A.Word.A.Day--Chicken Little
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Chicken Little (CHIK-en LIT-l) noun
A pessimist-cum-alarmist, one who constantly warns of impending calamities.
[After a hen in children's tale who, when hit on the head by a falling acorn,
believes the sky is falling.]
"The question is, how much longer can we count on ingenuity to compensate
for prodigality? The Chicken Littles of environmental alarm may yet be
right. McNeill is careful to refrain from saying that an ecological crisis
is upon us, but he does not mince words about the unsustainability of our
course. Adding to our peril is the fact that it is nearly impossible to
see what is happening until it is inconveniently late to do much about
it."
Chip Brown, Not Easy Being Green, The Washington Post, Aug 20, 2000
X-Bonus
A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations.
-Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and author (1872-1970)