This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
idiolatry
cynanthropy
bolt-hole
hyperacusis
yesternoon

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(si-NAN-thruh-pee)

MEANING:

noun: A delusion in which one believes oneself to be a dog.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek kyon (dog) + -anthropy (human). Earliest documented use: 1594.

NOTES:

If you have to, better to believe yourself to be a dog than a god. People who play dog never harmed anyone. Check out the documentary Secret Life Of The Human Pups (36 min.).

USAGE:

“Our guides were two people with trembling tongues: mine a moribund old man whose tongue was hanging out like a tired dog’s: a case of cynanthropy.”
Fernando del Paso (translation: Elisabeth Plaister); Palinuro of Mexico; Dalkey Archive Press; 1996.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: