A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Aug 3 00:07:30 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Alphonse and Gaston X-Bonus: Poetry is the overflowing of the Soul. -Henry Theodore Tuckerman, author and critic (1813-1871) Love and Marriage go together like a horse and carriage, so the song goes. They do, often, but not always. On the other hand, characters in this week's pairs do go together, at least in language. This week's eponyms (a word coined after a person) feature two people who work together, well, like a nut and a bolt, or a rack and pinion, or yin and yang, or an axle and a wheel. Alphonse and Gaston (AL-fons uhn GAS-tuhn) noun Two people who treat each other with excessive deference, often to their detriment. [After the title characters in a cartoon strip by cartoonist Frederick Burr Opper (1857-1937). Alphonse and Gaston are extremely polite to each other, to the extent that their "After you, Alphonse", "You first, my dear Gaston!" routine often gets them into trouble, such as when they can't evade a trolley which mows them down while each insists on letting the other go first.] Alphonse and Gaston: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/alphonse_and_gaston-large.jpg -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "A weeklong bout of Governor and public worker unions playing Alphonse and Gaston on contract proposals has the public frustrated about an end to the nonsense. No one really cares who goes first and no one cares if the offer is on or off the record, written or oral, engraved on fine linen or scribbled on a Post-it." Cynthia Oi; All We Really Want Are Some Solutions; Star-Bulletin (Hawaii); Jul 12, 2009 . -------- Date: Tue Aug 4 00:07:24 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Tweedledum and Tweedledee X-Bonus: The court is like a palace built of marble; I mean that it is made up of very hard and very polished people. -Jean de La Bruyère, moralist (1645-1696) This week's theme: Eponymous pairs Tweedledum and Tweedledee (tweed-uhl-DUHM uhn tweed-uhl-DEE) noun Two persons, groups, or things that resemble each other so closely that they are virtually indistinguishable. The term is first cited in a poem by the poet John Byrom (1692-1763) about the musical rivalry of the composers Giovanni Bononcini and George Frideric Handel where he called them Tweedledum and Tweedledee: Some say, that Signor Bononcini, Compared to Handel's a mere ninny; Others aver, that to him Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange! that such high dispute should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee make their appearance in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass as well. Ultimately the names are of imitative origins, from tweedle (to produce a high-pitched sound) + dum (sound of a low musical note) and dee (sound of a high musical note). Tweedledum and Tweedledee in a street graffiti in Melbourne, Australia: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tweedledum_and_tweedledee-large.jpg [Photo: Sam Difference http://www.flickr.com/photos/spinstertoo/299968923/] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Voters often lament having to choose between tweedledum and tweedledee." Bruce Lambert and Elissa Gootman; Tweedledum, Tweedledee and Nassau? The New York Times; Oct 29, 2001. -------- Date: Wed Aug 5 00:07:24 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Jekyll and Hyde X-Bonus: The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something. The strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind. -Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian (1795-1881) This week's theme: Eponymous pairs Jekyll and Hyde (JEK-uhl uhn hyd) noun Someone or something having a split personality that alternates between good and evil. [After the title character in the 1886 novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894).] A Jekyll and Hyde ambigram: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/jekyll_and_hyde-large.jpg [Art: Mark Palmer, http://WowTattoos.com/ ] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Nutritionists say carbohydrates are a classic Jekyll and Hyde -- they have two faces." Janice Tai; Let's Hear it for the Carbs; The Straits Times (Singapore); Jul 16, 2009. -------- Date: Thu Aug 6 00:03:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Mutt and Jeff X-Bonus: Silence is the severest criticism. -Charles Buxton, brewer, philanthropist, writer, and politician (1823-1871) This week's theme: Eponymous pairs Mutt and Jeff (mut uhn jef) noun A pair of people having dramatically different characteristics, such as height. [After Mutt and Jeff, comic strip characters of the same name, created by cartoonist Harry "Bud" Fisher (1885-1954).] Notes: The strip originated in 1907 and its principal characters were tall Mutt and short Jeff. Both were lovable losers. The strip was wildly popular and inspired the idiomatic usage to refer to a pair of comically mismatched people. The term also applies to a pair of interrogators one of whom appears threatening while the other presents a sympathetic persona. The word is also used as a Cockney rhyming slang for 'deaf'. Mutt and Jeff on a button: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/mutt_and_jeff.jpg [Photo: Mark Lansdown http://marklansdown.com] The comic strip: http://www.gocomics.com/muttandjeff -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Granted, not many of us use a banana to hook the handle of a pot that's slightly out of reach. But invention's become a necessity for my wife, Kathi Langston, who, at 5' 1", has to contend with the kitchen that I, at 6' 2", designed and built years ago. ... It's clearly our Mutt and Jeff combination that's getting in the way of a blissful relationship with our standard kitchen." Patrick Langston; The Long and Short of Living With an Imperfect Kitchen; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Mar 28, 2009. "The disgraced former president Richard Nixon was paid $US 1 million for a 1977 interview with David Frost. ... James Reston Jr., Frost's Watergate adviser: 'I was in army intelligence ... and the Mutt and Jeff, good cop-bad cop thing is usually two people, but Frost, he did both roles.'" Ian Munro; Stopping the Rot; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); May 3, 2008. -------- Date: Fri Aug 7 00:03:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Darby and Joan X-Bonus: It is good to rub and polish your mind against that of others. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592) This week's theme: Eponymous pairs Darby and Joan (DAHR-bee uhn joan) noun A devoted old couple leading a quiet, uneventful life. [After a couple named in an 18th century poem in The Gentleman's Magazine (London).] In 1735 Henry Woodfall, a printer's apprentice, wrote a ballad titled "The joys of love never forgot: a song" about a happily married elderly couple. His inspiration for those characters was his own boss John Darby and his wife Joan: "Old Darby, with Joan by his side, You've often regarded with wonder: He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed, Yet they're never happy asunder ..." As you can imagine, he wrote this poem after Darby's death. This poem in turn became an inspiration for follow-up poems and eventually Darby and Joan became a metaphor. In the UK, clubs for old people are still called Darby and Joan clubs. -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "On the shores of holy Lake Manosarovar there is a nameless hotel run by a very elderly couple, a sort of Tibetan Darby and Joan." Karen Swenson; At Tibetan Hotels, Don't Expect the Light To Be Left On; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Dec 4, 2001. -------- Date: Mon Aug 10 00:09:18 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ort X-Bonus: I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods even to serve the noblest of causes. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) The tinier the point of the needle, the more easily it goes through. The thinner the blade of the sword, the more swiftly it cuts through. Often the same goes for words. A short, potent word helps convey an idea in just a few letters. This week we'll feature a few single-syllable words, and in the spirit of the week's theme, we'll keep this paragraph short. And we begin with a word that's even shorter than short: ort. ort (ort) noun A scrap of food left after a meal. [Of Germanic origin, ultimately from the Indo-European roots ud- (out) and ed- (to eat).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "On the table in front of him was a plate, a few orts of supper nosed round by a pair of cats." Bill Mesce Jr; Officer of the Court; Bantam Books; 2002. -------- Date: Tue Aug 11 00:01:13 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fug X-Bonus: God is usually on the side of the big squadrons against the small. -Comte Roger de Bussy-Rabutin, writer (1618-1693) This week's theme: short words. fug (fug) noun Stale, humid, and stuffy atmosphere, as in a crowded, poorly ventilated room. [Of uncertain origin, perhaps from fogo (stench).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "[The butterfly stroke] may have a fug of raw, sweating masculinity about it, but it's also the most irritating of all strokes." Barney Ronay; Vladimir Putin's Tough-guy Swimming Technique; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 6, 2009. -------- Date: Wed Aug 12 00:01:10 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--birl X-Bonus: I had rather take my chance that some traitors will escape detection than spread abroad a spirit of general suspicion and distrust, which accepts rumor and gossip in place of undismayed and unintimidated inquiry. -Learned Hand, jurist (1872-1961) This week's theme: short words. birl (burl) verb tr., intr. 1. To rotate (a floating log) by running on it in place. 2. To spin or rotate. [Of uncertain origin, perhaps a blend of birr and whirl.] Birling aka logrolling: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/birl_large.jpg [Photo: Mitch Teich] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Area lumberjacks compete in events ranging from axe throwing to birling." Robert J. Hughes; Driving Off the Beaten Path; The Wall Street Journal; May 10, 2002. "The ball broke to him on the right of the box and he birled round in one motion to score with a fierce low shot into the opposite corner of Poom's goal." Martin Hannan; Dobbie Arrives in Fine Style at Hibs; Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh, Scotland); Jul 27, 2003. -------- Date: Thu Aug 13 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bap X-Bonus: In other countries poverty is a misfortune -- with us it is a crime. -Edward Bulwer-Lytton, writer (1803-1873) This week's theme: short words. bap (bap) noun A soft, round bread roll. [Of unknown origin.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Ken Johnson still has his grandfather's recipes and enjoys baking at home, more so in the winter when he loves to throw together a batch of baps." Graham Hawkes; Batch of Baps; The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand); Jul 16, 2009. -------- Date: Fri Aug 14 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cwm X-Bonus: America has been called a melting pot, but it seems better to call it a mosaic, for in it each nation, people or race which has come to its shores has been privileged to keep its individuality, contributing at the same time its share to the unified pattern of a new nation. -King Baudouin of Belgium (1930-1993) This week's theme: short words. cwm (koom) noun A steep bowl-shaped mountain basin, carved by glaciers. Also known as cirque. [From Welsh cwm (valley).] Cirque de Navacelles, France: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cirque_large.jpg Zwm in to see a little town at the base. [Photo: James Lofthouse] The letter w works as a vowel in the Welsh language and it has given another such word (without a standard vowel aeiou, or y) to English: crwth (krooth) meaning crowd (an ancient Celtic stringed instrument). -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "By a process of elimination, which is a ticklish phrase to use about Soviet selection methods, the hordes of trainees will be reduced to about 150 fit to carry Stalin's name over countless crevasses, through the cwms, and along the cols -- to the very ultimate peak of the ultimate mountain." Cold War For Mount Everest?; The Sydney Morning Herald; Apr 21, 1952. -------- Date: Mon Aug 17 00:01:09 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--diastrophism X-Bonus: Truth shines the brighter clad in verse. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745) A few hundred years ago if you spoke about the importance of exercise, people would laugh at you. They got all the exercise they needed from work, outside or at home. Making a living, raising a family, walking to and from places, gave them enough movement, so they didn't have to worry about exercise. Today we have fitness centers, gyms, and personal trainers. There are high-tech machines, and even electronic games to help us exercise. Each gadget comes with its own selling points. Some you can strap to your arms and legs and tummy and relax in front of the TV -- they claim its vibrations give you your daily recommended quota of exercise. There are virtual reality exercises, dancercise, elliptical, and who knows what else. In that spirit, consider this week's words as your complete exercise system for the fingers. This fingercise provides the daily recommended exercise according to federal guidelines. Each of the words featured in this week's A.Word.A.Day, when typed on a standard qwerty keyboard, will exercise all your fingers. diastrophism (dy-AS-truh-fiz-uhm) noun The process of deformation of the earth's crust that produces continents, mountains, ocean basins, etc. [From Greek dia- (across) + strophe (turning). Ultimately from the Indo-European root streb(h)- (to wind or turn) that also gave us catastrophe (literally, an overturning) and apostrophe (literally, turning away, referring to the omission of a letter), and boustrophedon https://wordsmith.org/words/boustrophedon.html] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "There is even a mosque across the street from the hotel, but most people here believe it was spirits, not volcanic diastrophism, that sent deadly vapors roiling up from Lake Nios, killing the villagers who lived over the hills." Jonathan Broder; Spirits in Lake, Bottle Haunt Cameroon; The Chicago Tribune; Sep 2, 1986. "But facing impending disaster is the cost of living in a place blessed by geography and climate, but cursed by the immutable process called diastrophism that lifts mountains, carves coastlines, and moves continents." Still on Shaky Ground -- 10 Years After Loma Prieta; The San Francisco Chronicle; Oct 17, 1999. -------- Date: Tue Aug 18 00:01:09 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--micropsia X-Bonus: Good and evil grow up together and are bound in an equilibrium that cannot be sundered. The most we can do is try to tilt the equilibrium toward the good. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983) This week's theme: Words that exercise all your fingers micropsia (my-KROP-see-uh) noun A defect of vision in which objects appear smaller than normal. [From Greek micro- (small) + -opia (vision).] Micropsia is often associated with migraines. It's also known as micropia. The opposite, where objects appear larger than their actual size, is called macropsia (also known as macropia, megalopsia, and megalopia). These distortions in perception are also called Alice in Wonderland syndrome after the little girl in Lewis Carroll's books who enters a hallucinatory world. Also see diplopia https://wordsmith.org/words/diplopia.html -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Seated on the chill concrete, I felt a recurrence of my childhood micropsia, a night terror I thought I'd left behind at age eleven or twelve, in my bedroom on Dean Street: the sensation that my body was reduced to speck size." Jonathan Lethem; The Fortress of Solitude; Doubleday; 2003. -------- Date: Wed Aug 19 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--supplicatory X-Bonus: Affliction, like the iron-smith, shapes as it smites. -Christian Bovee, lawyer and author (1820-1904) This week's theme: Words that exercise all your fingers supplicatory (SUH-pli-kuh-tor-ee) adjective Humbly pleading. [From Latin supplicare (to kneel). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to be flat) that's also the source of fluke, flake, flaw, plead, please, and supple.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "The supplicatory attitude that some Taiwanese politicians have shown to China to win its favor must stop." Bill Chang; Warnings on China Also Meant For Taiwan; The Taipei Times (Taiwan); Jun 11, 2005. -------- Date: Thu Aug 20 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adiaphorism X-Bonus: I used to think that people who regarded everyone benignly were a mite simple or oblivious or just plain lax -- until I tried it myself. Then I realized that they made it only look easy. Even the Berditchever Rebbe, revered as a man who could strike a rock and bring forth a stream, was continually honing his intentions. "Until I remove the thread of hatred from my heart," he said of his daily meditations, "I am, in my own eyes, as if I did not exist." -Marc Barasch, author, editor, and activist (b. 1949) This week's theme: Words that exercise all your fingers adiaphorism (ad-ee-AF-uh-riz-uhm) noun Tolerance or indifference, especially in the matters of religion. [From Greek adiaphoros (indifferent), from a- (not) + diaphoros (different), from dia- (across) + -phoros (bearing). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bher- (to carry, to bear children) that gave birth to words such as basket, suffer, fertile, burden, bring, bear, offer, prefer, birth, and phosphorus (literally, bringing light).] Adiaphorism is the idea that things not specifically prohibited by the Scriptures may be treated with indifference (i.e. they are permissible). Also known as latitudinarianism https://wordsmith.org/words/latitudinarian.html (but not platitudinarianism https://wordsmith.org/words/platitudinarian.html). -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Adiaphorism is probably the fastest growing theological position in the country. A cheerful adiaphorist can take whatever pleases them from the collection of customs and rituals of Christmas without a moment's worry." Sara Maitland; Do We Do Christmas Right?; Independent (London, UK); Dec 24, 1996. -------- Date: Fri Aug 21 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--simpatico X-Bonus: Choose only one master -- Nature. -Rembrandt, painter and etcher (1606-1669) This week's theme: Words that exercise all your fingers simpatico (sim-PAH-ti-ko, -PAT-i-) adjective 1. Like-minded; compatible. 2. Congenial; likable. [Via Italian or Spanish from Latin sympathia (sympathy), from Greek sympatheia, from sym- (together with) + pathos (emotion, suffering).] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Basil and tomatoes are simpatico in so many ways. One major trait they share is that neither should ever be refrigerated unless they have been chopped." Bill Ward; Warm, Flavorful, Fresh Summer Food; The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson); Jul 29, 2009. -------- Date: Mon Aug 24 00:01:10 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--smalto X-Bonus: A good leader can't get too far ahead of his followers. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1882-1945) If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this week we'd be featuring 5000 words. Each of this week's words is accompanied by a wonderful, whimsical illustration by cartoonist Doug Pike http://www.doubtfulaccounts.com (dpike doubtfulaccounts.com). Besides the word of the day, each cartoon includes many other unusual words. Doug's cartoons have illustrated many magazines and his new book "Gone With The Wine" http://www.amazon.com/o/asin/1934259055/ws00-20 , has just been released. smalto (SMAHL-to) noun Colored glass or enamel used in mosaic. [From Italian smalto (enamel, glaze), related to smelt (to melt).] Doug Pike's cartoon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/smalto.jpg [sillabub/syllabub: a drink of sweetened milk (or cream) and wine (or cider) qaid/caid: a Muslim tribal chief or judge; smaragd: emerald] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Using Carrara marble, Venetian gold, and glass smalto, Elaine M. Goodwin creates mosaics inspired by the Classical, Byzantine, Victorian, and contemporary worlds." Going out; Staying in; The Times (London, UK); Jan 14, 2009. -------- Date: Tue Aug 25 00:01:08 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--agnosia X-Bonus: We are reformers in spring and summer; in autumn and winter we stand by the old -- reformers in the morning, conservatives at night. Reform is affirmative, conservatism is negative; conservatism goes for comfort, reform for truth. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882) This week's theme: Illustrated words agnosia (ag-NO-zhuh) noun Loss of ability to recognize objects, people, sounds, etc., usually caused by brain injury. [From Greek agnosia (ignorance), from a- (without) + gnosis (knowledge). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know) that is the ancestor of such words as know, can, notorious, notice, connoisseur, recognize, agnostic, diagnosis, ignore, annotate, noble, narrate, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition) https://wordsmith.org/words/anagnorisis.html, and gnomon (the raised arm of a sundial) https://wordsmith.org/words/gnomon.html ] Also see prosopagnosia (inability to recognize familiar faces) https://wordsmith.org/words/prosopagnosia.html and alexia (word blindness) https://wordsmith.org/words/alexia.html Doug Pike's cartoon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/agnosia.jpg [lwei: a fomer monetary unit of Angola; ekpwele/ekwele/ekuele: a former monetary unit of Equatorial Guinea] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Jeff Koons turns agnosia into an artistic principle. And that has the effect of letting us see our world, and art, as profoundly other than it usually is." Blake Gopnik; Man From Mars Comes in Peace; The Washington Post; Jun 17, 2008. -------- Date: Wed Aug 26 00:01:11 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chouse X-Bonus: There will be no Homeland Security until we realize that the entire planet is our homeland. Every sentient being in the world must feel secure. -John Perkins, economist and author (b.1945) This week's theme: Illustrated words chouse (chous) verb tr. 1. To cheat or trick. 2. To drive or herd in a rough manner. [For 1: Perhaps from chiaus (the word for an official in the Ottoman Empire), one such official defrauded people. 2: Origin unknown.] Doug Pike's cartoon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/chouse.jpg [pawky: cunning; loo: a card game in which forfeits are put into a pool] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Rightly viewed, calf-butchering accounts for Titus Andronicus, the only play -- ain't it? -- that the Stratford Shakespeare ever wrote; and yet it is the only one everybody tries to chouse him out of." Mark Twain; Is Shakespeare Dead? Harper & Brothers; 1909. "And there are lots of squirrels. Like the pair of gray squirrels chasing and chousing each other through the branches and up and down the vine-covered trunk of a tall pin oak tree." Mike Leggett; Memories of Youth Found on Squirrel Hunts; Austin American-Statesman; Oct 17, 2004. -------- Date: Thu Aug 27 00:01:10 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cobber X-Bonus: What you cannot enforce, do not command. -Sophocles, dramatist (495?-406 BCE) This week's theme: Illustrated words cobber (KOB-uhr) noun A pal. [Perhaps from English dialect cob (take a liking to).] Cobber is an old-fashioned Australianism. Doug Pike's cartoon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cobber.jpg [habitue: a habitual visitor to a place; mutch: a linen cap worn by old women and babies.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Farewell cobber, it's been a blast." Jane Wright; First Word; Sunday Herald (Glasgow, UK); Sep 26, 2004. -------- Date: Fri Aug 28 00:01:11 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rimy X-Bonus: Society cannot exist without inequality of fortunes and the inequality of fortunes could not subsist without religion. Whenever a half-starved person is near another who is glutted, it is impossible to reconcile the difference if there is not an authority who tells him to. -Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician (1769-1821) This week's theme: Illustrated words rimy (RY-mee) adjective Covered with frost; frostlike. [From rime (frost), from Old English hrim.] Doug Pike's cartoon: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/rimy.jpg [routh: abundance] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Wild and frozen and mad, nothing but slow-cracking glaciers and phenomenally unfriendly seas and long-broken huts on rimy windswept beaches haunted by the spectres of chill Russian miners." Euan Ferguson; Why Are They Cool? The Observer (London, UK); Apr 23, 2006. -------- Date: Mon Aug 31 00:01:07 EDT 2009 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bird-dog X-Bonus: Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. -Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist (1821-1881) Five years ago we adopted a dog we named Flower https://wordsmith.org/words/running_dog.html . At first, we were overwhelmed -- puppy training classes, cleaning, walks, vets, and so on -- but once things fell into a rhythm, it became easy. A dog doesn't need much: a little food, a little walk, a little rub behind the ears, and a pooch is the happiest creature in the world. Keeping a dog is easy, as long as you budget to replace all your carpets every few years. This week we'll see words derived from animals, words where dogs and cats, pets and wild animals, insects and mammals, are used metaphorically. bird-dog (buhrd-dog) noun A talent scout, especially in sports. verb tr., intr. To seek out or follow a subject of interest. [After bird dogs, various breeds of dogs trained to hunt or retrieve birds.] -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Kindly Cal Murphy, evaluating talent for the Indianapolis Colts these days, has been studiously tracking Wake. Fred Fleming, a bird-dog for Denver's Broncos, too." George Johnson; Lion Lives for Sacking QBs; Calgary Herald (Canada); Nov 12, 2008. "But the sheer complexity of the stimulus measure makes it difficult to bird-dog." Michael Scherer; What Happened to the Stimulus?; Time (New York); Jul 13, 2009.