A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1070

A.Word.A.Day

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AWADmail Issue 1070

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Interesting stories from the Net

Italy’s Culture Minister Slams Foreign Words in Italian Language... by Using Foreign Words
The Local
Permalink

Learn Ukrainian, Defeat Russia
Los Angeles Times
Permalink

Hoping to Learn Another Language in the New Year? Polyglots May Hold the Key to Success
The Guardian
Permalink

From: Eric Miller (ericmiller1957 gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--eunoia

“I don’t have a single world record to my name. Not only that, I have not even attempted one.” -Anu Garg

I beg to differ. You almost certainly hold the world’s record for having introduced the largest number of interesting words to the largest number of people.

Eric Miller, Norwich, Vermont

From: Gail Charette (gail.charette outlook.com)
Subject: Eunoia

I don’t think they award records for it because I doubt the category exists. But if they ever create a category for uniting and uplifting multitudes of people through the magic of exploring a language I’m pretty sure you will hold the record! Thank you for making eunoia a daily part of my life.

Gail Charette, Montreal, Canada

From: Antony Cecil-Wright (antony.cw gmail.com)
Subject: What is a word?

What is a word? A word is an expression of consciousness.

Maybe you hold the world record for word sharing, only the award has not yet been awarded officially. You have my vote!

Antony Cecil-Wright, Southampton, UK

From: Gary Kliewer (gary glkay.com)
Subject: Eunoia from your words

Back in the day of college entrance exams, I barely passed the math section but scored in the 99th percentile in vocabulary. Nevertheless, you regularly gift me with words I’ve never seen. I am working as many of them as possible into the cozy mystery novel I’m writing! I’ve added a genius-in-hiding stagehand character who can use words like eunoia in her dialog.

Much gratitude to you,

Gary Kliewer, Talent, Oregon

From: Steve Benko (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Subject: World records

Anu, don’t sell yourself short as an underachiever. You hold the Guinness Book records for most difficult words thrown at limerick writers, punsters, anagrammers, and illustrators. That’s four right there. And I’m sure there must be more, such as for largest online circulation by an India-born computer scientist of a vocabulary word website based in metro Seattle.

Steve Benko, New York, New York

From: John Carver (john.carver obloketure.ca)
Subject: shorter than eunoia

euoia

PRONUNCIATION:

(yoo-OY-uh)

MEANING:

noun: Being from a good egg.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek, from eu (well, good) + ōon (egg) + ia (derived from).

NOTES:

Euoia is the shortest word in English with all five vowels.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek, from eu (well, good) + ōon (egg) + ia (derived from).

USAGE:

“Such strength of character as she showed was no doubt borne of her euoia.”
Vern Jochar; Me Mother; Bedd & Pan; 2022

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Each word has a story. -Anu Garg

John Carver, Nanaimo, Canada

From: Bruce Bailey (brucewbailey gmail.com)
Subject: scraunched

I found your longest one-syllable word in the English language, scraunched, to be very interesting. Many years ago, I heard the same about the word brougham Being one who never shies away from verbing a noun, I came up with broughammed. Once I was broughammed around the town of Oxford, Michigan, where there are a few such conveyances.

Bruce Bailey, Cupertino, California

From: Tom Pater (tompater shaw.ca)
Subject: Usage for scraunched

“Sancho fell to, without invitation, and champed his bits in the dark, as if he had scraunched knotted cords.”
Miguel de Cervantes (translation: Thomas Shelton); Don Quixote; 1620.

On first seeing the year 1620 for the appearance of scraunched in a Don Quixote translation, I thought it might’ve been a typo. However, googling “Thomas Shelton translator” led me to this Wiki history, not only of translation but of international intrigue.

As for the longest one-syllable word in English, some might claim it’s squirrelled or broughammed but, at least here in British Columbia, these both would commonly be spoken with two syllables. Scraunched seems unsurpassed as the record holder.

Tom Pater, Courtenay, Canada

From: Norman Holler (via website comments)
Subject: “You suffer, that is enough for me.”

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895)

One sentence spoke so much about his humanity. It tapped my heart. I believe he was saying the true nature of humanity has no borders, no religions when we meet another, straight across, as another human on the mortal coil. A great ATFT offering, Anu! Thank you!

Norman Holler, Whitehorse, Canada

From: Jonathan Spector (sasgon gmail.com)
Subject: limnophilous

Speaking of consecutive letters, my favorite word is property, because it has four consecutive keyboard letters.

Jonathan Spector, Kibbutz Harel, Israel

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From: Tad Slawecki (tslawecki limno.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--limnophilous ➜ Croatian word for finger: prst

This put me in mind of the Croatian word for finger: prst (shared with many other Slavic languages). There’s no Q in the alphabet, so this is four letters of the alphabet in a row, all consonants. Go dative or locative, and you get (for example) na prstu (on the finger) -- five letters in a row.

Theodore A.D. Slawecki, Ann Arbor, Michigan

From: Marcus Wright (wright rowan.edu)
Subject: oxygeusia

Eunoiay is shorter. Pig Latin.

Marcus Wright, Pitman, New Jersey

From: JD Cullum (jdcullum gmail.com)
Subject: oxygeusia

This includes the five vowels and the sometimes vowels y and w: oxygeusiawy: having an acute sense of taste... usually.

JD Cullum, Los Angeles, California

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: oxygeusia and scraunch

What do bullfight scenarios, portraits of Jesus, Elvis, the Virgin Mary, bug-eyed street urchins, and Aztec warriors have in common? Answer... they’re all perennial black velvet painting subject matter. Most art critics regard these gaudy works-on-velvet as the antithesis of oxygeusia...gauche, thriftshop-destined “bad art”. I’d argue that kitsch is in the eye of the beholder.

In pondering our word scraunch I came up with this fanciful Capt’n Crunch cereal mascot angle. The times, they are a-changin’. The venerable cartoon buccaneer will have to get used to his new moniker. But no worries, the cereal will still have its signature crunch. Aye, aye mateys!

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

Anagrams


This week’s theme: Words with world records 1. Eunoia 2. Scraunch 3. Limnophilous 4. Pharmacopoeia 5. Oxygeusia	=	1. Maximal goodwill 2. Crush up; chip 3. Desired home on water 4. Opiates: how they work as a cure 5. Connoisseur-ish	=	1. Show our cheery wishes 2. Crush down 3. Swamp or marsh animal 4. Drug (like opioid) lexicon 5. Acute taste (ooh, pie!)	=	1. UX- geniality 2. i.e. Crush a war, win 3. Rue hippopotamus’ relish 4. Ah! A doc’s stock 5. Wow! Sommelier endorsed hooch!
		-Josiah Winslow, Franklin, Wisconsin (winslowjosiah gmail.com)		-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)		-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)


This week’s theme: Words with world records 1. Eunoia 2. Scranch 3. Limnophilous 4. Pharmacopeia 5. Oxygeusia	=	1. Social capital 2. Chew up 3. Minnow (or ilk) choose weedier marshy homes 4. Drug index 5. How sharp our taste is
		-Robert Jordan, Lampang, Thailand (alfiesdad ymail.com)


The theme of this week: Words with world records 1. Eunoia 2. Scraunch 3. Limnophilous 4. Pharmacopoeia 5. Oxygeusia	=	1. Our well mind/idea, i.e. how rishi is 2. So we hope to crunch 3. Of pool 4. Pharmacy or mix drugs 5. Who has acute/keen taste
		-Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz)

Make your own anagrams and animations.

Limericks

Eunoia

I was thinking a beautiful thought
When my wife showed me something she’d bought.
My eunoia was lost
When she told me the cost.
I withdrew to the darkness, distraught.
-Tony Holmes, Launceston, UK (tony_holmes btconnect.com)

A sense of well-being -- sheer bliss!
We all have a longing for this.
We’d like to enjoy a
Great state of eunoia,
But this is a goal many miss.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“At the end of a long, hard day’s grind,”
Said the ad, “Take ‘me time’ to unwind.
In our nice hookah bar,
You will feel like a star,
With eunoia suffusing your mind.”
-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com)

To show me a painting by Goya
Would ruin my hard-won eunoia.
Not that! No, oh God, no!
I’d run from the Prado
And climb up a giant sequoia!
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Scraunch

In the stands where we sit, it’s just pow!!
And I never can figure out how
Those footballers’ haunches
Withstand all those scraunches --
Year after year they just wow!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)

At a movie or concert I fear
All those loud candy crunches I hear.
The deafening craunch
As the kids start to scraunch
Will from me get a shush, and a sneer.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

Our loyalty, Donald, is staunch;
Democracy, sir, we will scraunch.
To prepare for the coup
That will reinstall you,
We drink beer and develop a paunch.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Limnophilous

“This limnophilous monster of Ness --
It’s all flimflam for tourists -- confess!”
“Nae, Ah cannae tell lies.
With ma verra own eyes --”
“So you’re saying you’ve seen it?” “Och, yes!”
-Tony Holmes, Launceston, UK (tony_holmes btconnect.com)

Retired and free as can be,
To go fishing on some inland sea,
I do have a wish --
To catch a big fish.
That’s li’l ole limnophilous me.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

I made a tremendous mistake
when I filled my fish tank from the lake.
Soon creatures limnophilous,
eerily scrofulous
came. They still keep me awake.
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

Limnophilous creatures agree,
“This pond is the best place to be!
Although it is tiny,
At least it’s not briny --
We can’t stand the salt in the sea!”
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“He’s so different -- not plainly limnophilous,”
Wept the mom of a young hippopotamus.
The dad answered, “Don’t cry
That he sometimes stays dry,
For these days kids can be non-dichotomous.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Pharmacopoeia

In Milan an obscure farmacia,
With a curious pharmacopoeia,
Sold illicit drugs
Not only to thugs.
Don’t they have any laws? Mamma mia!
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)

At the yard sale, he buys an old book.
Says his wife, with a quizzical look,
“A pharmacopoeia
is not my idea
of something to read. You’ve been took!”
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

Whatever the ailment you’ve got,
Her remedies sure help a lot.
Just go to Maria,
Whose pharmacopoeia
Includes some medicinal pot.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

“Twenty times say the Ave Maria,”
Sighed the priest, “but that’s no panacea.
For committing that sin
With the skank you were in,
You will need a whole pharmacopoeia.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Oxygeusia

A great restaurant critic I knew
Could produce a perceptive review.
Oxygeusia’s why
He was just the right guy
In a job he was destined to do.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

If you travel to Spain’s Andalusia,
Tell your taste buds, “I’m here to amuse ya.”
They’ll thank you: “The fish!
And gazpacho! Delish!
It’s as though we all have oxygeusia!”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Puns

“Eunoia bee, expect to be stung,” warned the beekeeper.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

“Mommy, why do sis and I look different between our legs?” “Don’t a-scraunch-y questions.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“Please, Oog,” implored the orphans, “us want some more. One wildebeest limnophilous up.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“Seamus, me boy, have mercy on your poor old mother, I’ve gotta go and go soon.”
“The next rest stop isn’t pharmacopeia can for a few more miles, can’t ye?”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Familiarity is a magician that is cruel to beauty but kind to ugliness. -Ouida [pen name of Marie Louise de la Ramee], novelist (1 Jan 1839-1908)

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