A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Fri Feb 1 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--onomastics X-Bonus: Never cut what you can untie. -Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824) This week's theme: There's a word for it onomastics (on-uh-MAS-tiks) noun The study of proper names or of terms used in a specialized field. [From Greek onomastikos (of names), from onomazein (to name), from onoma (name). Also see onomasticon https://wordsmith.org/words/onomasticon.html . Earliest documented use: 1904.] "Ms. Lindsay is one of a growing number of onomastics enthusiasts catering to a generation of parents hungry for the perfect name." Rebecca Dube; Unique's the Name; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Oct 9, 2007. -------- Date: Mon Feb 4 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--impetuous X-Bonus: Habit with him was all the test of truth, / It must be right: I've done it from my youth. -George Crabbe, poet and naturalist (1754-1832) Do you see people in black and white? They are either good or bad. Saints or sinners. We should leave that Manichean https://wordsmith.org/words/manichean.html view to the fairytales where one is either an innocent princess or a wicked witch. In reality, there are many shades of gray in between. And humans are rather colorful. This week's A.Word.A.Day will give us five words to describe them. impetuous (im-PECH-oo-uhs) adjective: Marked by impulsiveness or impatience. [From Latin impetus (assault, impetus), from impetere (to attack), from in- (in) + petere (to go to). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, pterodactyl, helicopter, propitious https://wordsmith.org/words/propitious.html , pinnate https://wordsmith.org/words/pinnate.html , and lepidopterology (study of butterflies and moths) https://wordsmith.org/words/lepidopterology.html . Earliest documented use: 1398.] "Fools rush in ... Taylor Swift often acts, well, like an impetuous teen straight out of one of her songs." Eric Andersson; Why Taylor Can't Find Love; Us Weekly (New York); Nov 19, 2012. -------- Date: Tue Feb 5 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--uxorious X-Bonus: Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. -Ben Hecht, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, novelist, director, and producer (1894-1964) This week's theme: Words to describe people uxorious (uk-SOHR-ee-uhs) adjective: Excessively devoted or submissive toward one's wife. [From Latin uxor (wife). The feminine counterpart of this word is maritorious https://wordsmith.org/words/maritorious.html . Earliest documented use: 1598.] "Mostly, though, Harold Pinter is uxorious -- showering his wife with flowers, poems, jewellery, and impeccably chosen books. It is rare to read of a modern marriage maturing into such singular devotion." Anne Kingston; Books; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Nov 15, 2010. -------- Date: Wed Feb 6 00:01:02 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--implacable X-Bonus: Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592) This week's theme: Words to describe people implacable (im-PLAK-uh-buhl, -PLAY-kuh-) adjective: Impossible to pacify or appease. [From Latin placare (to quiet or appease). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to be flat), which is also the source of fluke, flake, flaw, plead, please, supple, supplicatory https://wordsmith.org/words/supplicatory.html and archipelago https://wordsmith.org/words/archipelago.html . Earliest documented use: 1522.] "Big issues that pit a single, powerless individual against a vast, implacable adversary have inspired some of his most memorable novels." Bill Sheehan; Grisham's Latest; The Washington Post; Oct 23, 2012. -------- Date: Thu Feb 7 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cantankerous X-Bonus: Every burned book or house enlightens the world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth from side to side. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week's theme: Words to describe people cantankerous (kan-TANG-kuhr-uhs) adjective: Difficult to deal with: ill-tempered, quarrelsome. [Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Middle English contak (contention). Earliest documented use: 1736.] "Justin Wolff makes clear that Thomas Hart Benton had a difficult if not volcanic personality. Among the adjectives he uses to describe him are surly, belligerent, arrogant, pugnacious*, combative, gruff, inflexible, cantankerous, argumentative, churlish, cruel, and blunt." Terry Hartle; Thomas Hart Benton: A Life; The Christian Science Monitor (Boston); May 21, 2012. * https://wordsmith.org/words/pugnacious.html -------- Date: Fri Feb 8 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--impudent X-Bonus: I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. -Edith Cavell, nurse and humanitarian (1865-1915) This week's theme: Words to describe people impudent (IM-pyuh-duhnt) adjective: Marked by offensive boldness. [From Latin im- (not) + pudere (to make or be ashamed) which also gave us pudibund (prudish) https://wordsmith.org/words/pudibund.html , pudency (modesty) https://wordsmith.org/words/pudency.html , and pudeur (a sense of shame) https://wordsmith.org/words/pudeur.html . Earliest documented use: 1386.] "The tie has matching socks and braces ... It seems imprudent (and possibly impudent) to ask if his boxers match, as well." Mike Amos; Laughing Matter; Northern Echo (Darlington, UK); Mar 5, 2011. -------- Date: Mon Feb 11 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pteridology X-Bonus: If a rabbit defined intelligence the way man does, then the most intelligent animal would be a rabbit, followed by the animal most willing to obey the commands of a rabbit. -Robert Brault, writer (b. 1938) There's too much noise in this world. Hundreds of channels on television. Giant billboards on both sides of the road. It appears everyone has something to say, and to say it loud. It's good to have a little quiet sometimes. Well, this week's words do their part by carrying silent letters in their spellings. Seriously, why in the world would we have silent letters? To make sure English orthography is not too easy? Who knows what might happen if everyone learned the language effortlessly? Why? Well, it's a long story. A story as long as the history of the English language. Ultimately, the English spelling is a reflection of thousands of years of hodge-podge that brought it where it is today. And a reflection of humankind and its sometimes illogical ways. Some letters that are quiet now were not as shy to speak up in the past. Their sounds just fell off over time. For example, the letter k in the word knee was pronounced in the beginning, but English speakers dropped the initial k (and g) sound in a word when followed by the letter n. In German they still pronounce it -- their word for knee, Knie, is pronounced with the initial k sound, for example. Some words were deliberately manipulated. The letter b was inserted into the word debt (in Middle English it was det) to show its classical ancestry -- because Latin debit had a b. But we continued with the same pronunciation. The word island has a sad story. We added the letter s to iland (literally, watery land) because we erroneously believed it was derived from French isle. The French word has dropped its s to become île, but we are still carrying that misbegotten s. The word psychology, which we got from Greek has its p pronounced in Greek. We don't have the initial ps or pt combinations in English so we ignore the p sound. At other times we were not very consistent. We borrowed many words from French that have their initial h silent. We continue with the word hour, while we have added the h sound in other words, such as human and hospital. And so it goes. This week we'll feature five words with initial silent letters. As a bonus, the last word of this week has its first two initial letters silent. Let's not be too hard on these silent letters -- they are not as deadweight as they seem. If nothing else, they help us get a higher score in Scrabble. pteridology (ter-i-DOL-uh-jee) noun The study of ferns. [From Greek pterido (fern) + -logy (study). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, propitious https://wordsmith.org/words/propitious.html , pinnate https://wordsmith.org/words/pinnate.html , and lepidopterology https://wordsmith.org/words/lepidopterology.html . Earliest documented use: 1855.] "From being novices in the world of pteridology five years ago, Kath and Wallace now preside over one of the finest collections of ferns in the country." James Alexander-Sinclair; How Couple's Magic Touch Saved a Secret Sanctuary; The Express on Sunday (London, UK); Jul 9, 2000. -------- Date: Tue Feb 12 00:01:02 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--knacker X-Bonus: Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel prize in literature (1872-1970) This week's theme: Words with initial silent letters knacker (NAK-uhr) noun: 1. A person who buys old, sick, or worn-out animals for slaughter. 2. A person who buys old buildings, ships, etc. to break them up for scrap. verb tr.: To tire out. [Probably of Scandinavian origin. Earliest documented use: 1574.] "Eddie McIlwaine had it spot-on in Monday's paper: 'If the fates had been kinder and she had never met the iceberg ... she would now be just a dot in H&W history after being broken up in the knacker's yard.'" Eamonn McCann; In All the Titanic Hype Where is the Memorial to Victims? Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland); Mar 30, 2012. -------- Date: Wed Feb 13 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gnathic X-Bonus: Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616) This week's theme: Words with initial silent letters gnathic (NATH-ik) adjective Of or relating to the jaw. [From Greek gnathos (jaw). Ultimately from the Indo-European root genu- (jawbone, chin), which is also the source of chin, prognathous https://wordsmith.org/words/prognathous.html , and Sanskrit hanu (jaw). Hanuman (literally, having a large jaw) is the name of a monkey god in the Hindu pantheon. Earliest documented use: 1882.] "For the first time in his life Judah sees the strangeness of the khepri, hears the scissor-sounds their gnathic movements make." China Miéville; Iron Council; Del Rey; 2004. -------- Date: Thu Feb 14 02:01:02 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wraith X-Bonus: It is more often from pride than from ignorance that we are so obstinately opposed to current opinions; we find the first places taken, and we do not want to be the last. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, moralist (1613-1680) This week's theme: Words with initial silent letters wraith (rayth) noun 1. A ghost. 2. An apparition of a person supposed to appear just before that person's death. 3. An insubstantial copy of something: shadow. [From Scottish. Earliest documented use: 1513.] "BlackBerry maker RIM, now a shadow of its former self and haunting the tech market like a wraith, took yet another hit." Tiernan Ray; Why Everyone's Getting Pummeled; Barron's (New York); Jul 2, 2012. -------- Date: Fri Feb 15 00:01:06 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chthonic X-Bonus: To read fast is as bad as to eat in a hurry. -Vilhelm Ekelund, poet (1880-1949) This week's theme: Words with initial silent letters chthonic (THON-ik) adjective Of or relating to the underworld. [From Greek chthon (earth). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhghem- (earth), which also sprouted human, homicide, humble, homage, chameleon, chamomile, inhume https://wordsmith.org/words/inhume.html, exhume, and Persian zamindar (landholder). Earliest documented use: 1882.] "The earth's crust is riddled with unresolved tensions -- prod, pierce, or bend it enough and these chthonic stresses will find sudden release." Notes from Underground; The Economist (London, UK); Apr 21, 2012. -------- Date: Mon Feb 18 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spoonerism X-Bonus: As freely as the firmament embraces the world, / or the sun pours forth impartially his beams, / so mercy must encircle both friend and foe. -Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, poet and dramatist (1759-1805) Most of us stub our toes or run into a glass door from time to time, though some of us are more prone to this than others. The same works with language. We make errors. Sometimes these are funny. This week we've collected five words to describe such errors. Even though these errors are called slips of the tongue, slips of the brain may be more appropriate. The tongue does only what the brain asks it to do. Do you have an example of the errors described in this week's words? Share them in our online forum Wordsmith Talk https://wordsmith.org/board/ or email us at (words at wordsmith.org). Selected specimens will be featured in the weekend AWADmail compilation. spoonerism (SPOO-nuh-riz-em) noun The transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of words producing a humorous result. For example: "It is now kisstomary to cuss the bride." (Spooner while officiating at a wedding) "Is the bean dizzy?" (Spooner questioning the secretary of his dean) [After William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), clergyman and educator, who was prone to this. Earliest documented use: 1900.] "As for her own red-faced moment on air, Hudson recalled how she coined a somewhat racy spoonerism in a reference to Killorglin's Puck Fair." Seán McCárthaigh; AA Roadwatch Broadcasters Celebrate 21 Years; Irish Examiner (Cork, Ireland); Aug 31, 2010. -------- Date: Tue Feb 19 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--malapropism X-Bonus: The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. -Linus Pauling, chemist, peace activist, author, educator; Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Peace Prize (1901-1994) This week's theme: Words for linguistic errors malapropism (MAL-uh-prop-iz-ehm) noun The humorous misuse of a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding word. For example, "pineapple of perfection" for "pinnacle of perfection" (from the play The Rivals) [After Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's play, The Rivals (1775), who confused words in this manner. The name Malaprop is coined from French "mal à propos" (inappropriate). Earliest documented use: 1830.] "Mayor Thomas Menino is sometimes made fun of for his malapropisms; he once said the city's parking shortage was 'an Alcatraz* around my neck'." Katharine Q. Seelye; Ailing Mayor of Boston Says He's Still Up to the Job; The New York Times; Dec 17, 2012. * albatross https://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.html -------- Date: Wed Feb 20 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Freudian slip X-Bonus: If only I may grow: firmer, simpler, -- quieter, warmer. -Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel laureate (1905-1961) This week's theme: Words for linguistic errors Freudian slip (FROI-dee-uhn slip) noun An error that reveals someone's subconscious mind. For example, "I wish you were her," instead of "I wish you were here." [After Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, who proposed the idea that errors in speech, writing, etc. reveal what is in one's subconscious mind. Earliest documented use: 1959.] "The Freudian slip is invoked to explain some strange and embarrassing behavior. 'Nice to beat you,' smiles a woman when she meets the ex-girlfriend of her husband." Jena Pincott; Terrorized by the Tongue; Psychology Today (New York); Mar/Apr 2012. -------- Date: Thu Feb 21 00:01:04 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eggcorn X-Bonus: Contempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one's own despised and unwanted feelings. -Alice Miller, psychologist and author (1923-2010) This week's theme: Words for linguistic errors eggcorn (EG-korn) noun An erroneous alteration of a word or phrase, by replacing an original word with a similar sounding word, such that the new word or phrase also makes a kind of sense. For example: "ex-patriot" instead of "expatriate" and "mating name" instead of "maiden name". [Coined by linguist Geoffrey Pullum (b. 1945) in 2003. From the substitution of the word acorn with eggcorn. Earliest documented use as a name for this phenomenon is from 2003, though the term eggcorn has been found going back as far as 1844, as "egg corn bread" for "acorn bread".] "Will eggcorns continue to hatch? This is a moot point (or is that mute?). Yet certainly anyone waiting with 'baited' (bated) breath for 'whole scale' (wholesale) changes may need to wait a while." Bill & Rich Sones; If Elevator Falls, Don't Jump to Conclusions; Deseret News (Utah); Jul 3, 2008. -------- Date: Fri Feb 22 00:01:02 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mondegreen X-Bonus: We should not write so that it is possible for the reader to understand us, but so that it is impossible for him to misunderstand us. -Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus), rhetorician (c. 35-100) This week's theme: Words for linguistic errors mondegreen (MON-di-green) noun A word or phrase resulting from mishearing a word or phrase, especially in song lyrics. For example: "The girl with colitis goes by" for "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes" in the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". [Coined by author Sylvia Wright when she misinterpreted the line "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen" in the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray". Earliest documented use: 1954.] "Since I live in Thailand, the most meaningful mondegreen for me was my own mishearing of a line from The Jam's Eton Rifles. Instead of the correct 'What chance do you have against a tie and a crest?', for years I heard 'What chance do you have against a Thai in a dress?'" Richard Watson Todd; Much Ado about English; Nicholas Brealey Publishing; May 1, 2007. -------- Date: Mon Feb 25 01:01:02 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--logophile X-Bonus: When you see a man led to prison say in your heart, "Mayhap he is escaping from a narrower prison." And when you see a man drunken say in your heart, "Mayhap he sought escape from something still more unbeautiful." -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931) Some play with construction games like Legos or Lincoln Logs or Meccano. I play with words. I make them by arranging prefixes and suffixes and combining forms*. When you spend so much time with words they begin to come alive. Some of these combining forms have a specific preference for where they go: front or back. Others can go either way. For example, today's word begins with the form logo-, which can also go at the end of words, as in sociology. Sometimes a form can combine with itself to create a word, as in logology https://wordsmith.org/words/logology.html (study of words). Of course, you can have more than two combining forms come together in a word as well. Before things get too wild though, let's look at this week's words made with combining forms. * What are combining forms? You can think of them as Lego (from Danish, leg: play + godt: well) bricks of language. As the term indicates, a combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with some other form which could be a word, another combining form, or an affix. Unlike a combining form, an affix can't attach to another affix. logophile (LOG-uh-fyl) noun One who loves words. [From Greek logo- (word) + -phile (lover). Earliest documented use: 1959.] "I treasure my printed OED -- as a memento of my logophile grandfather." Dictionaries: Finding Their Ideal Format?; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 22, 2012. -------- Date: Tue Feb 26 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--homologous X-Bonus: It is impossible to live pleasurably without living prudently, honorably, and justly; or to live prudently, honorably, and justly, without living pleasurably. -Epicurus, philosopher (c. 341-270 BCE) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms homologous (huh-MOL-uh-guhs, hoh-) adjective 1. Exhibiting a degree of correspondence or similarity. 2. Corresponding in structure and evolutionary origin, but not necessarily in function. For example, human arm, dog foreleg, bird wing, and whale flipper are homologous. [From Greek homo- (same) + logos (word, proportion, reason). Earliest documented use: 1660.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/homologous_large.png Illustration: Volkov Vladislav Petrovich "Hobbes argues that the family constitutes a structure homologous to the state." Jean Bethke Elshtain; Sovereignty: God, State, and Self; Basic Books; 2008. "The Guide seemed to make a sign by certain motions of his robe which may or may not have involved the lifting of an arm or some homologous member." HP Lovecraft; The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories; Penguin; 2004. -------- Date: Wed Feb 27 00:01:03 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hagiarchy X-Bonus: Wars damage the civilian society as much as they damage the enemy. Soldiers never get over it. -Paul Fussell, historian, author, and professor (1924-2012) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms hagiarchy (HAG-ee-ar-kee, HAY-jee-) noun A government by holy persons. Also a place thus governed. [From Greek hagi- (holy) + -archy (rule). Earliest documented use: 1826.] NOTES: Two synonyms of this term are hagiocracy and hierocracy. Also, literally speaking, hierarchy is the rule of the high priest. "Brazil's drug lords are altar boys compared with the Mexican and Colombian hagiarchy." Mac Margolis; Brazil's New Drug Habit; Newsweek International; May 28, 2001. -------- Date: Thu Feb 28 00:01:05 EST 2013 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--archetype X-Bonus: The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it. -John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704) This week's theme: Words made with combining forms archetype (AHR-ki-typ) noun 1. The original pattern or model of something; prototype. 2. An ideal or typical example of something. [From Greek arche- (first, original) + -type (model, mold). Earliest documented use: 1605.] "Madonna has been the icon and archetype to the current crop of pop princesses." Scott Mervis; For the Record: Madonna and Lionel Ritchie; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Mar 29, 2012.