A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Wed Sep 1 00:01:49 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ikebana X-Bonus: This is a deluded generation, veiled with ignorance, that though popery and slavery be riding in upon them, do not perceive it; though I am sure that there was no man born marked by God above another; for none comes into this world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him. -Richard Rumbold, revolutionary (1622-1685) ikebana (ee-ke-BAH-nah, ik-uh-) noun The Japanese art of formal flower arrangement with special regard shown to balance, harmony, and form. [Japanese : ikeru, to arrange + hana, flower.] "For Alice Tuan, a casual glance at an ikebana, or flower arrangement, book blossomed into her latest play, aptly titled Ikebana. `Flowers get cut off from their roots and are put into a new container,' said the Los Angeles-based Tuan, who is currently a graduate student at Brown University in Rhode Island. `There's something about that metaphor that spoke to me on an immigration level. People are cut from their natural roots of their homeland and are put into a new container that is their new country.'" Sam Chu Lin, Immigrant Arrangements, AsianWeek, 19 Dec 1996. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese. -------- Date: Thu Sep 2 00:01:44 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sensei X-Bonus: You will soon break the bow if you keep it always stretched. -Phaedrus (fl. 25 A.D.) sensei (SEN-say, sen-SAY) noun 1. A judo or karate teacher. 2. A teacher or mentor. 3. Used as a form of address for such a person. [Japanese, teacher, master.] "As the proliferation of cable channels delivers ever more slender ends of the bell curve to the home screen, the audacious L. A. sports-radio sensei Jim Rome has come into nightly view on ESPN's grunge spin-off, ESPN2. Wice, Nathaniel, Talking smack with Jim Rome, Esquire, 1 May 1994. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese. -------- Date: Fri Sep 3 00:03:09 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bonsai X-Bonus: Gravity is the soul of wt. -John Langdon (1946-) [Wordplay] bonsai (bon-SYE, BON-sye, -zye) noun 1. The art of growing dwarfed, ornamentally shaped trees or shrubs in small shallow pots or trays. 2. A tree or shrub grown by this method. [Japanese, potted plant : bon, basin (from Chinese pen) + sai, to plant, from Chinese zai.] "And the Chrysanthemum and Bonsai Festival, Oct. 16 to 19, is a fragrant ode to the autumn flowers and miniature trees of Japan and Korea." Trucco, Terry, What's Doing in New York City, 21 Sep 1997. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese. -------- Date: Sat Sep 4 00:02:10 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nisei X-Bonus: I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. -Aldous Leonard Huxley, writer (1894-1963) Nisei (nee-SAY, NEE-say) noun A person born in America of parents who emigrated from Japan. [Japanese : ni, second + sei, generation.] "But out of the prejudice and discrimination they faced came the determination to prove their loyalty and the formation of the most decorated unit of its size in U.S. military history - the all-Nisei 100th Battalion / 442nd Regimental Combat Team." Maureen Fan, A Legacy of Pride and Tears. The men who gathered were nearly all Japanese-Americans, members of an army unit out to prove their loyalty to a country that viewed them with suspicion, Newsday, 26 Apr 1993. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese. -------- Date: Sun Sep 5 00:01:53 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sayonara X-Bonus: The refusal to choose is a form of choice; disbelief is a form of belief. -Frank Barron sayonara (sie-uh-NAHR-uh) interjection Good-bye. [Japanese.] "I can think of a dozen reasons to log off for good and say sayonara to the headaches." Roberta Furger, Can't Live With AOL, Can't Live Without It, PC World Online, 1 Jun 1998. This week's theme: loanwords from Japanese. -------- Date: Mon Sep 6 00:05:07 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eremite X-Bonus: Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art. -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (1547-1616) eremite (AR-uh-myte) noun A recluse or hermit, especially a religious recluse. [Middle English, from Late Latin eremita.] "Poor Joyce Maynard. Not since Martina Hingis submarined a serve to Steffi Graf in the French Open has a woman been so universally excoriated for underhanded conduct. And all Maynard did was sell a bunch of mash notes she had saved from a boyfriend of 27 years ago to raise college tuition for her children. Except that the boyfriend happened to be J.D. Salinger--the eremite of Cornish, N.H." Mark Leyner, How to Avoid Salinger Syndrome. Value your romantic privacy? To start with, don't leave a paper trail, Time, 07 May 99. "Thou Spirit, who led'st this glorious Eremite Into the desert, his victorious field Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st him thence ...." Milton, John, Paradise Regained: The First Book. Have you ever taken a vacation that is planned to every millisecond? At 9:37 we visit the Garden of Standonburg and spend an hour and 18 minutes there, then we reach the Pamponi Museum at 11:09, and then .... Well, that's not a vacation, is it? Sometimes it's best to let oneself roam through what may come, with no plan, no schedule, no rules, no aim and nothing to guide except a free mind and open heart. This week's AWAD is prepared in just that spirit. A word tickles our fancy and leads us to some others that bring forth new sights, skipping some then moving ahead or perhaps going back a few in a leisurely stroll through the dictionary. There is nothing common among the words selected--at least as far as we know. There is no theme to constrain the word choices during the next seven days. Or maybe that's the theme. Well, you decide. On the other hand, going by the creativeness and ingenuity of the linguaphiles on this list who knows who may find what patterns in the words. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 7 00:01:28 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cognomen X-Bonus: If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) cognomen (kog-NOH-mehn) noun (plural cognomens or cognomina) 1. A family name; a surname. The third and usually last name of a citizen of ancient Rome, as Caesar in Gaius Julius Caesar. 2. A name, especially a descriptive nickname or epithet acquired through usage over a period of time. [Latin : co- + nomen, name.] "But rarely has a theory had a less apt cognomen. Einstein's assertion in his first breakthrough, the Special Theory of Relativity, is that central aspects of nature are decidedly not relative--natural laws remain the same regardless of motion, and the speed of light is an absolute for all observers despite frame of reference." Gregg Easterbrook, The Rediscovery of Higher Meaning: Science Sees the Light, The New Republic, 12 Oct 1998. "Since virtually all Turkish names have identifiable meanings and most of them are also used as functional words, it may well be that Pamuk's characters have nothing to do with connotations of their names. But, given his passion for wordplay and symbolic value, it is safe to assume that he uses the cognomens and eponyms as ciphers. Talat S. Halman, Magical Mystery Tour, The World & I, 1 Sep 1997. -------- Date: Wed Sep 8 00:02:23 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aleatory X-Bonus: If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe. -Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) aleatory (AY-lee-uh-tor-ee, -tohr-ee) adjective 1. Dependent on chance, luck, or an uncertain outcome. 2. Of or characterized by gambling. 3. Also aleatoric. Music. Using or consisting of sounds to be chosen by the performer or left to chance; indeterminate. [Latin aleatorius, from aleator, gambler, from alea, dice.] "Here is a typical and wonderful passage, not cited by Ryan, from Experience and Nature: Man finds himself living in an aleatory world; his existence involves, to put it baldly, a gamble." Holmes, Stephen, John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism (book reviews), The New Republic, 11 Mar 1996. "There are bursts of outward energy and dissonance set off by lengths of inner lyricism, there is a fascination with near-Eastern sounds that would emerge so strongly in the Oboe Concerto and the opera, and there are freewheeling passages that would eventually become stretches of out-and-out aleatory music." John Ardoin, Early concerto presages Corigliano's brilliance, The Dallas Morning News, 25 Aug 1996. -------- Date: Thu Sep 9 00:01:43 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--handsel X-Bonus: Familiarity is a magician that is cruel to beauty but kind to ugliness. -Ouida, pen name of Marie Louise de la Ramee (1839-1908) handsel (HAND-sehl) also hansel (HAN-) noun (Chiefly British) 1. A gift to express good wishes at the beginning of a new year or enterprise. 2. The first money or barter taken in, as by a new business or on the opening day of business, especially when considered a token of good luck. 3. A first payment. A specimen or foretaste of what is to come. verb tr. 1. To give a handsel to. 2. To launch with a ceremonial gesture or gift. 3. To do or use for the first time. [Middle English hanselle, from Old English handselen, a handing over : hand, hand + selen, gift, and from Old Norse handsal, legal transfer : hand, hand + sal, a giving.] "Now, rifleman, steal through the hushes, and snatch From your victim some trinket to handsel first blood; A button, a loop, or that luminous patch That gleams in the moon like a diamond stud!" Charles Dawson Shanly, Civil War, The World's Best Poetry on CD(tm), 20 Mar 1995. -------- Date: Fri Sep 10 00:01:53 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lickerish X-Bonus: A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor. -Victor Hugo (1802-1885) lickerish (LIK-uhr-ish) adjective 1. Lascivious; lecherous. 2. Greedy; desirous. 3. Archaic. Relishing good food. Obsolete. Arousing hunger; appetizing. [Middle English likerous, perhaps from Old French lecheor, lekier.] "[H]e the lickerish snake who literally hisses at his adversaries. Their cruel games will lead them to peek through keyholes, swipe bedroom keys, purloin letters, ruin lives." Richard Corliss, Cinema: Lust Is a Thing with Feathers, Time, 16 Jan 1989. -------- Date: Sat Sep 11 00:01:50 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--supernal X-Bonus: The worst misfortune that can happen to an ordinary man is to have an extraordinary father. -Austin O'Malley supernal (soo-PUR-nuhl) adjective 1. Celestial; heavenly. 2. Of, coming from, or being in the sky or high above. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin supernus.] "As gods, and by their own recovered strength, Not by the sufferance of supernal power." Milton, John, Paradise Lost: First Book. "The struggle to apprehend the supernal Loveliness - this struggle, on the part of souls fittingly constituted - has given to the world all that which it (the world) has ever been enabled at once to understand and to feel as poetic." Poe, Edgar Allan, Poetic Principle. -------- Date: Sun Sep 12 00:02:03 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fardel X-Bonus: Better is the enemy of good. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) fardel (FAHR-dl) noun 1. A pack; a bundle. 2. A burden. [Middle English, from Old French, diminutive of farde, package, from Arabic fardah.] "Shepherd: Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardel and box, which none must know but the king; and which he shall know within this hour, if I may come to the speech of him." Shakespeare, William, The Winter's Tale: Act IV, Scene IV. -------- Date: Mon Sep 13 00:02:18 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Rube Goldberg X-Bonus: Action and faith enslave thought, both of them in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism and doubt. -Henri Frederic Amiel philosopher and writer (1821-1881) Rube Goldberg (roob goldburg) adjective Of, relating to, or being a contrivance that brings about by complicated means what apparently could have been accomplished simply. [After Reuben Lucius Goldberg 1883-1970, American cartoonist noted for his intricate diagrams of complicated, impractical contraptions designed to effect comparatively simple results.] "Remembering the complicated Rube Goldberg charts that Magaziner devised for the Clinton health care program, one wag predicts, `Now trade with Europe will go through the Panama Canal, loop around the tips of South America and Africa, hang a left at the Indian Ocean, through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean.'" Critser, Greg, Pill Pushers: Pharmaceutical Companies Are Emphasizing Marketing - And Downplaying Responsible Medicine., Washington Monthly, 1 Apr 1997. I've been alerted to a new book titled "How to Wash Your Face." I'm not kidding--this 256 page tome is authored by a doctor and retails for $20. As they say, reality is stranger than fiction. The fiction that comes to my mind here is a Rube Goldberg contraption. If you have never seen one, check out http://www.rubegoldberg.com/ . And while you are there, don't forget to look at "How to wake up" so that you can get up in time tomorrow to check your email that will bring another eponym (a word derived from a person's name) in AWAD that may make you laugh resulting in the coffee in your mug getting spilled on the tail of the pet cat on your lap making the startled kitty jump and hit the ceiling thus activating the fire-sprinkler and causing it to trigger the fire alarm making you look up in curiosity resulting in getting your face splashed with the sprinkler water thus saving you the $20 cost of the aforementioned book. It pays to expand your word power. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 14 00:01:50 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Mae West X-Bonus: Remarriage: A triumph of hope over experience. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784) Mae West (may west) noun An inflatable, vestlike life preserver. [After Mae West 1892?-1980, American actress known for her sultry stage persona, (from its resemblance to her curvaceous torso).] "Now with all of us bulging out of our Mae Wests, a Richter scale applied to anxiety would have registered eight or a full-scale breakdown." Robert Schrank, Two Women, Three Men on a Raft, Harvard Business Review, 1 May 1994. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Wed Sep 15 00:01:59 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--homeric X-Bonus: There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Homeric (hoe-MER-ik) adjective 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Homer, his works, or the legends and age of which he wrote. 2. Heroic in proportion, degree, or character; epic. [After Homer fl. 850 BCE Greek epic poet to whom the epics Iliad and Odyssey are attributed.] "We'll know whether the voyages of the starship Enterprise meet the Homeric test of time in about 3,000 years." James P. Pinkerton, `Star Trek': Enduring Echo of the New Frontier, Newsday, 1 Dec 1994. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Thu Sep 16 00:02:08 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--John Hancock X-Bonus: Imagination is the eye of the soul. -Joubert (1754-1824) John Hancock (jon HAN-kok) noun A person's signature. [After John Hancock 1737-1793. American politician and Revolutionary leader. He was president of the Continental Congress (1775-1777) and the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. Hancock later served nine terms as governor of Massachusetts (1780-1785 and 1787-1793). (From the prominence of his signature on the Declaration of Independence).] "In a catalog called `Autographs of Distinction,' John Hancock's John Hancock sells for $4,995." Leslie Garcia, How important is your John Hancock?, The Dallas Morning News, 19 Jan 1999. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Fri Sep 17 00:01:58 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Typhoid Mary X-Bonus: Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away. -Arthur Helps (1813-1875) Typhoid Mary (TIE-foid MAR-ee) noun A person from whom something undesirable or deadly spreads to those nearby. [After Mary Mallon, 1870?-1938. American cook and immune carrier of typhoid fever who while moving from job to job infected more than 50 people with the disease. After health officials found her, she was institutionalized for much of the rest of her life.] "Alternatively, as former drug czar William Bennett has argued, the moderate drug user is an asymptomatic carrier - a Typhoid Mary - spreading misery to others by setting a bad example, even though he feels fine." Sullum, Jacob, What the doctor orders, Reason, 1 Jan 1996. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Sat Sep 18 03:34:50 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Molotov cocktail X-Bonus: Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak? -Steven Wright Molotov cocktail (MOL-tof KOK-tayl) noun A makeshift bomb made of a breakable container filled with flammable liquid and provided with a usually rag wick that is lighted just before being hurled. [After Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov 1890-1986. Soviet politician who was head of the Council of People's Commissars (1930-1941) and foreign minister (1939-1949 and 1953-1956).] "Jones had several Molotov cocktails in the cab of his truck and he suddenly ignited one." Alan Abrahamson and Miles Corwin, Man Kills Self as City Watches; A motorist unfurls anti-HMO banner on freeway. He sets truck on fire and then commits suicide; Los Angeles Times, 1 May 1998. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Sun Sep 19 00:02:18 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kafkaesque X-Bonus: To hold and fill to overflowing Is not as good as to stop in time. Sharpen a knife-edge to its very sharpest, And the edge will not last long. -Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher (circa 600 BCE) Kafkaesque (kaf-ka-ESK) adjective 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Franz Kafka or his writings. 2. Characterized by surreal distortion and usually by a sense of impending danger. [After Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Austrian writer whose stories and novels concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal world.] "Identity theft--a scam in which a thief uses your Social Security number to open credit lines in your name--can result in Kafkaesque tales of injustice and impenetrable bureaucracy." Scott Medintz, Credit Cards: Are Your Theft Fears Overblown?, Money, 1 Jun 1998. This week's theme: eponyms. -------- Date: Mon Sep 20 03:31:35 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chiasmus X-Bonus: How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. -Louis Charles Alfred de Musset, writer (1810-1857) chiasmus (ki-AZ-muhs) noun A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures. [New Latin, from Greek khiasmos, syntactic inversion, from khiazein, to invert or mark with an X.] "As a literary and rhetorical device, chiasmus has woven itself into the fabric of human life. The greatest speeches of all time would be weaker without chiasmus. What other words could JFK have used to rival his famous `Ask not what your country can do for you' line." Grothe, Dr. Mardy, Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you, Viking, 1999. I've taken the citation for today's word from a new book "Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you," a delightful collection of chiasmi compiled by Dr. Mardy Grothe. Grothe is clearly a man taken by his passion as he confesses, "I didn't just get into chiasmus, chiasmus also got into me." About his experience compiling the book and his expectations from it, he notes, "I've had a wealth of experience, so I guess I'm hoping this book will provide me with ... an experience of wealth. The book is a veritable mine of chiasmi with such gems as, It may be compared to a cage the birds without try desperately to get in, and those within try desperately to get out. -Michel de Montaigne, on marriage It is not my interest to pay the principal nor is it my principle to pay the interest -Richard Brinsely Sheridan, to a lender Even better are implied chiasmi such as, Time's fun when you're having flies. -Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) For more chiastic pleasure, visit http://chiasmus.com/ . Would you like to share the fun of words and words of fun? Craft an original chiasmus and email it to (garg AT wordsmith.org). I'll feature selected chiasmi here next week. And for the rest of this week, we'll see some other words about words. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 21 02:01:30 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antonomasia X-Bonus: Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. -Berthold Auerbach, writer (1812-1882) antonomasia (an-toh-noh-MAY-zhuh) noun 1. The substitution of a title or epithet for a proper name, as in calling a sovereign "Your Majesty." 2. The substitution of a personal name for a common noun to designate a member of a group or class, as in calling a traitor a "Benedict Arnold." [Latin, from Greek antonomazein, to name instead : anti-, instead of + onomazein, to name (from onoma, name).] "In Florence, a rich and famous city of Italy, in the province called Tuscany, there dwelt two rich and principal gentlemen called Anselmo and Lothario, which two were so great friends, as they were named for excellency, and by antonomasia, by all those that knew them, the Two Friends." Cervantes, Miguel de, Don Quixote Of The Mancha: Chapter VI., (Translation: Shelton, Thomas) This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Wed Sep 22 00:01:45 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--macaronic X-Bonus: Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me and be my friend. -Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (1913-1960) macaronic (mak-ah-RON-ik) adjective 1. Of or containing a mixture of vernacular words with Latin words or with vernacular words given Latinate endings: macaronic verse. 2. Of or involving a mixture of two or more languages. [New Latin macaronicus, from Italian dialectal maccarone, dumpling, macaroni (perhaps from the way macaroni is heaped on a plate and mixed with sauce).] "Speaking not in the gleefully macaronic English that has made for such good, clownish copy in the past, but in his native Italian, he sounded serious and reflective as he answered questions about his age, his health, and his dwindling plans for the future." Justin Davidson, Pavarotti Winds Down / After bowing out of some recent performances, he talks about his future, Newsday, 11 Mar 1998. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Thu Sep 23 00:19:44 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--trope X-Bonus: Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) trope (rhymes with scope) noun 1. The figurative use of a word or an expression, as metaphor or hyperbole. An instance of this use; a figure of speech. 2. A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies. [Latin tropus, from Greek tropos, turn, figure of speech.] "The trope of the perpetual journey, continuously wandering and witnessing the wonders and the horrors of the Arab World, is a salient feature in both of the poems examined here." Bardenstein, Carol, Stirring words: traditions and subversions in the poetry of Muzaffar al-Nawwab. (Modern Iraqi Literature in English Translation), Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), 22 Sep 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Fri Sep 24 00:01:41 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--syllepsis X-Bonus: An act of goodness is of itself an act of happiness. No reward coming after the event can compare with the sweet reward that went with it. -Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer (1862-1949) syllepsis (si-LEP-sis) noun A construction in which a word governs two or more other words but agrees in number, gender, or case with only one, or has a different meaning when applied to each of the words, as in He lost his coat and his temper. [Late Latin syllepsis, from Greek sullepsis : sun-, + lepsis, a taking (from lambanein, to take).] "`Crossing,' first of all, is an instance of syllepsis, a figure in which one word is a pun for two different senses. Not only is the `Visionary' (the character in the essay, as distinguished from the historical Emerson) literally moving from one place to another, but he is also at a crossroads, a crux. Cross, deriving from the Latin crux, means not only a physical cross, but a fateful juncture." Wilson, Eric, "Terrible simplicity": Emerson's metaleptic style, Style, Spring 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sat Sep 25 00:01:37 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--litotes X-Bonus: A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer and scientist (1749-1832) litotes (LI-tuh-teez, LIT-, li-TOH-teez) noun, plural litotes A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite, as in This is no small problem. [Greek litotes, from litos, plain.] "In another column, I expounded the art of litotes, by which we damn with faint praise or praise with faint damns. The usual example is, `She's not a bad soprano,' which is subtly different from saying that the lady is a good soprano." James Kilpatrick, When Counseling Erring Writers, You Better Have Right Stuff, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 28 Dec 1997. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Sun Sep 26 00:01:31 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--epopee X-Bonus: It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion, it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the world, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) epopee (EP-uh-pee) noun 1. Epic poetry, especially as a literary genre. 2. An epic poem. [French epopee, from Greek epopoiia : epos, song, word + poiein, to make.] "In the field of the romantic epopee, Kalidasa ranks first in his `Raghuvanca,' or `Line of Raghu,' -a poem in eighteen cantos tracing the descendants of the solar kings, or the line from which Rama is sprung." Alidasa Judson, The Baby Jones, William, The World's Best Poetry on CD(tm), 20 Mar 1995. This week's theme: words about words. -------- Date: Mon Sep 27 00:01:33 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sexagesimal X-Bonus: All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure. -Mark Twain (1835-1910) sexagesimal (sek-suh-JES-uh-muhl) adjective Of, relating to, or based on the number 60. [From Latin sexagesimus, sixtieth.] "(Owen) Gingerich noted that `most of our time units come from the ancient Babylonian sexagesimal system. Thus we have 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and so on.'" Robert Cooke, Easy Fix for Millennial Confusion / 2000 or 2001? Celebrate both!, Newsday, 6 Apr 1999. Does sex + lust = vice? Well, we won't comment on that here, but what we can tell you is that adding lustrum to sexagesimal does not result in a vicennial. Sexagesimal you just learned, lustrum is a period of five years, and vicennial is twenty years. And now we don't have to tell you that we are going to show you words related to numbers this week. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Sep 28 00:01:37 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--decuple X-Bonus: A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed -- I well know. For it is a sign that he has tried to surpass himself. -Georges Clemenceau, statesman (1841-1929) decuple (DEK-yuh-puhl) adjective 1. Ten times as great; tenfold. 2. In groups of ten. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin decuplus : Latin decem, ten + Latin -plus, -fold.] "The second type consists of multiples of thirty that are either decupled multiples, which means that the figure thirty is increased tenfold, hundredfold, etc. as in 300, 3,000 or 3,000,000 ...." Scheidel, Walter, Finances, figures and fiction, The Classical Quarterly, 15 Jan 96. This week's theme: words about numbers. -------- Date: Wed Sep 29 01:01:34 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ennead X-Bonus: To talk goodness is not good... Only to do it is. -Chinese Proverb ennead (EN-ee-ad) noun A group or set of nine. [Greek enneas, ennead-, from ennea, nine.] "To the east of them I beheld another ennead. Nine branchy, curly manes upon them. Nine grey, floating mantles about them: nine pins of gold in their mantles. Nine rings of crystal round their arms." Traditional, The Destruction Of Da Derga's Hostel, The: Part IV, (Translation: Stokes, Whitley). This week's theme: words about numbers. -------- Date: Thu Sep 30 00:30:49 EDT 1999 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--myriad X-Bonus: The first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right. -Cato the Younger (BCE 95-46) myriad (MIR-ee-ehd) adjective 1. Constituting a very large, indefinite number; innumerable. 2. Composed of numerous diverse elements or facets. myriad noun 1. A vast number. 2. Archaic. Ten thousand. [Greek murias, muriad-, ten thousand, from murios, countless.] "Canion favors letting a thousand start-ups bloom to create myriad programs that would all work in IBM-compatible machines, if not necessarily with one another." Thomas Mccarroll, The Humbling of a Computer Colossus, Time, 20 May 1991. This week's theme: words about numbers.