A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Sun Nov 1 00:04:24 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--roman-fleuve X-Bonus: Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly. -Lauren Bacall [By Myself] roman-fleuve (roe-maan-FLOEV) noun A long novel, often in many volumes, chronicling the history of several generations of a family, community, or other group and often presenting an overall view of society during a particular epoch. Also called saga novel. [French : roman, novel + fleuve, river.] "Nin would not become widely-known in the United States until the publication of her diaries commenced in 1966. She had recently combined several earlier works in what she described as a roman fleuve: Cities of the Interior was published in 1959." Nin, Anais, Sabina, Chicago Review, 22 Jun 1996. This week's theme: words about writing. -------- Date: Mon Nov 2 00:04:45 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--meiosis X-Bonus: Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human life. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) meiosis (my-O-sis) noun 1. Genetics. The process of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms that reduces the number of chromosomes in reproductive cells, leading to the production of gametes in animals and spores in plants. 2. Rhetorical understatement. [Greek meiosis, diminution, from meioun, to diminish, from meion, less.] "At times I have a problem with this understatement. Understatement is effective only when there is real purpose to the meiosis." Gardner, James, Cold Mountain.(book reviews), National Review, 31 Dec 1997. I before E except after C, or when sounded as A, As in neighbor and weigh. So goes the ancient rhyme many of us learned in school to help rein in the ogreish beast of cacography and attain English proficiency. However, like all rules, this one is no exception to exceptions either. This week we look at seven of them. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 3 00:04:17 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--poltergeist X-Bonus: Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. -F. Scott Fitzgerald, [The Crackup] poltergeist (POLE-tuhr-gyst) noun A ghost that manifests itself by noises, rappings, and the creation of disorder. [German : poltern, to make noises (from Middle High German boldern) + Geist, ghost, from Middle High German, from Old High German.] "And the poltergeists still seem to be running riot. On September 8th, the main computer went down and the station began, for the third time since the crash, to drift out of its alignment to the sun." A haunted castle in the sky, The Economist, 13 Sep 1997. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Wed Nov 4 00:04:25 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--plebeian X-Bonus: We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. -Alan Watts plebeian (ple-BEE-uhn) adjective 1. Of or relating to the common people of ancient Rome: a plebeian magistrate. 2. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of commoners. 3. Unrefined or coarse in nature or manner; common or vulgar: plebeian tastes. plebeian noun 1. One of the common people of ancient Rome. 2. A member of the lower classes. 3. A vulgar or coarse person. [From Latin plebius, from plebs, pleb-, the common people.] "AMADEUS abounds with skillfully played supporting roles - Roy Dotrice as the austere, forbidding Leopold Mozart, Jeffrey Jones as the amusingly vapid Emperor Joseph II, a man of plebeian tastes whose judgments nevertheless sway public opinion - and each frame is filled with colorful faces which add to the flavor and atmosphere of the scenes." AMADEUS, Magill's Survey of Cinema, 15 Jun 1995. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Thu Nov 5 00:04:24 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--reveille X-Bonus: Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) reveille (REV-uh-lee) noun 1. The sounding of a bugle early in the morning to awaken and summon people in a camp or garrison. This bugle call or its equivalent. The first military formation of the day. 2. A signal to get up out of bed. [Alteration of French reveillez, second person imperative pl. of reveiller, to wake, from Old French resveiller : re-, re- + esveiller, to awake, from Vulgar Latin *exvigilare : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin vigilare, to stay awake, from vigil, awake.] "Indeed, neither rain nor snow nor blistered feet could keep these marchers from averaging between 15 and 20 miles a day. Rising at five a.m. --reveille was conga drums or doo-wop songs -- they would breakfast on whatever the $1.71-a-day-per-person rations allowed, plus the generosity of local farmers." Linda Gomez, Putting Their Cause on the Line 400 Walk Across the U.S. to Protest Nuclear Arms, Life, 1 Jan 1987. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Fri Nov 6 00:04:24 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mythopoeic X-Bonus: I'm somewhat shy about the brutal facts of being a carnivore. I don't like meat to look like animals. I prefer it in the form of sausages, hamburger and meat loaf, far removed from the living thing. -John Updike, New York Times, 1982 mythopoeic or mythopeic (mith-uh-PEE-ik) also mythopoetic (-po-ET-ik) adjective 1. Of or relating to the making of myths. 2. Serving to create or engender myths; productive in mythmaking. [From Greek muthopoios, composer of fiction, from muthopoiein, to relate a story : muthos, story + poiein, to make.] "This is one of many pieces of nonsense in his book, the most delicious of which appears not in the main text but in a brief biographical summary which informs us that he `lives with his wife, Ruth, on a lake in Minnesota.' Bly has been described by his admirers as mythopoeic but are we to take it that he walks on water? Not, as we perpetual adolescents sneeringly say to one another." Joan Smith, We're all fish swimming in a tank of half-adults, Independent, 30 Nov 1996. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Sat Nov 7 00:04:26 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--allogeneic X-Bonus: Talk doesn't cook rice. -Chinese proverb allogeneic (al-uh-je-NEE-ik) also allogenic (-JEN-ik) adjective Being genetically different although belonging to or obtained from the same species: allogeneic tissue grafts. [Allo- + Greek genea, race + -ic.] "Some have autologous transplants, in which their own marrow is harvested and returned to them later; others must search for allogeneic transplants from donors--usually relatives." Denise Grady, Beyond the Call by Giving Her Bone Marrow to a Stranger, an Illinois Mother Went, Time, 1 Oct 1997. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Sun Nov 8 00:04:19 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--henotheism X-Bonus: He who does not attempt to make peace / When small discords arise, / Is like the bee's hive which leaks drops of honey / Soon, the whole hive collapses. -Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.) henotheism (HEN-uh-thee-iz-uhm) noun Belief in one god without denying the existence of others. [Greek heno-, from hen, neuter of heis, one. + the (o)- + -ism.] "On the empirical side, Lind thinks he sees an accelerating pattern of religious indifferentism in this country; Americans, he argues, have adopted the henotheism of `one God and many equally true religions.' But the phenomenon Lind is trying to describe could much more accurately be thought of as a flourishing of religious tolerance--and one, moreover, that is morally grounded in religious convictions." Weigel, George, The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution. (book reviews), Commentary, 1 Jul 1995. This week's theme: words that violate the "i before e" rule. -------- Date: Mon Nov 9 00:04:39 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sass X-Bonus: When there's more sick ones than well ones, by golly the sick ones will lock the well ones up. -Eric F. Goldman [Crucial Decade] sass (sas) noun Impertinent, disrespectful speech; back talk. sass tr.verb To talk impudently to. [Back-formation from sassy.] "I want you to go out and walk among the trees. Go to the park, the woods, wherever they are. I want you to find one that appeals to you, and then I want you to give it a big hug. Now, I know what you're thinking, even though you ain't saying nothing. I raised you so you wouldn't talk back to me or sass me." Lawanda Randall, Telling Tales: The Tree of Love, The World & I, 1 Feb 1995. Swindle, donate, and brainwash. Can there be anything common among these three actions? What unites these verb forms in a single thread is that all of them are coined by a process known as back-formation. It is a reverse process whereby words are formed by subtraction of an affix. Thus, the previously mentioned verbs were derived from the nouns swindler, donation and brainwashing, respectively (unlike, for example, the usual way nouns are created, e.g., lover from the verb love). Back-formations are often the result of erroneous usage. In Middle English, the original word for pea was pease. It was mistakenly considered a plural and thus people started using the supposedly singular form pea. Since then, instead of the usual pease soup, we have been slurping pea soup. This week let's look at seven more back-formations. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 10 00:04:20 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--emote X-Bonus: Persistent people begin their success where others end in failures. -Edward Eggleston emote (i-MOHT) intr.verb To express emotion, especially in an excessive or theatrical manner. [Back-formation from emotion.] "(Ford) Coppola's own style, which set the tone for '70s movies, was called operatic -- meaning that the characters moved slowly, died grandly and emoted at the top of their lungs." Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel, Cinema: Schemes and Dreams for Christmas On Santa's list: a Mafia don, a Master of the Universe and a De Niro Oscar?, Time, 24 Dec 1990. This week's themes: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Wed Nov 11 00:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--admix X-Bonus: How can you sing if your mouth be filled with food? How shall your hand be raised in blessing if it is filled with gold? -Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam] admix (ad-MIKS) tr.verb To mix; blend. [Back-formation from obsolete admixt, mixed into, from Middle English, from Latin admixtus, past participle of admiscere, to mix into : ad-, ad- + miscere, to mix.] "The dominant form of polity during most of recorded history has been the `palace regime', often admixed with clerical and noble elements. In palace regimes, supreme decision-making power rests with one individual, the monarch, however much he may opt to delegate." How the world is ruled: Simply the best, The Economist, 18 Oct 1997. This week's theme: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Thu Nov 12 00:04:26 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--accrete X-Bonus: Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) accrete (uh-KREET) tr.verb To make larger or greater, as by increased growth. accrete intr.verb 1. To grow together; fuse. 2. To grow or increase gradually, as by addition. [Back-formation from accretion.] "As testimony dragged on and on, slowly accreting detail and complexity, the drama in Judge Ito's courtroom began to remind me of nothing so much as an overstuffed 19th century novel, one of those ripping, 800-page doorstops from college, a real cinder block of a narrative." Bruce Handy, Essay: Our Mutual Houseguest, Time, 16 Oct 1995. This week's theme: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Fri Nov 13 00:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--immix X-Bonus: Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery immix (i-MIKS) tr.verb To commingle; blend. [Back-formation from Middle English immixte, past participle of immixten, to intermingle with, from Latin immixtus, past participle of immiscere, to blend : in-, + miscere, to mix.] "Their choice nobility and flower, not only Of this, but each Philistian city round, Met from all parts to solemnize this feast. Samson with these immixed, inevitably Pulled down the same destruction on himself; The vulgar only 'scaped who stood without."" Bagehot, Walter, Essay On John Milton: John Milton - Part II., Great Works of Literature, 1 Jan 1992. This week's theme: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Sat Nov 14 00:04:20 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aesthete X-Bonus: They asked me to go in front of the Reagans. I'm not used to going in front of President Reagan, so we went out behind the Bushes. -Dan Quayle, Former U.S. Vice President (1947-) aesthete or esthete (ES-theet) noun 1. One who cultivates an unusually high sensitivity to beauty, as in art or nature. 2. One whose pursuit and admiration of beauty is regarded as excessive or affected. [Back-formation from aesthetic.] "Gelernter singles out the Macintosh's graphical user interface (GUI) as an ingenious approach to simplifying the clutter of the home computer, and Microsoft Word as an aesthete's anathema." David Auerbach, 'Machine Beauty' is in the eye of the beholder, University Wire, 5 Mar 1998. This week's theme: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Sun Nov 15 00:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adulate X-Bonus: There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. -Ansel Adams adulate (AJ-uh-layt) tr.verb To praise or admire excessively; fawn on. [Back-formation from adulation.] "The Crude Oasis is not going to be much-watched or much-adulated this time around, but if Graves makes it, it could end up being a debut film looked back upon for evidence of how a great director developed his techniques." The Crude Oasis, Magill's Survey of Cinema, 18 Jun 1996. This week's theme: words coined by the process of back-formation. -------- Date: Mon Nov 16 00:04:48 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--welkin X-Bonus: When the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, the practiced person relies on the language of the first. -Ralph Waldo Emerson welkin (WEL-kin) noun 1. The vault of heaven; the sky. 2. The upper air. [Middle English welken, from Old English wolcen, weolcen, cloud.] "Against the welkin volleys out his voice; Another and another answer him, Clapping their proud tails to the ground below, Shaking their scratch'd ears, bleeding as they go." Shakespeare, William, Venus and Adonis. This week's AWAD is somewhat like a zoo -- a prison for animals -- where living sentient beings are captured and locked inside small enclosures. Instead, here we have animals encased inside words. Find out how many of these animals you can identify and liberate from this verbal zoo. -------- Date: Tue Nov 17 00:04:22 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aphelion X-Bonus: Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow. -Alice M. Swaim aphelion (uh-FEE-lee-uhn, uh-FEEL-yuhn) The point on the orbit of a celestial body that is farthest from the sun. [From New Latin aphelium : Greek apo-, apo- + Greek helios, sun.] "Oddly enough, Earth is fading away from the sun in its orbit, reaching aphelion, its most remote distance, on July 3." News flash: These bolts more than hot air, Star Tribune, 19 Jun 1995. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Wed Nov 18 00:04:28 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--endogamy X-Bonus: Wisdom sends us back to our childhood. -Pascal endogamy (en-DOG-uh-mee) noun 1. Anthropology. Marriage within a particular group in accordance with custom or law. 2. Botany. Fertilization resulting from pollination among flowers of the same plant. 3. Biology. Reproduction by the fusion of gametes of similar ancestry. "Of course, when today's typical Asian or Latino youngsters now in school want to marry, they won't be bound by some tribal pressure toward endogamy. The prevalent practice will be exogamy - that is, people marrying out of their religious or ethnic group." Javed Amir, The Dilemma of Becoming an American, India Currents, 30 Apr 1994, pp. PG. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Thu Nov 19 00:04:20 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vamoose X-Bonus: Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. -Jonathan Kozol vamoose (va-MOOS, vuh-) intr.verb Slang. To leave hurriedly. [From Spanish vamos, let's go, from Latin vadamus, first person pl. subjunctive of vadere, to go.] "He (Eddie Cortez, mayor of Pomona, California) was stopped by border patrol agents one day last summer in his town, more than 100 miles from the Mexican border, and ordered to produce documents to prove he was a legal resident. "He wasn't doing anything suspicious. He was just sitting in his truck, wearing jeans and looking like he might be a Latino, which apparently is all it takes to look suspicious in the minds of some people. "Fortunately, as Cortez tells the story, he had a badge in his pocket that identified him as Pomona's mayor. Embarrassed, the border agents apologized and vamoosed." Clarence Page, Illegal Immigrants are an Easy Target, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 15 Jun 1994. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Fri Nov 20 00:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--epigone X-Bonus: If I look confused it's because I'm thinking. -Samuel Goldwyn epigone (EP-i-goan) noun A second-rate imitator or follower, especially of an artist or a philosopher. [French epigone, sing. of epigones, from Greek Epigonoi, sons of the seven heroes against Thebes, from pl. of epigonos, born after : epi-, epi- + gonos, child, seed.] "There were two ways of dealing with it, either to become an epigone, one of the follow-on generation, or to discover a totally different philosophic distance and a totally different vision." Naomi Doudai, A Writer's Obligation, Jerusalem Post, 18 Jul 1996. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Sat Nov 21 00:04:20 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--moratorium X-Bonus: Show me a man with both feet on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't put his pants on. -Arthur K. Watson moratorium (mor-uh-TOHR-ee-uhm, -TOAR-) noun 1. Law. An authorization to a debtor, such as a bank or nation, permitting temporary suspension of payments. An authorized period of delay in the performance of an obligation. 2. A suspension of an ongoing or planned activity. [From Late Latin, neuter of moratorius, delaying.] "To the proper audiences, Dole has promised that, if elected, he will fire Dr. Kessler. He will likely place a moratorium on federal smoking regulations and defund scientists who are studying smoking or the carcinogenic effects of secondhand smoke." Klein, Jeffrey, The tobacco election. (political activities of tobacco industry)(Editorial), Mother Jones, 15 May 1996. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Sun Nov 22 00:04:22 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--amulet X-Bonus: The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterward. -Arthur Koestler amulet (AM-yuh-lit) noun An object worn, especially around the neck, as a charm against evil or injury. [Latin amuletum.] "And, like many Thais, Alongkorn takes great solace from the Buddhist amulets hewears on a chain around his neck." Animal Attraction, The Nation, 4 Feb 1998. This week's theme: a verbal zoo. -------- Date: Mon Nov 23 00:04:29 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dyspeptic X-Bonus: The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. -Thomas Paine dyspeptic (dis-PEP-tik) adjective 1. Relating to or having dyspepsia. 2. Of or displaying a morose disposition. dyspeptic noun A person who is affected by dyspepsia. "Though U.S. unemployment edged up to 5.7% in January, it is still below the 6% rate that many, including dyspeptic bondtraders, consider compatible with stable inflation." Louis S. Richman, et al., Global Growth is on a Tear, Fortune, 20 Mar 1995. Albert Camus, a French writer and philosopher, once said, "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." Can you recognize such souls around you? This week's words will assist you in describing them. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 24 00:04:33 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nebbish X-Bonus: It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know. -Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) nebbish (NEB-ish) noun A person regarded as weak-willed or timid. [Yiddish nebekh, poor, unfortunate, of Slavic origin.] "Jeanette turned out to be attractive--a stark contrast to the nebbish, socially awkward stereotypes that once characterized cyberdating." Greaves, McLean; Valentine, Jeanette, He typed, she typed. (two people discuss the cyberdates they had with each other on the Internet; includes tips on cyber-etiquette), Essence, 1 Feb 1996. This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Wed Nov 25 00:04:22 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--meshuga X-Bonus: On each race is laid the duty to keep alight its own lamp of mind as its part in the illumination of the world. To break the lamp of any people is to deprive it of its rightful place in the world festival. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet (1861-1941) [Rabindra Rachonabali] meshuga also meshugga (muh-SHOOG-uh) adjective Slang. Crazy; senseless. [Yiddish meshuge, from Hebrew mesugga'.] "`The rumors come from paranoid sources,' he (Judge Mikva) said at first. Then he decided there was a better adjective: `They're not paranoid. They're meshuga.'" Ira Stoll, More Than a Lawyer, Forward, 6 Oct 1995. This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Thu Nov 26 00:04:23 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--strident X-Bonus: A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer. -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) strident (STRYD-nt) adjective Loud, harsh, grating, or shrill; discordant. [Latin stridens, strident-, present participle of stridere, to make harsh sounds, ultimately of imitative origin.] "Popeye proved such an instant hit with readers that Segar recast his strip, booting out most of the regular characters (except for a strident string bean named Olive Oyl) and putting his gruff sailor man at the helm." Print features Source: Tom De Haven: Stripmining, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Oct 1990. This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Fri Nov 27 00:04:21 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--losel X-Bonus: Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die. -Amelia Burr losel (LOA-zuhl, LOO-, LOZ-uhl) noun One that is worthless. [Middle English, from losen, past participle of lesen, to lose, from Old English -leosan.] "For she had borne me to a losel vile, A spendthrift of his substance and himself." Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, The: Canto XXII. Translation: Cary, Henry F. This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Sat Nov 28 00:04:16 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--crapehanger X-Bonus: If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him. -Robert Louis Stevenson crapehanger (KRAYP-hang-guhr) noun. A morose, gloomy, or pessimistic person. "Look at those old crape-hangers, Father Cass and Uncle Bradd." S. Lewis, Cass Timberlane (1946) xxxvi. 259, 1945 This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Sun Nov 29 00:04:22 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tetchy X-Bonus: The fly that does not want to be swatted is safest if it sits on the fly-swat. -G.C. Lichtenberg tetchy also techy (TECH-ee) adjective Peevish; testy. [Probably from Middle English tache, teche, blemish, from Old French tache, teche, from Vulgar Latin *tacca, from Gothic taikns, sign.] "On July 8th, after long speculation that Mr Newhouse is getting more tetchy about the reported $1m a month that the magazine loses, Ms Brown announced her resignation as editor." AprAes Tina, The Economist, 11 Jul 1998. This week's theme: Words that describe types of persons. -------- Date: Mon Nov 30 00:04:37 EST 1998 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--verisimilitude X-Bonus: Who can refute a sneer? -William Paley verisimilitude (ver-uh-si-MIL-i-tood, -tyood) noun 1. The quality of appearing to be true or real. 2. Something that has the appearance of being true or real. [Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis, verisimilar.] (a word with alternating consonants and vowels) "With documentary verisimilitude, (the movie) Roswell depicts UFOs as the vehicles that ferry aliens to Earth, and the governments of the world as the powers that conceal the alien presence." Sobel, Dava, The truth about Roswell, Omni, 22 Sep 1995. What is special about the word DIOXIDE? You don't have to be a chemist to know that it reads the same upside down. What has six i's? Maybe Martians do, but here we are primarily interested in the words indivisibility and indistinguishability. In this week's selection, we'll feature seven other words with intriguing arrangements of letters.