A.Word.A.Day --canard

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canard

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuh-NAHRD)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A deliberately misleading story; hoax.
2. An airplane with small forward wings mounted in front of the main wings; also such a wing.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French, literally a duck. The term is said to have come from the French expression vendre un canard à moitié (to sell half a duck, or to take in or swindle).

USAGE:

"Lyndon Johnson's half-truths about the Gulf of Tonkin, supported by subservient media, embroiled the United States in a nasty war that took the lives of millions of souls. Ultimately, the Vietnam War's distortions and canards prevented him from running for a second term."
Mansour El-Kikhia; Realists Conquer Politics With Lies; San Antonio Express-News; Nov 28, 2003.

See more usage examples of canard in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Knowing what / Thou knowest not / Is in a sense / Omniscience. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

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