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May 4, 2012
This week's themeEponyms This week's words mentor nestor tartar hector satyr
Satyr sculpture at Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney
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with Anu Gargsatyr
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: 1. A lecherous man. 2. A man who has satyriasis: excessive and uncontrollable sexual desire. The female equivalent is nymphomania. 3. Any of several butterflies of the family Satyridae, having eyelike spots. ETYMOLOGY:
After Satyr, a woodland creature in Greek mythology shown as having features
of a goat and a horse (pointed ears, horns, tail, etc.) and known for
lasciviousness. Earliest documented use: around 1374.
USAGE:
"Presiding like a twinkly satyr over this parade of sauciness and
silicone is Antoine de Caunes, the aforementioned Frenchman." James Rampton; Sauciness and Silicone; The Independent (London, UK); Sep 19, 1998. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Hundreds of hysterical persons must confuse these phenomena with messages from the beyond and take their glory to the bishop rather than the eye doctor. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)
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