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Jun 1, 2010
This week's themeWords not named after the person they should be This week's words McKenzie orrery philippic Buridan's ass guillotine 
Photo: Kaptain Kobold
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargorrery
PRONUNCIATION:
(OR-uh-ree)
MEANING:
noun:
A mechanical model of the solar system that represents the relative
motions of the planets around the sun.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery (1676-1731), who was given one of
those models by John Rowley, a London instrument-maker. They were invented
by George Graham c. 1700. The device would have been better named either
after its inventor, Graham, or its maker, Rowley.
USAGE:
"The lamp at the center of the orrery demonstrates the way the sun lends
light to the planets."James Fenton; Sheridan the Revolutionary; The New York Review of Books; Feb 4, 1999.
"Even the nation's attic couldn't contain a 650-yard-long model of the
solar system, so the Smithsonian Institution has put it outdoors, on the
National Mall. 'Voyage: A Journey Through Our Solar System', a new
permanent installation, represents the solar system at one 10-billionth
its actual size. ... A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)
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