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May 11, 2010
This week's themeWords derived after mythical places This week's words utopia cockaigne shangri-la Garden of Eden Land of Oz 
The Land of Cockaigne
Art: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569)
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with Anu Gargcockaigne
PRONUNCIATION:
(kaw-KAYN)
MEANING:
noun:
An imaginary land of luxury and idleness.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle French pais de cocaigne (land of plenty), from Middle Low German
kokenje, diminutive of koke (cake). Cockaigne was a fabled place of ease and
luxury, a land overflowing with milk and honey where food fell into your mouth
by itself. It was an imaginary place a medieval peasant could aspire to, a
place away from the harsh reality of life.
USAGE:
"This was a land of Cockaigne, a place of total self-indulgent enchantment
where I sat alone for hours contemplating."Christopher Moore; Broad Horizons; The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand); Jan 4, 1999. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (1880-1959)
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