A.Word.A.Day --gemutlichkeit

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gemutlichkeit

PRONUNCIATION:

(guh-myoot-lish-KYT, -likh-, -MOOT-)

MEANING:

noun: Warm friendliness; comfortableness; coziness.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German Gemütlichkeit, from gemütlich (comfortable, cozy). Earliest documented use: 1892.

USAGE:

"The establishment's gemutlichkeit is fueled by a low-key, funky decor and the friendliness of the staff."
Christopher Brooks; Cozy With Comfort Food; The New York Times; Jan 4, 2009.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The sense of wishing to be known only for what one really is is like putting on an old, easy, comfortable garment. You are no longer afraid of anybody or anything. You say to yourself, 'Here I am --- just so ugly, dull, poor, beautiful, rich, interesting, amusing, ridiculous -- take me or leave me.' And how absolutely beautiful it is to be doing only what lies within your own capabilities and is part of your own nature. It is like a great burden rolled off a man's back when he comes to want to appear nothing that he is not, to take out of life only what is truly his own. -David Grayson, journalist and author (1870-1946)

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