A.Word.A.Day --yerk

A.Word.A.Day

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Feb 1, 2016

This week’s theme
Four-letter words

This week’s words
yerk
unco
saga
diel
alar

“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.” ~Emerson
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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

A Washington Post headline last year ran: Four-letter word again blankets the region. No, the capital region wasn’t having an epidemic of the F-word.

It was the S-word. Sure, the stuff looks nice when you’re warm sitting indoors, but too much of anything can bring out four-letter words. Just look at the diary of this man new to Minnesota.

This week we feature some short words, all four letters long. You can say four-letter words blanket the world. But not to worry -- they are all clean.

yerk

PRONUNCIATION:

(yuhrk)

MEANING:

verb tr., intr.: To rise, stir, strike, whip, pull, kick, etc.
noun: A sudden movement, kick, jerk, stab, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative. Earliest documented use: 1424.

USAGE:

“This was our warm-up for the Wild Chipmunk, the legendary Lakeside roller coaster famous for its endless jerking and yerking.”
Ricardo Baca; Bars; Denver Post (Colorado); Oct 6, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

When you turn the corner / And you run into yourself / Then you know that you have turned / All the corners that are left. -Langston Hughes, poet and novelist (1 Feb 1902-1967)

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