A.Word.A.Day --inconnu

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inconnu

PRONUNCIATION:

(in-kuh-NOO)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A whitefish (Stenodus leucichthys) found in the arctic and subarctic. Also known as sheefish.
2. A stranger.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French, literally unknown. In 1789, explorer Alexander Mackenzie and his crew traveled the waterways of the Northwest territories in search of a Northwest passage. They came across an unknown fish and the French-Canadian voyageurs who were part of his crew called it inconnu.

USAGE:

"Seven charred bodies had been recovered from the house, none identified, all interred by the government. The incident was characterized as gang activity, `probably drug-related.' Mason winced at the words. The line had grown to be a bad joke around the mission, the explanation they almost always got whenever a group of inconnus turned up dead."
Ben Fountain; Reve Haitien; Harper's (New York); Jan 2000.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone. -Czeslaw Milosz, poet and novelist (1911-2004)

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