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Jul 11, 2022
This week’s themeWords that appear to be misspelled This week’s words staddle dragoon specie navvy compromis 
Staddle stones are mushroom-shaped stones on which granaries are
rested. This helps keep the grain dry and stops rodents from climbing in.
Photo: Anguskirk Previous week’s theme Blend words 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargAt first glance this week’s words may appear to be misspelled. Some words might make you wonder: Is a letter missing? Others: Is there an extra letter here? The answer in each case is: None of the above. Each word we feature this week has exactly as many letters as it needs. Nothing to add. Nothing to remove. Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said, “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Going by that definition, these words are perfect, even though there was no designer who made them. Sometimes there’s no need for a designer (intelligent or not). Can we call a word a “little print”? If so, these little prints are perfect as they are. Tame them and add them to your wordstock. You become responsible, however, for what you have tamed. Use them judiciously. This week we’ll feature five words that appear to be misspelled. staddle
PRONUNCIATION:
(STAD-uhl)
MEANING:
noun: A base, support, or supporting framework.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old English stathol (base, support, or tree trunk). Earliest
documented use: 900.
USAGE:
“When Donald Frazier set his mind on marrying a Catholic, the staddle
on which his mother’s church was built had already begun to crumble.” John Gardner; Stillness & Shadows; Knopf; 1986. See more usage examples of staddle in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I hold one share in the corporate earth and am uneasy about the management.
-E.B. White, writer (11 Jul 1899-1985)
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