A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Fri Aug 1 00:01:42 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hors de combat X-Bonus: It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. -Arthur Conan Doyle, physician and writer (1859-1930) hors de combat (awr duh kawn-BA) adverb or adjective Out of action; disabled. [From French, literally, out of fight.] Gotcha! All those who thought today's term meant "combat horse" raise your hands. Yes, this term has nothing to do with this week's theme but I thought a little horseplay was in order at the close of the week. I decided to throw it in as a red-herring, to mix another animal metaphor. A similar, more common word, is hors d'oeuvre, literally outside the main course. -Anu "To his (Steve Waugh's) acute disappointment he was hors de combat with a hamstring tear when the Australians rallied from behind to win at Bangalore in 1998." Mike Coward; An Indian Summer Beckons; The Australian (Sydney, Australia); Dec 29, 2000. "Wounded in the latest skirmish, the boss is by no means hors de combat." France's National Front: Who's Boss?; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 5, 1998. This week's theme: words of horse-related origins. -------- Date: Mon Aug 4 00:01:19 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cheval-de-frise X-Bonus: The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time. -William Butler Yeats, writer, Nobel laureate (1865-1939) cheval-de-frise (shuh-VAL duh FREEZ) noun plural chevaux-de-frise (shuh-VOH duh FREEZ) 1. An obstacle, typically made of wood, covered with barbed wire or spikes, used to block the advancing enemy. 2. A line of nails, spikes, or broken glass set on top of a wall or railing to deter intruders. [From French, literally horse of Friesland, so named because it was first used by Frisians who lacked cavalry.] Pictures of chevaux-de-frise: http://civilwarfortifications.com/dictionary/xgc-020.html "Fold back the leaves of an artichoke and you discover ... more artichoke leaves, at least until you come to the succulent, secret heart hidden beneath a chevaux-de-frise of thistle-like bristle." David Nelson; Gastronomic Adventure Unfolds Like an Artichoke; The Los Angeles Times; Jun 21, 1991. "On the land side, outside the battlements, are acres of chevaux-de-frise: sharp rock slabs set vertically into the ground, making it virtually impossible for a person to pass, let alone a horse." Denise Fainberg; On Foot In Inishmore; The New York Times; Aug 1, 1999. Artists sit on art horses -- wooden benches with supports for their canvases. Carpenters use saw horses, so called because they clearly look like stylized representations of the animal. Not so obvious are horses -- or their cousins -- hiding in many everyday objects. Literally speaking, an easel is an ass (from Dutch ezel), while a bidet is a pony (from French bidet). We continue with the theme from the last week: words with horse-related origins. In each of this week's terms, there is a horse lurking somewhere in its etymology. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Aug 5 00:01:11 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Hobson's choice X-Bonus: Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, ease after war, death after life does greatly please. -Edmund Spenser, poet (1552-1599) Hobson's choice (HOB-suhnz chois) noun The choice of taking what is offered or none; an apparently free choice with no acceptable alternative. [After T. Hobson (1544-1631), a liveryman who offered his customers the choice of renting the horse near the stable door or none at all.] While it seems like Mr. Hobson could use a bit of training in "customer service", he was fair in his way and made sure all his animals received equal opportunity. His stable had a variety of horses and Hobson's choice ensured that all have had equal rest instead of a few favorites getting all the wear and tear. On the other hand, maybe he didn't have to go to any of the extremes. He could have offered his customers the choice of taking one of the four horses near the stable door, for example. -Anu "But Russia faced a Hobson's choice between a bad treaty or no treaty at all - between accepting a lightweight treaty that allows maximum flexibility for both the United States and Russia or risking the complete demise of the nuclear arms reduction treaty regime." Andrew C Kuchins; Explaining Mr. Putin: Russia's New Nuclear Diplomacy; Arms Control Today (Washington, DC); Oct 2002. "We are frequently told that the Hobson's choice presented by the Lebanese morass is: either soldiers die in the security zone, or civilians will die in Israel's North." Uri Dromi; Syrian Accountability; Jerusalem Post (Israel); Nov 30, 1998. This week's theme: words of horse-related origins. -------- Date: Wed Aug 6 00:01:12 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--harridan X-Bonus: After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. -Fred Thompson, US senator, lawyer, writer, and actor (1942- ) harridan (HAR-i-dn) noun An ill-tempered, scolding woman. [Perhaps from French haridelle (worn-out horse, gaunt woman).] "For us, the most revealing of the remarks attributed to the Heritage harridan were these: `I will beat you and nothing will happen. You can go to court, all the judges know Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of the (army) commander. The judges will do nothing.'" 'All judges know Jocelyn Chiwenga'; Zimbabwe Independent (Harare); Mar 28, 2003. "A harridan committee chairwoman, Libby Hauser, acted sneeringly by Dana Ivey, all but tosses bubbly, babbling Elle out of a hearing room." Malcolm Johnson; `Blonde 2' Is Blithely Bubbly; Hartford Courant (Connecticut); Jul 2, 2003. This week's theme: words of horse-related origins. -------- Date: Thu Aug 7 00:01:10 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cheval de bataille X-Bonus: There lives more faith in honest doubt, / Believe me, than in half the creeds. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1809-1892) cheval de bataille (shuh-VAL duh ba-TAH-yuh) noun plural chevaux de bataille (shuh-VOH duh ba-TAH-yuh) A favorite topic; hobbyhorse. [From French, literally battle-horse.] "By then (Kenneth) Neate was already singing much heavier roles, such as Florestan in Fidelio, Lohengrin and, the part that became his cheval de bataille, Tannhauser." Elizabeth Forbes; Obituary: Kenneth Neate; Independent (London, UK); Jul 1, 1997. "Rossini's Stabat Mater was long castigated by churchmen and sober-minded critics for its supposed worldliness and operatic flamboyance. Even today it can cause raised eyebrows with its eclectic mix of styles, ranging from the austere, archaic Eja Mater and Quando Corpus Morietur to the full-blooded theatricality of the soprano aria Inflammatus, cruelly dubbed by George Bernard Shaw "the spavined cheval de bataille of obsolete prima donnas". Richard Wigmore; The Arts: Classical CD of the Week; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 4, 1999. Note: Will you be in Seattle area during the Labor Day weekend? If so, visit the Bumbershoot festival http://bumbershoot.org where Anu Garg will be speaking and book-signing. Details at https://wordsmith.org/awad/book.html This week's theme: words of horse-related origins. -------- Date: Fri Aug 8 00:01:16 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cavalier X-Bonus: What you get out depends on what you put in; and as the grandest mill in the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of formulae will not get a definite result out of loose data. -Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist and writer (1825-1895) cavalier (kav-uh-LEER) noun 1. A mounted soldier; a horseman. 2. A gallant man, one escorting a woman. 3. A supporter of Charles I of England in his conflict with Parliament. adjective 1. Arrogant; disdainful. 2. Nonchalant, carefree, or offhand about some important matter. 3. Or or pertaining to a group of English poets associated with the court of Charles I. verb intr. 1. To play the cavalier. 2. To act in a haughty manner. [From Middle French cavalier (horseman), from Old Italian cavaliere, ultimately from Latin caballus (horse).] "All that can be said is that it is unfortunate in the extreme that an issue as complex as the citizen's right to be informed about political candidates has been handled in so cavalier and self-serving a manner." Passing the Ordinance; The Indian Express (New Delhi); Aug 26, 2002. "Northcote resident Tony Sharrock said his rates had doubled to $400. `It's a travesty of justice. `The Government has billions of dollars surplus that could be spent on fixing transport infrastructure in Auckland but instead it allows the ARC to behave in a cavalier manner to milk ratepayers.'" Wayne Thompson; Phones Run Hot as ARC Rate Rises Shock Residents; The New Zealand Herald (Auckland); Jul 14, 2003. This week's theme: words of horse-related origins. -------- Date: Mon Aug 11 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--madeleine X-Bonus: We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. -Anna Sewell, writer (1820-1878) madeleine (MAD-uh-lin) noun 1. A small, rich cake baked in a fluted, shell-shaped pan. 2. Something that evokes memory or nostalgia. [Contraction of French gāteau ą la Madeleine, literally Cake Madeleine. Who this Madeleine was isn't clear. The recipe for this cake has been attributed to the French cook Madeleine Paulnier/Paumier but that's unsubstantiated.] "I'll never forget the summer I first read `Little Women.' Twenty-six years later, that memorable opening ("`Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug") is a literary madeleine, taking me back to an earlier time when reading was an unmixed pleasure and a book a magical charm that sealed me off from the world." Norrie Epstein; 'Little Women' Read by Girls but Remembered by Women; The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland); Apr 12, 1992. "Exhume Once Upon A Mattress, I double dare you, but keep your mitts off a musical madeleine from my hoary past." James Magruder; They Made Words Sing; American Theatre (New York); Apr 1997. We often choose names because they have specific meanings. Our daughter's name Ananya, for example, means unique in Sanskrit. But many times, what we do (or what's done to us) assigns new meanings to those names. The name Philip means a lover of horses (from Greek). But the orations of Demosthenes against Philip, king of Macedon in the fourth century BCE, resulted in another sense of the word. Today philippic is a synonym for bitter denunciation. The word donkey is derived from the name Duncan. All this week's words are terms coined after names. Some of these are derived from fictional characters, while others are based on real persons. Some are based on first names, while others are from last names. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Aug 12 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wellerism X-Bonus: At least half the mystery novels published violate the law that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable. -Raymond Chandler, writer (1888-1959) wellerism (WEH-luh-ri-zuhm) noun An expression involving a familiar proverb or quotation and its facetious sequel. It usually comprises three parts: statement, speaker, situation. Examples: "Everyone to his own liking," the old woman said when she kissed her cow. "We'll have to rehearse that," said the undertaker as the coffin fell out of the car. [After Sam Weller and his father, characters known for such utterances in Charles Dickens's novel Pickwick Papers (1837).] "All of the Shavian proverbs and most of the wellerisms have been recorded in a literary context ... Anyhow, 'So far so good,' as the boy said when he had finished the first pot of his mother's jam." W F H Nicolaisen; The Proverbial Bernard Shaw; Folklore (London, UK); 1998. This week's theme: words coined after someone's name. -------- Date: Wed Aug 13 00:01:15 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--foley X-Bonus: The road to wisdom? Well it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again, but less and less and less. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996) foley (FO-lee) adjective Of or relating to the sound effects. [After Jack Donovan Foley (1891-1967) who pioneered the techniques of adding sound effects during his three decades at Universal Pictures.] Why wouldn't they use the actual sounds in a movie? They could, but often very little is real on a studio set. Clanging of plastic swords isn't going to help the scene appear realistic. Also, ambient noise often precludes use of the actual sounds. That's where foley artists come in; they can recreate almost any sound in their studio, from footsteps to creaking of the floor and breaking of bones. Some tips on how you can create these sounds yourself: http://www.marblehead.net/foley/specifics.html -Anu "When Helga throws a pie at a cafeteria bully, the foley team adds the noise you hear in the final cartoon." Eric Unmacht; Here's How They Make a Cartoon; The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Massachusetts); Nov 9, 1999. "Stephen Hodges worked with his percussion like a foley artist, making sound effects more than rhythms." Neil Strauss; Tom Waits's Night on Earth; The New York Times; Mar 24, 1999. This week's theme: words coined after someone's name. -------- Date: Thu Aug 14 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Vandyke X-Bonus: A language is never in a state of fixation, but is always changing; we are not looking at a lantern-slide but at a moving picture. -Arthur Lloyd James, phonetician (1884-1943) Vandyke also Van Dyke or vandyke (van dyk) noun A short, pointed beard. [After painter Anthony Van Dyck or Vandyke (1599-1641) who painted portraits of people having these v-shaped beards.] A painting by Anthony Van Dyck: http://abcgallery.com/V/vandyck/vandyck40.html "And, a young man with a Van Dyke and kinte cloth shorts was Dirt Devil-ing the floor around a mannequin in one of the few windows in which mannequins were dressed." Frank DeCaro; Barneys Countdown: It's Retailing, Not a Revolution; Newsday (New York); Sep 8, 1993. "The Van Dyke, however, is shaped like a V and comes to a sharp point. It usually, but not always, has a mustache with it, suitable for twirling." Jim Kershner; Is it Too Late to Jump on Goatee Trend?; The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington); Jun 15, 1996. This week's theme: words coined after someone's name. -------- Date: Fri Aug 15 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Davy Jones's locker X-Bonus: Let early education be a sort of amusement, you will then better be able to find out the natural bent of the child. -Plato, philosopher (427-347 BCE) Davy Jones's locker (Day-vee JON-ziz LOK-uhr) noun The bottom of the ocean, especially when regarded as the grave of those who perish at sea. [Davy Jones is personification of the sea or the spirit of the sea. But who was Davy Jones? Nobody knows, but if he was a real person chances are he was a sailor.] "Davy Jones's locker is the ultimate commons: vast, ownerless and largely unknown." Edward Carr; The Sea: Going Deep; The Economist (London, UK); May 23, 1998. "Water depth is another tricky point. Superfish needs about 1m to stay afloat, but in the Whitsundays it can go from Davy Jones's locker to bathtub level at the blink of an eye." Barry Oliver; Dream Boat; The Australian (Sydney); Apr 19, 2003. This week's theme: words coined after someone's name. -------- Date: Mon Aug 18 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--stagflation X-Bonus: It is never the shallower for the calmnesse. The Sea is a deepe, there is as much water in the Sea, in a calme, as in a storme. -John Donne, poet (1573-1631) stagflation (stag-FLAY-shuhn) noun Economic condition marked by lack of growth (stagnation) and persistent, substantial increase in prices (inflation). [Blend of stagnation and inflation.] "Policymakers are facing a serious dilemma in implementing economic policies, as signs of stagflation -- a deadly cocktail of stagnation and inflation -- loom over economy." Signs of Stagflation Cloud Economy; The Korea Times (Seoul, South Korea); Apr 2, 2003. "When this adjustment is allied to an over-accommodative monetary policy, it may result in a period of stagflation." The Fed Takes a Dangerous Stance; Financial Times (London, UK); Jul 22, 2003. This week's selection features words coined by fusing two separate words. What is unique about these words, as opposed to the words formed by simply placing two words next to each other, e.g. lovesick, is that the former are blended together in such a way that each participating word contributes a fragment of its whole, both in letters and in meaning to the new word. Such an amalgamated word is also known as a portmanteau (a bag with two compartments) since Lewis Carroll gave them this moniker in his 1872 classic "Through the Looking-Glass". Carroll himself coined some great portmanteaux, such as chortle (chuckle + snort), and slithy (slimy + lithe). Many of these portmanteaux words are clunky (infotainment: information + entertainment) while others are fluid (smog: smoke + fog) but they all serve a purpose and that's why they stay in the language. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Aug 19 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bumbershoot X-Bonus: No, no, you're not thinking, you're just being logical. -Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962) bumbershoot (BUM-buhr-shoot) noun An umbrella. [Blend of sounds of umbrella + parachute.] "While the umbrella--or brolly or bumbershoot or parasol--has protected people from sun or rain for some 4,000 years, there apparently are a few rude umbrella handlers left on the planet." Judy Hevrdejs; Wash That Gray Right Out of a Day; Chicago Tribune; Apr 6, 2003. "You probably take your bumbershoot for granted. It's just an umbrella: a shaft, expandable ribs and waterproof fabric. But technology is slowly improving that generations-old design." Dru Sefton; What's Up With Umbrellas?; Fort-Worth Star-Telegram; Jun 14, 2003. This week's theme: portmanteau or blend words. -------- Date: Wed Aug 20 00:01:23 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--avigation X-Bonus: Some fellows pay a compliment like they expected a receipt. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1868-1930) avigation (av-i-GAY-shuhn) noun Aerial navigation. [Blend of avi- (bird) + navigation.] "If the airport wins its point in a current lawsuit - in which the airport's lawyers argue that it has acquired avigation easements over neighboring homes, through historical use - what incentive would the airport commission have to follow through with such an expensive program?" T.W. McGarry; Outlook is Bleak for Quieter Airport; The Los Angeles Times; Aug 28, 1988. "The city would pay other affected residents for the right to fly more planes over their property - or avigation easement rights." Elizabeth Campbell and Laura Vozzella; Many Residents See Mesa As Unwelcome Neighbor; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; May 5, 1997. This week's theme: portmanteau or blend words. -------- Date: Thu Aug 21 00:01:11 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--futilitarian X-Bonus: The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one. -Joan Baez, musician (1941- ) futilitarian (fyoo-til-i-TAR-ee-uhn) adjective Holding the belief that human striving is useless. noun One who holds such belief. [Blend of futile and utilitarian.] "Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude." Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune; Jul 9, 1989. "Even before Deirdre Bair's Life, now nearly 20 years old, a dubious kind of legend had grown up: that the miserabilist, even futilitarian, tendency of Beckett's work must be a reflection of some private unhappiness." Blake Morrison; The Poet of Less; Independent on Sunday (London, UK); Oct 6, 1996. This week's theme: portmanteau or blend words. -------- Date: Fri Aug 22 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--mingy X-Bonus: The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental; it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust. -Elizabeth Bowen, novelist (1899-1973) mingy (MIN-jee) adjective Characterized by lack of generosity: mean and stingy. [Blend of mean and stingy.] "The Commonwealth honours bestowed by Buckingham Palace did not create good families. The abandonment of gongs in most countries reveals how mingy the British were." Frank Devine; Royal Charade Serves a British Purpose; The Australian (Sydney, Australia); Mar 16, 2000. "Cape Breton stands then as a sort of penal colony for the unenlightened, a place of windswept austerity where character, mingy though it may be, is destiny." Same Old Trail Mix on Same Old Road; National Post (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada); May 10, 2001. This week's theme: portmanteau or blend words. -------- Date: Mon Aug 25 00:01:09 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--facinorous X-Bonus: Flattery won't hurt you if you don't swallow it. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1868-1930) facinorous (fa-SIN-uhr-uhs) adjective Extremely wicked. [From Latin facinorous, from facinus (bad deed), from facere (to do or make).] "O ambitious Marius! O cruel Catiline! O facinorous Sylla!" Miguel de Cervantes; Don Quixote (Translation by Thomas Shelton). "Parolles: Nay, 'tis strange, 'tis very strange, that is the brief and the tedious of it; and he is of a most facinorous spirit ..." William Shakespeare; All's Well that Ends Well (Act II, Scene III). A recent email in my mailbox began: "I love your daily words! I teach a college class and often share your words with students. I have a suggestion for a week of words. One of my pet peeves is that students, like so much of the world, have relegated themselves to using just a few words to express themselves when they are angry. I have been encouraging them to try out some others. Instead of `I'm going to kick your a__' try `I'm going to defenestrate you!' Why not spend a week with some other fun words to replace such terms as `you SOB' `F-you' etc.?" -Kaylene Armstrong Thanks for your excellent suggestion! You asked for it. And here it is: a week of literary insults. Hope your students put them to good use. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) -------- Date: Tue Aug 26 00:01:10 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ventripotent X-Bonus: Be yourself and do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. -Max Ehrmann, writer and lawyer (1872-1945) ventripotent (ven-TRI-pot-ehnt) adjective Having a large belly; gluttonous. [From French, from Latin ventri- (abdomen) + potent (powerful).] The word ventriloquism, the art of speaking such that the voice seems to come from somewhere else, is derived from the same root. Ventriloquism is, literally speaking, speaking from the belly. -Anu "This wight ventripotent was dining Once at the Grocers' Hall, and lining With calipee and calipash That tomb omnivorous -- his paunch." Horace Smith; The Astronomical Alderman; 19th century. (Calipee and calipash are parts of a turtle beneath the lower and upper shields, respectively) "The actor must, at all costs, inflict upon you the well-oiled machinery of ventripotence, whereas, to the reader, it is his mind which drips fatness." James Evershed Agate; A View of "The Beggar's Opera"; 1922. This week's theme: words to describe your opponents, vituperation. -------- Date: Wed Aug 27 00:01:08 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dasypygal X-Bonus: The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad. -James Madison, 4th US president (1751-1836) dasypygal (da-si-PYE-gul) adjective Having hairy buttocks. [From Greek dasy- (hairy, dense) + pyge (buttocks).] A related word is dasymeter, an instrument for measuring the..., no, not that, rather the density of gases. Another related word is callipygian, having a beautiful behind. -Anu "That way, if they will just turn their caps through 180 degrees, and the volume of their in-car stereos down a bit, and pull their trousers up over their dasypygal features, there might be hope, yet." Revel Barker; Open Eye: Fidel Castro And His Part in the Generation Game; Independent (London, UK); Sep 5, 2000. This week's theme: words to describe your opponents, vituperation. -------- Date: Thu Aug 28 00:01:15 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--saponaceous X-Bonus: It (death) comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes. -John Donne, poet (1573-1631) saponaceous (sap-uh-NAY-shus) adjective Soapy, slippery, evasive. [From New Latin saponaceus, from Latin sapon- (soap).] "Is this meant to be a fable about the power of the media (in the person of the saponaceous [Ross]) to expose secrets and destroy relatively innocent lives?" Barbara D. Phillips; Theater: Animal Passions; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Mar 13, 2002. "Perhaps the most revealing incident is the chapter on the kidnapping of Roger Tamraz. Tamraz, a saponaceous Lebanese businessman ..." Walid Harb; Books & the Arts: 'Snake Eat Snake'; The Nation (New York); Jul 19, 1999. This week's theme: words to describe your opponents, vituperation. -------- Date: Fri Aug 29 00:01:10 EDT 2003 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yegg X-Bonus: All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (8 Dec 1894-1961) yegg (yeg) noun A thug or burglar, especially a safecracker. [Of unknown origin.] "The book will end with [Victor Ribe], too, but only after he repeatedly disappears for chapters at a stretch, upstaged by a sadistically overpopulated ensemble of sundry grifters, grafters and hard-boiled yeggs." David Kipen; Channeling Hammett, Sort of; San Francisco Chronicle; Apr 14, 2002. "With their millions in underwriting fees they were the true winners of the great bull market's endgame - they and the dazzling assortment of con artists, bucket shop crooks, mafia figures, and two-bit yeggs who emerged from the woodwork in the late nineties, hearing in the populist call a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fleece the suckers." Thomas Frank; One Market Under God; Doubleday; Oct 17, 2000. I'll be traveling and speaking in Hong Kong, Thailand, and India during the six weeks beginning late September. Detailed info later. A.Word.A.Day will continue as usual. -Anu (garg AT wordsmith.org) This week's theme: words to describe your opponents, vituperation.