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May 20, 2011
This week's themeWords derived from circus This week's words three-ring circus desultory dog-and-pony show hey rube jumbo This week's comments AWADmail 464 Next week's theme Words to describe people 
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargjumbo
PRONUNCIATION:
(JUHM-boh)
MEANING:
noun: Something very large.adjective: Very large. ETYMOLOGY:
The word was popularized after Jumbo, a very large elephant exhibited by
circus showman P.T. Barnum. Jumbo was captured in Africa, sold to a zoo
in Paris, traded to London Zoo, and again sold to Barnum who took him to
New York. The elephant died in a collision with a locomotive in Canada.
The origin of the name jumbo is not confirmed. It's probably from the second
element of mumbo jumbo
or from
another word in an African language. Earliest documented use: 1823.
USAGE:
"The market for jumbo loans, which are safe but too large for Fannie or
Freddie to guarantee, ground to a halt last week."Paper Losses; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 23, 2007. See more usage examples of jumbo in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is well to know something of the manners of various peoples, in order more sanely to judge our own, and that we do not think that everything against our modes is ridiculous, and against reason, as those who have seen nothing are accustomed to think. -Rene Descartes, philosopher and mathematician (1596-1650)
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