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Sep 9, 2011
This week's theme
Interjections

This week's words
cowabunga
huzzah
gesundheit
bada-bing
attaboy

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

attaboy

PRONUNCIATION:
(AT-uh-boi)

MEANING:
interjection: Used to express approval or encouragement.

ETYMOLOGY:
Alteration of "That's the boy." Earliest documented use: 1909.

USAGE:
"The employees are not asking for a whole lot -- just an Attaboy! or an Attagirl! And news of this small gesture moves like wildfire through the ranks."
Labonita Ghosh; Five Ways to Reward the B-player in Your Team; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Feb 1, 2011.

"Dr. Burton refutes the notion that present-day parents have coddled and attaboyed their children."
Michael Tortorello; Mom, You're One Tough Art Critic; The New York Times; Jan 27, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. -Saul Bellow, writer, Nobel laureate (1915-2005)

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