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Jul 19, 2024
This week’s theme
Whose what?

This week’s words
Chekhov's gun
Parkinson's law
Barney's bull
John Thomson's man
collier's faith

collier's faith
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

Next week’s theme
Look Ma, no affix!
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

collier’s faith

PRONUNCIATION:
(KAHL-yuhrz fayth)

MEANING:
noun: Unreasonable faith; blind faith.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin fides carbonarii (collier’s faith), from German köhlerglaube (collier’s faith). The term may have arisen from the dangerous and uncertain nature of coal mining. Earliest documented use: 1680.

USAGE:
“Our love for art might inspire in us a collier’s faith to say what others have said before and will say again after us. Namely that even if the situation is ominous, and even if we’re very poor &c. &c., yet we firmly concentrate on one single thing, on painting, naturally.” [Van Gogh writing to his brother Theo, circa Nov 8, 1883]
Patrick Grant; Reading Vincent van Gogh: A Thematic Guide to the Letters; 2016.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in. -George McGovern, senator, author, professor, and WWII pilot (19 Jul 1922-2012)

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