latin cornu copiae : cornu, horn + copiae, genitive of copia, plenty.] "Despite its losses, the Crimson showed just how bountiful its cornucopia of talent is." Eduardo Perez-Giz, Harvard women lose hard-fought contest to Rhode Island, University Wire, 10 Dec 1998. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Thu Aug 5 00:01:41 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--labyrinth X-Bonus: To have great poets, there must be great audiences. -Walt Whitman, poet (1819-1892) labyrinth (LAB-eh-rinth) noun 1. An intricate structure of interconnecting passages through which it is difficult to find one's way; a maze. Labyrinth: The maze in which the Minotaur was confined in Greek mythology. 2. Something highly intricate or convoluted in character, composition, or construction 3. A group of complex interconnecting anatomical cavities. [Middle English laberinthe, from Latin labyrinthus, from Greek laburinthos possibly akin to labrus, double-headed axe, of Lydian origin.] "His curiosity aroused, Eibi dug open one of the mounds, to find inside a spiraling labyrinth of tunnels, storage chambers full of edible plant parts, a nest chamber, and a toilet chamber full of the droppings of some small animal." Diamond, Jared, Evolving backward, Discover Magazine, 1 Sep 1998. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Fri Aug 6 00:01:50 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bacchant X-Bonus: Words are like leaves; and where they most abound / Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. -Alexander Pope bacchant (buh-KANT, -KAHNT, BAK-uhnt) noun (plural bacchants or bacchantes) 1. A priest or votary of Bacchus. 2. A boisterous reveler. [Latin bacchans, bacchant-,present participle of bacchari, to celebrate the festival of Bacchus, from Bacchus (the god of wine and of an orgiastic religion celebrating the power and fertility of nature, also called Dionysus) from Greek Bakkhos.] "In 1875 Fort Calgary was established by the Mounties to quell that (liquor) trade, but judging by the merrymaking and blind staggers of the rampaging bacchants visible nightly throughout the Games, the Mounties failed in their mission." Robert F. Jones, Olympics: Blowin' Hot And Gold, Life, 1 Apr 1988. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Sat Aug 7 00:01:35 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--boreas X-Bonus: History is fables agreed upon. -Voltaire (1694-1778) Boreas (BOR-ee-uhs, BOAR-) noun 1. The god of the north wind in Greek Mythology. 2. boreas. The north wind. [Middle English, from Latin Boreas, from Greek, from boreios, coming from the north.] "Impressions: A chronic complaint along the coast of Veracruz is the blast of Boreas called the `Norther.' It swoops down upon the sea like a bird of prey, sending ships ashore, and laying low many a forest monarch and many a residence on land. -- Fredrick A. Ober, Travels in Mexico and Life Among the Mexicans, 1884." Marita Adair, Veracruz & the Gulf Coast, Frommer's Mexico, 1 May 1996. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Sun Aug 8 00:01:49 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--muse X-Bonus: The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men. -Emile Zola (1840-1902) muse (myooz) verb intr. To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. verb tr. To consider or say thoughtfully. noun A state of meditation. [Middle English musen, from Old French muser (possibly from mus, snout, from Medieval Latin musum), or of Germanic origin.] Muse (myooz) noun 1. Any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science. 2. muse A guiding spirit. A source of inspiration. 3. muse. A poet. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin Musa, from Greek Mousa.] "Lisa McRee: And real quickly, who are the boys in the basement? Stephen King: The boys in the basement are they guys who actually do my heavy lifting. They're the muses. And we have a picture of muses as being very ethereal creatures, but I think they are nonunion labor. They are hard working guys with Camels rolled up in the sleeves of their shirts." Lisa McRee, Kevin Newman, Stephen King's "Bag of Bones", ABC Good Morning America, 23 Sep 1998. This week's theme: words from Greek and Roman mythology. -------- Date: Mon Aug 9 00:01:59 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fedora X-Bonus: Knowing all truth is less than doing a little bit of good. -Albert Schweitzer [The Thoughts of Albert Schweitzer] fedora (fi-DAWR-uh, -dor-) noun A soft felt hat with a fairly low crown creased lengthwise and a brim that can be turned up or down. [After Fedora, a play by Victorien Sardou (1831-1908).] "At the heat of the day, wearing his dark business suit and the gray fedora he fancied at the time, McCarthy ventured in. White-feathered turkeys, squawking, were hanging from the overhead conveyor belt, waiting to have their throats slit, their feathers plucked and their bodies eviscerated." Frank Wright, McCarthy through the years, Star Tribune, 11 Apr 1996. What is the yardstick for a fictional work's success in your book? A hefty advance, rave reviews, or a sale of millions? A feat only a very few works have achieved is when the title of the work itself becomes a word in the dictionary. This week's AWAD presents seven words or phrases from the titles of novels, plays, and stories that have taken on a life of their own in the English dictionary. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Aug 10 00:01:37 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Sturm und Drang X-Bonus: Man is certainly stark mad: he cannot make a flea, yet he makes gods by the dozens. -Montaigne Sturm und Drang (SHTOORM oont DRANG) noun 1. Turmoil; ferment. 2. A late-18th-century German romantic literary movement whose works typically depicted the struggles of a highly emotional individual against conventional society. [German, storm and stress after Sturm und Drang (1776), a drama by Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752-1831).] "About a year ago, I wrote that Ed Downe and Charlotte Ford - the famous heiress, daughter of Anne Johnson and the late Henry Ford II - were divorcing after much Sturm und Drang (including her standing by him despite his troubles with the SEC)." Liz Smith, A New Beatty Baby, Newsday, 4 Feb 1994. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Wed Aug 11 00:17:01 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ugly duckling X-Bonus: The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. -George Baker (1877-1965) ugly duckling (UG-lee DUK-ling) noun One that is considered ugly or unpromising at first but has the potential of becoming beautiful or admirable in maturity. [After The Ugly Duckling, a story by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).] "The British actress was asked to consider playing Benny, a feisty, lovable and chubby ugly duckling who, through the course of the film, develops into a mature swan." Paula S. Bernstein, In the Driver's seat // British actress Minnie Driver expands her horizons in Irish `Circle of Friends', Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10 Apr 1995. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Thu Aug 12 00:16:47 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Jekyll and Hyde X-Bonus: No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there. -F. Scott Fitzgerald Jekyll and Hyde (JEK-uhl and hyde, JEE-kuhl) noun One who has a dual personality that alternates between phases of good and evil behavior. [After The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).] "When Jodie Hyde was 13, she decided to sniff some butane gas from a cigarette lighter refill can .... The Hydes say it has turned Jodie into a `monster', an 18-year-old Jekyll and Hyde." Ros Wynne-Jones, Butane turned our girl into a lying, filthy thief, Independent on Sunday, 24 Aug 1997. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Fri Aug 13 10:10:06 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--last hurrah X-Bonus: It is not necessarily true that averaging the averages of different populations gives the average of the combined population. -Simpson's Paradox last hurrah (last hoo-rah) noun A final appearance or effort, especially at the end of a career. [After The Last Hurrah, a novel by American writer Edwin O'Connor (1918-1968).] "Years from now, how many thousands of fans, scores of thousands, will claim to have been at Maple Leaf Gardens on the evening of Feb. 13, 1999, for the last hurrah, the final farewell?" Rosie DiManno, Fans weep as hockey era ends, The Toronto Star, 14 Feb 1999. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Sat Aug 14 00:05:13 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tobacco road X-Bonus: apologize, v.i.: To lay the foundation for a future offence. -Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1906) tobacco road (tuh-BAK-oh road) noun A poverty-stricken rural community. [After Tobacco Road (1932), a novel by Erskine Preston Caldwell (1903-1987).] "Judging by the faded overalls he recently wore to work, Red Hat's lawyer, Dave Shumannfang, seems to have forgotten he's not a farmer along Tobacco Road." Chris Burritt, Red Hat Software riding rising popularity of Linux, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 28 Mar 1999. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Sun Aug 15 00:05:14 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tar baby X-Bonus: I don't want yes men around me. I want everyone to tell the truth, even if it costs them their jobs. -Samuel Goldwyn tar baby (tahr BAY-bee) noun A situation or problem from which it is virtually impossible to disentangle oneself. [After "Bre'r Rabbit and the Tar Baby," (1879) an Uncle Remus story by Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908).] "Before Johnson fell for the tar baby of Vietnam, Americans believed their Presidents almost always told them the truth." Lance Morrow, Nation: The Whole World Was Watching When the Democrats Last Convened in Chicago, The War Broke Out at Home, Time, 26 Aug 1996. This week's theme: words or phrases from the titles of fictional works. -------- Date: Mon Aug 16 00:05:13 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--croesus X-Bonus: Son, when you grow up you will know who I really am. I am just a child like you who has been forced to act responsibly. -Rod Byrnes Croesus (KREE-suhs) noun A very wealthy man. [After Croesus, last king of Lydia (560-546 BCE) whose kingdom, which had prospered during his reign, fell to the Persians under Cyrus.] "There is no reliable figure for the amount of money amassed by Andrew (Mellon), the descendant of Irish immigrants, but certainly it was many millions of dollars, equivalent to billions today. He was a Croesus whose golden touch gave him a grip on much of American industry, including power, mining, civil engineering and insurance." Paul Mellon, The Economist, 20 Feb 1999. An intriguing yardstick of wealth is how much money it would be worth one's time to stop and pick up from the street. According to the Bill Gates Wealth Index ( http://www.templetons.com/brad/billg.html ) it is $10,000 for Gates. In other words, he makes much more than ten grand in the few moments it would take for him to bend over and pick up that money from the road. I wonder when we are going to get Gates as a new eponym in the dictionaries. In the meanwhile we will do with Croesus. Just in case you are curious, Croesus made his fortune in mining and in sifting gold through the waters of the Pactolus river where King Midas (of Midas touch fame) washed away his scourge--there was no Windows(tm) at that time. (Don't you think the Lydians were blessed?) -Anu -------- Date: Tue Aug 17 00:01:31 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adonis X-Bonus: Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it. -Plato Adonis (a-DON-is, a-DOE-nis) noun 1. Greek Mythology. A strikingly beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite. 2. Often adonis. A very handsome young man. [Greek Adonis, from Phoenician adon, lord.] "Granted, we're not as great to look at, but nonetheless, the next time you're with your man and spot a jogging Adonis, take a cue from Kelly and holler ...." Ellsworth, James, Is your man an ogler?, Cosmopolitan, 1 May 1998. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Wed Aug 18 00:01:38 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lavaliere X-Bonus: If a man points at the moon, an idiot will look at the finger. -Sufi wisdom lavaliere (lav-uh-LIR) also lavalliere (la-va-LYAR) noun A pendant worn on a chain around the neck. [French lavalliere, type of necktie after Duchesse de La Valliere, title of Francoise Louise de la Baume Le Blanc.] "Chung's concluding remarks describe an obvious interview situation, including hot lights blaring and a lavaliere microphone clipped to Mrs. Gingrich's clothing." Knox, John M., On the record or off the record? How much should you say in an interview?, Communication World, 1 Mar 1995. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Thu Aug 19 00:01:40 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sword of Damocles X-Bonus: It is easier to buy books than to read them, and easier to read them than to absorb them. -William Osler, physician (1849-1919) sword of Damocles (sord uv DAM-uh-kleez) noun Constant threat; imminent peril. [After Damocles, fourth century BCEGreek courtier to Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, who according to legend was forced to sit at a banquet table under a sword suspended by a single hair to demonstrate the precariousness of a king's fortunes.] "The latest in courtroom technology is a real shocker, physically, legally and emotionally. ... Most often it is used as a deterrent, an electronic sword of Damocles poised to discourage any dangerous behavior." The Power to Shock, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 May 1994. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Fri Aug 20 00:02:00 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Job's comforter X-Bonus: Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse? -Steven Wright Job's comforter (johbz KUM-fuhr-tuhr) noun One who is discouraging or saddening while seemingly offering sympathy or comfort. [After Job, whose friends pretended to comfort but actually found fault with him.] "Napoleon was but a Job's-comforter, when he told his wounded staff officer, twice unhorsed by cannon-balls, and with half his limbs blown to pieces: `Vous vous ecoutez trop!'" Carlyle, Thomas, Characteristics: Part II, Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Sat Aug 21 00:01:36 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Hobson's choice X-Bonus: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. -Mark Twain Hobson's choice (HOB-sonz chois) noun An apparently free choice that offers no real alternative. [After Thomas Hobson (1544?-1630), English keeper of a livery stable, from his requirement that customers take either the horse nearest the stable door or none.] "Such situations essentially confront families with a Hobson's choice: either they stand by and allow a loved one to waste away, or else they act to hasten death, with all the guilt and recrimination that entails." Nancy Gibbs, Love and Let Die, In an era of untamed medical technology, how are patients and families to decide whether to halt treatment, Time, 19 Mar 1990. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Sun Aug 22 00:01:51 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--peeping tom X-Bonus: A friend is a gift you give yourself. -Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) peeping Tom (PEE-ping tom) noun A person who gets pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, from secretly watching others; a voyeur. [After the legendary Peeping Tom of Coventry*, England, who was the only person to see the Lady Godiva, an English noblewoman of the eleventh century riding naked as a means of persuading her husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.] "But visitors like to draw the curtains in the guest room. I think they are uncomfortable with trees and sky and have an innate fear of Peeping Toms." Celestine Sibley, Once you make views known, don't skirt 'em, The Atlanta Constitution, 6 Nov 1998. * Coventry was featured in AWAD in April 1999 during a week of toponyms. See the archives https://wordsmith.org/awad/themes.html . -Anu This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Mon Aug 23 00:01:46 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--talion X-Bonus: Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) talion (TAL-ee-uhn) noun A punishment identical to the offense, as the death penalty for murder. [Middle English talioun, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin talio, talion-.] "Retribution (`a life for a life') has been a more popular reason than belief in deterrence since 1981. It is possible that people were more reluctant to express retributive motives a decade earlier, but we have no comparable data. Support for the law of talion has increased over the past 10 years, but far more striking is the marked decrease in the proportion of people who spontaneously give general deterrence as their reason." Ellsworth, Phoebe C., Gross, Samuel R., Hardening of the attitudes: Americans' views on the death penalty, Journal of Social Issues, 22 Jun 94. Have you ever opened a dictionary to lookup a word only to find yourself distracted by some other word on the page? The definition of that word steers you to yet another some two-hundred odd pages ahead and before you know it your fingers are cavorting as if in a random dance on the leaves of the lexicon. This week's words in AWAD are chosen by following precisely that route. I think Brownian movement (yes, that's an eponym but no more eponyms this week) is the best way to describes what happens when a linguaphile casually opens a dictionary. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Aug 24 00:01:46 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--analphabetic X-Bonus: Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it, but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance. -Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-1974) analphabetic (an-al-fuh-BET-ik) adjective 1. Not alphabetical. 2. Unable to read; illiterate. noun One who is unable to read; an illiterate. [From Greek analphabetos, not knowing the alphabet : an-, not + alphabetos, alphabet.] "It is not so surprising when one reflects that all cultures possess a literature. In an analphabetic culture, the literature will be an oral one." Herring, Scott, Du Bois and the minstrels, Melus, 22 Jun 1997. "Ze dedicates the album to the Third World underclass, who despite being `analphabetic', still continue to `think, dance and dream'." Andy Gill, Pop: This Week's Album Releases, reviews by Andy Gill, Independent, 4 Dec 1998. -------- Date: Wed Aug 25 00:01:48 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--theomachy X-Bonus: A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) theomachy (thee-OM-eh-kee) noun. Strife or battle among gods, as in the Homeric poems. [Greek theomakhia : theo- + makhia, fighting (from makhe, battle).] "Although the bondage is historical, the Sea tradition is a historicized myth of conflict between Yahweh and the Red Sea, in turn deriving from Canaanite myths of primordial theomachy." Propp, William H.C., The Evolution of the Exodus Tradition, The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 15 Apr 1996. -------- Date: Thu Aug 26 00:01:44 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--transpicuous X-Bonus: True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. -George Washington (1732-1799) transpicuous (tran-SPIK-yoo-uhs) adjective Easily understood or seen through. [From New Latin transpicuus, from Latin transpicere, to see through : trans-, + specere, to look at.] "`I slept there last night in the clear, transpicuous air and awoke to the music of a thousand linnets and blackbirds in the evergreen oaks,' (Daniel M.) Berry wrote. `It was the sweetest sleep of years.'" The official Pasadena visitors guide, Los Angeles Magazine, Jun 94. -------- Date: Fri Aug 27 00:01:49 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--malediction X-Bonus: Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. -Anais Nin, writer (1903-1977) malediction (mal-i-DIK-shuhn) noun 1. The calling down of a curse. A curse. 2. Slander. [Middle English maladicte, from Latin maledictus, past participle of maledicere, to curse : male, ill + dicere, to speak.] "Thanks to a constantly bickering couple on the third floor, I enlivened my vocabulary with a goodly store of old-world maledictions before my eighth birthday." Sherwin B. Nuland, Hate in the Time of Cholera, The New Republic, 26 May 1997. "The Fairies' gifts, who on thy birth attended, Seemed all with bitter maledictions blended;" John Reuben Thompson, Lee to the Rear, The World's Best Poetry on CD(tm), 20 Mar 1995. (Now you know why men curse more often than women do. Remember, it's male- diction. (-: -Anu) -------- Date: Sat Aug 28 00:02:07 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lodestar X-Bonus: The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. -Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) lodestar also loadstar (LOAD-stahr) noun 1. A star, especially Polaris, that is used as a point of reference. 2. A guiding principle, interest, or ambition. [Middle English lodesterre : lode, way + sterre, star.] "Years ago, John Sculley looked to the Japanese giant Sony Corp. as his lodestar. Sony was all things to all people, providing professional and consumer electronics equipment to the world. Apple has been hamstrung by this grandiose dream. Perhaps it is time to pare down the vision and focus on product." LePage, Rick, Forget about `the rest of us', MacWEEK, 18 Jul 1994. -------- Date: Sun Aug 29 00:01:52 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--demotic X-Bonus: Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness. -Chuang-tzu (BCE 350) demotic (di-MOT-ik) adjective 1. Of or relating to the common people; popular. 2. Of, relating to, or written in the simplified form of ancient Egyptian hieratic writing. 3. Demotic. Of or relating to a form of modern Greek based on colloquial use. [Greek demotikos, from demotes, a commoner, from demos, people.] "His (Francesco Zolla) admirers responded to the epic component, rare in his time: epic in its demotic rhetoric, in its commonplaces, in its preference for collective scenes and tidal movements, epic finally in the excitement it provoked among the rising or aspiring lower classes-- teachers, artisans, clients of popular libraries, buyers of cheap popular editions." Weber, Eugen, Zola: A Life (book reviews), The New Republic, 31 Jul 1995. -------- Date: Mon Aug 30 00:01:57 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--origami X-Bonus: You can't say civilization isn't advancing, in every war they kill you in a new way. -Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935) origami (or-i-GAH-mee) noun 1. The art or process, originating in Japan, of folding paper into shapes representing flowers and birds, for example. 2. A decorative object made by folding paper. [Japanese : ori, to fold + kami, paper.] "During a `Global Harmony' observance on Aug. 9 at St.Catherine's, participants will make a chain of origami cranes, the symbol of healing, to send to Nagasaki's Peace Park." Chuck Haga, Nagasaki remember war, celebrate peace, Star Tribune, 9 Jul 1995. Remember when you were little and made paper planes from your notebook sheets and flew them when the teacher wasn't looking (could you land it on her table? :-) Or the torrential rains that created an impromptu stream in front of the house where you floated boats folded from old envelopes? You probably didn't know at the time but you were practicing origami--the Japanese art of papercraft by which you can make almost any animal (besides other things) if you fold paper just the right way. Another variation on origami is origamic architecture (OA) which you probably have seen in greeting cards and pop-up books. OA is the amazing feat of precision cutting, folding, and sculpting of paper into fabulous constructions. Try making some yourself. They are lots of fun! Here is a place to get you started: http://members.aol.com/kselena/OA/oamainpg.html It may sound like a word related to marriage but as you have may have noticed, origami really has nothing to do with matrimony. Still, try to practice safe origami--don't run with scissors. Look for more loanwords (words we borrow from other languages but never return) from Japanese this week. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Aug 31 00:45:31 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--haiku X-Bonus: Practice no vice because it's trivial. Neglect no virtue because it's so. -Chinese proverb haiku (HIE-koo) noun 1. A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons. 2. A poem written in this form. [Japanese : hai, amusement (from Chinese pa, farce) + ku, sentence, from Chinese ju.] "Takiguchi is more lyrical: `Poetry is bottled wine, Haiku is bottled poetry'." City Diary: Take a haiku, The Daily Telegraph, 10 Oct 1998. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese.