A.Word.A.Day --alexander

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Today's Word

alexander

PRONUNCIATION:

(a-lig-ZAN-duhr)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To praise or flatter.
2. To hang someone.

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: After Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) of Macedon, who never lost a war and earned widespread renown for his victories. Earliest documented use: 1700.

For 2: After Jerome Alexander (1590-1670), English judge, who was disbarred in England for misconduct and moved to Ireland where he delighted in giving death sentences. Earliest documented use: 1666.

USAGE:

“Alexandered, endless in triumphant march
I forged this world new mint for me.”
Frank Miller; Poets Unbound; Writers Club Press; 2001.

“It is getting almost dangerous to talk to me. I lay violent hands on people ... have people the minute they don’t agree with me, alexandered, at once.”
Gerald Stanley Lee; The Ghost in the White House; Dutton; 1920.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

At some point, someone who worked at Rockefeller Center must have said, "Boys, I have a great idea for Christmas. Let's kill a beautiful tree that's been alive for seventy-five years and bring it to New York City. We'll stand it up in Rockefeller Plaza and conceal its natural beauty by hanging shiny, repulsive, man-made objects on it, and let it stand there slowly dying for several weeks while simpleminded children stare at it and people from Des Moines take pictures of it. That way, perhaps we can add our own special, obscene imprint to Christmas in Midtown. -George Carlin, comedian, actor, and author (12 May 1937-2008)

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