A.Word.A.Day --josh

A.Word.A.Day

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Nov 11, 2013

This week's theme
Words that are names

This week's words
josh
biddy
harry
mulligan
rube

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

One's name is the sweetest sound. We can hear it even in a noisy room with many conversations going on. Back when I worked in the corporate world, my ears would perk up whenever someone mentioned "a new" (uh-noo) as in "We're buying a new server for this project."

New parents go to great lengths to pick a name for their newborn. They consider what a name sounds like, what it means, which famous people have or had it, and so on. They pick names that mean something positive, but sometimes names take on another meaning. This week we've picked five words that are also names (though these words are not necessarily derived from names).

josh

PRONUNCIATION:

(josh)

MEANING:

verb tr., intr.: To make fun of or tease in a good-natured way.
noun: A teasing or joking remark.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1845.

USAGE:

"Dave and I quietly caught up with each other, and reminisced. We joked and joshed."
Timothy Mangan; Once More, With Feeling; Orange County Register (Santa Ana, California); Apr 14, 2013.

See more usage examples of josh in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say? -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist (1922-2007)

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