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Mar 5, 2010
This week's themeWords borrowed from various languages This week's words goulash cabal potlatch laager baksheesh This week's comments AWADmail 401 Next week's theme Words related to 16 Got a website? Free content for your site Words, quotations & more 
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargbaksheesh
PRONUNCIATION:
(BAK-sheesh)
MEANING:
noun:
A payment, such as a tip or bribe.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Persian bakhshish, from bakhshidan, from baksh (to give).
USAGE:
"A certain favoritism, even in the absence of baksheesh-pocketing
headwaiters, is indispensable to restaurants that expect to maintain a
steady clientele -- especially in New York, where every other big shot
seems to demand the 'best' table and, instead of something fabulous to
eat, a custom-baked potato."Thomas McNamee; The Joy of Cooking; The New York Times Book Review; Jun 23, 2002. "About 130 officials were fired for taking baksheesh, and the volume of tariff revenue that actually reached state coffers jumped by almost 50% in two years." Maturing Mozambique; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 4, 1999. See more usage examples of baksheesh in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)
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