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Mar 3, 2010
This week's themeWords borrowed from various languages This week's words goulash cabal potlatch laager baksheesh Potlatch
(Artist: James Gilchrist Swan)
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargpotlatch
PRONUNCIATION:
(POT-lach)
MEANING:
noun:1. A party or get-together. 2. A ceremonial festival among North American Indians of the Pacific Northwest involving feasts, lavish gift giving, dances, etc. ETYMOLOGY:
From Chinook Jargon, from Nootka patshatl (to give, gift).
USAGE:
"'[The youth ambassadors] were coming to the biggest potlatch in the world,
sharing and developing a sense of pride in who they are,' Diane Strand says."Shelley Fralic; World's Biggest Potlatch Changing Attitudes; Vancouver Sun (Canada); Feb 24, 2010. See more usage examples of potlatch in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Twin Mystery. To many people artists seem / undisciplined and lawless. / Such laziness, with such great gifts, / seems little short of crime. / One mystery is how they make / the things they make so flawless; / another, what they're doing with / their energy and time. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)
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