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May 18, 2010
This week's themeWhose what? This week's words Ockham's razor Morton's fork Hobson's choice Achilles' heel St. Elmo's fire Make a gift that ... keeps on giving, all year long A gift subscription of AWAD It takes less than a minute. 
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with Anu GargMorton's fork
PRONUNCIATION:
(MOR-tuhns fork)
MEANING:
noun:
A situation involving choice between two equally undesirable outcomes.
ETYMOLOGY:
After John Morton (c. 1420-1500), archbishop of Canterbury, who was tax
collector for the English King Henry VII. To him is attributed Morton's fork,
a neat argument for collecting taxes from everyone: those living in luxury
obviously had money to spare and those living frugally must have accumulated
savings to be able to pay.
USAGE:
"[Japan's political elites] face a Morton's fork between being ignored
or being seen as a problem to which there is little solution."Michael Auslin; Japan Dissing; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Apr 22, 2010. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Ethiopians imagine their gods as black and snub-nosed; Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired. But if horses or lions had hands, or could draw and fashion works as men do, horses would draw the gods shaped like horses and lions like lions, making the gods resemble themselves. -Xenophanes, philosopher and poet (c.570-475 BCE)
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