A.Word.A.Day --narcissism

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Oct 3, 2016

This week’s theme
Miscellaneous words

This week’s words
narcissism
lien
vitriol
precarious
demagogue

Narcissus spurning Echo and falling in love with himself

Art: John William Waterhouse

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

I usually look for usage examples for words in A.Word.A.Day in newspaper articles. Nowadays, things are a little different -- you open any newspaper and top news stories are about a narcissistic con man running for the president of the United States. It’s impossible to avoid them.

So this week we’ll feature all our usage examples from newspaper stories about him. We’ll include links to the stories -- do read them. Also, we’ll include quotations from the man himself.

PS: I highly recommend following the reporter Christina Wilkie @christinawilkie on Twitter. Also, the writer Stuart Stevens @stuartpstevens.

PPS: Here’s a review of a new biography of Hitler. Try this experiment: Replace the word Hitler with Trump and Germany with the US in it and see if you can tell the difference.

narcissism

PRONUNCIATION:

(NAHR-si-siz-uhm)

MEANING:

noun: Excessive self-interest or self-love.

ETYMOLOGY:

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter and a young man of exceptional beauty. He spurned the nymph Echo. One day he saw his reflection in water and fell in love with himself. Not realizing it was himself and unable to leave, he eventually died. Earliest documented use: 1822.

USAGE:

“George Simon, a clinical psychologist who conducts seminars on manipulative behavior, says Trump is ‘so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there’s no better example’ of narcissism. ...
“When, in the summer of 1999, he stood up to offer remarks at his father’s funeral, Trump spoke mainly about himself. It was the toughest day of his own life, Trump began. He went on to talk about Fred Trump’s greatest achievement: raising a brilliant and renowned son.”
Dan P. McAdams; The Mind of Donald Trump; The Atlantic (Washington, DC); Jun 2016.

In His Own Words:
“I feel like a supermodel. Except like times 10. It’s true. I’m a supermodel. I’m on the cover of these magazines -- I’m on the cover of the biggest magazines.”
-Donald Trump (reference)

“My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”
-Donald Trump (reference)

See more usage examples of narcissism in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity. -Orlando Aloysius Battista, chemist and author (20 Jun 1917 - 3 Oct 1995)

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