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A.Word.A.Day--brodie

brodie (BROH-dee) noun

1. A daredevil or suicidal jump.

2. A spectacular failure.

3. A sudden change in a vehicle's direction.

[After Steve Brodie, who claimed to be the first person to survive a dive from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886.]

Should you believe Steve Brodie's claim? Here's the math.

"The yuppie market is where everybody wants to be because that's where the money is -- or was, up until the Dow Jones did a Brodie." John R. White, Buick Regal, The Boston Globe, Nov 15, 1987.

"After all the hype, the movie did a brodie after the second week." Jim Beckerman, et al, The Highs & Lows of '97 Movies, Record (Bergen County, NJ), Dec 28, 1997.

This week's theme: eponyms, or words derived from people's names.

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