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Mar 9, 2005

This week's theme
Toponyms

This week's words
gamboge
vernissage
Finlandization
Fleet Street
hackney

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A.Word.A.Day--finlandization

Finlandization (fin-luhn-duh-ZAY-shuhn) noun

The policy of neutrality of a country under the influence of another more powerful one without being formally allied to it, similar to the neutralization of Finland with respect to the Soviet Union after 1944.

[After Finland.]

"When Sri Lanka's President Junius Jayewardene was asked whether this implied a Finlandization of Sri Lanka or Sri Lanka's acknowledgment that it was within India's sphere of influence, he quickly brushed aside such concerns."
Neelan Tiruchelvam; Sri Lanka's First Steps Toward Peace; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Aug 10, 1987.

"Conciliation does not have to mean Finlandization."
Takashi Inoguchi; For East Asians, Engagement With China Is the Only Option; International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); May 19, 1997.

This week's theme: toponyms.

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