A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Dec 3 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--velutinous X-Bonus: All a man can betray is his conscience. -Joseph Conrad, novelist (3 Dec 1857-1924) It's a treat to see Leah Palmer Preiss's illustrations. They are lush, whimsical, heartwarming! Whether she has painted fur or thorns -- you can almost feel it. As in previous years, I gave her five words and then I waited patiently while she summoned her magic. This week you'll see what she did with those words. See more of her work on her website http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ or her art in A.Word.A.Day in previous years: 2017 https://wordsmith.org/words/bibliomania.html 2016 https://wordsmith.org/words/succulent.html 2015 https://wordsmith.org/words/gramarye.html 2014 https://wordsmith.org/words/juggernaut.html 2013 https://wordsmith.org/words/felicitous.html 2012 https://wordsmith.org/words/bursiform.html 2011 https://wordsmith.org/words/redolent.html You can reach her at (curiouser at mindspring.com). velutinous (vuh-LOO-tuh-nuhs) adjective Soft and smooth like velvet. [From Latin velutum (velvet). Earliest documented use: 1826.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/velutinous_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "The rope was painfully soft, as velutinous as a cat." Olivia Hardy Ray; Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem; Bublish; 2011. -------- Date: Tue Dec 4 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eldritch 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 (4 Dec 1795-1881) This week's theme: Illustrated words eldritch (EL-drich) adjective Weird; supernatural; eerie. [Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old English elf + rice (realm). Earliest documented use: 1508.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/eldritch https://wordsmith.org/words/images/eldritch_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "There will be readers who pick up Zoe Gilbert's debut novel, Folk, find a sentence like 'Verlyn Webbe has a wing in place of an arm' and run screaming. This is a book full of eldritch, dreamlike stories." Alex Preston; You Don't Have to Be Weird to Live Here ... But It Would Help a Lot; Financial Times (London, UK); Mar 3, 2018. -------- Date: Wed Dec 5 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kludge X-Bonus: Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes, work never begun. -Christina Rossetti, poet (5 Dec 1830-1894) This week's theme: Illustrated words kludge (klooj, kluhj) noun: An inelegant, improvised solution to a problem. verb tr.: To improvise a haphazard solution to a problem. [Of uncertain origin. Earliest documented use: 1962.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/kludge NOTES: The first documented use of the word is from a 1962 article by Jackson W. Granholm in "Datamation" magazine: "How to Design a Kludge". That much is certain, but after that things get a bit fuzzy. Various origins have been suggested: German, Scots, military jargon, from the name of a paper feeder, but until we know definitely, we'll just have to be content with saying: origin unknown. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/kludge_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "Alan was bolting things on as the client requested them and I could tell that the kludges were pushing the original design to its limits." Bernie Wieser; Memoirs of a Self-Loathing IT Professional; Legacy; 2014. -------- Date: Thu Dec 6 00:01:05 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--xeric X-Bonus: A timid question will always receive a confident answer. -Charles John Darling, lawyer, judge, and politician (6 Dec 1849-1936) This week's theme: Illustrated words xeric (ZER/ZEER-ik) adjective Relating to very dry conditions. [From Greek xeros (dry). Earliest documented use: 1926.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/xeric https://wordsmith.org/words/images/xeric_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "The world around me was in shambles, xeric plains stretching to the horizon in all directions, desiccated vegetation clustered in forlorn hummocks with large stretches of cracked open ground between." Joseph J. Bailey; Soul Stealer: Legacy of the Blade; CreateSpace; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Dec 7 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--transpicuous X-Bonus: That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. -Willa Cather, novelist (7 Dec 1873-1947) This week's theme: Illustrated words transpicuous (tran-SPIK-yoo-uhs) adjective Easily seen through or understood. [From Latin transpicere (to see through), from trans- (across) + specere (to look). Ultimately from the Indo-European root spek- (to observe) which also gave us suspect, spectrum, bishop (literally, overseer), espionage, despise, telescope, spectator, spectacles, conspectus https://wordsmith.org/words/conspectus.html , frontispiece https://wordsmith.org/words/frontispiece.html , omphaloskepsis (navel gazing) https://wordsmith.org/words/omphaloskepsis.html , perspicaciousness https://wordsmith.org/words/perspicaciousness.html , perspicuous https://wordsmith.org/words/perspicuous.html , prospicient https://wordsmith.org/words/prospicient.html , soupcon (a very small amount) https://wordsmith.org/words/soupcon.html , speciesism https://wordsmith.org/words/speciesism.html , specious https://wordsmith.org/words/specious.html , and speculum https://wordsmith.org/words/speculum.html . Earliest documented use: 1638.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/transpicuous_large.jpg Art: Leah Palmer Preiss http://www.leahpalmerpreiss.com/ "I recognize it at once, when in a history text I first read William Penn's dreamy yet transpicuous instructions for the layout of Philadelphia." Andrea Lee; Altered State; The New Yorker; Jun 30, 2008. -------- Date: Mon Dec 10 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--gyve X-Bonus: Tell all the Truth but tell it slant-- / ... The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind. -Emily Dickinson, poet (10 Dec 1830-1886) What's the hardest word to guess in a game of Hangman https://wordsmith.org/awad/hangman.html ? It's JAZZ, as determined by Jon McLoone, who forced his computer to play https://wordsmith.org/words/jazz.html 15 million rounds of the game. http://blog.wolfram.com/2010/08/13/25-best-hangman-words/ One could guess the vowel A in the word JAZZ easily but after that it's all downhill. The English language has more than a thousand four-letter words that have the letter A in second place, including such everyday words as HARD and HANG. That said, now that JAZZ has earned notoriety as the hardest word in a game of Hangman, it may have to relinquish its title as the hardest word. It's like determining the most obscure person on the planet. Once you've found such a person and talked about them, they are not deserving of that title any more. So JAZZ is out (though you could also try derivatives such as JAZZY), but there are plenty of other words in the English language. This week we present five that you may want to inflict on your opponent in a game of Hangman. Give them a try and let us know how it turned out. BTW, these words may also come in handy in another popular word game. gyve (jyv) noun: A fetter or shackle. verb tr.: To restrain. [Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1275.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gyve_large.jpg Photo: Jim Cortez https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmybondo/6208347762/ "Some gyve holds us back, but we cannot see it." Matthew Eley; Things to Be Done; The Kenyon Collegian (Gambier, Ohio); Jan 18, 2014. -------- Date: Tue Dec 11 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--jinx X-Bonus: Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory. -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (11 Dec 1918-2008) This week's theme: Words for Hangman jinx (jinks) noun: 1. One that is believed to bring bad luck. 2. A state of bad luck. verb tr.: 1. To cast a spell on. 2. To bring bad luck upon. [Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from jynx wryneck, a bird that was used in witchcraft. Earliest documented use: 1911.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/jinx https://wordsmith.org/words/images/jinx_large.jpg Photo: Ján Svetlíhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/svetlik/10645518356/ "The 76ers broke their road jinx and a losing streak here that goes back more than 4 1/2 years." Keith Pompey; Sixers Find Winning on the Road Is Fun; Philadelphia Daily News; Nov 8, 2018. -------- Date: Wed Dec 12 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--klutz X-Bonus: Our country is the world -- our countrymen are all mankind. -William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, journalist, and suffragist (12 Dec 1805-1879) This week's theme: Words for Hangman klutz (kluts) noun A clumsy or stupid person. [From Yiddish klots (wooden block), from German Klotz (wooden block). Earliest documented use: 1968. Don't confuse this word with kludge https://wordsmith.org/words/kludge.html . A Yiddish synonym is schlemiel https://wordsmith.org/words/schlemiel.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/klutz https://wordsmith.org/words/images/klutz_large.jpg Photo: Courtney Bell https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbellphoto/3229193771/ "He's a klutz, a danger to himself and others." Your Week on Free TV; Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Sep 3, 2018. -------- Date: Thu Dec 13 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ilka X-Bonus: Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry ... To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery. -George Polya, mathematician (13 Dec 1887-1985) This week's theme: Words for Hangman ilka (IL-kuh) adjective Each; every. [From ilk (each), from Old English ylc + a (indefinite article). Earliest documented use: 1200.] "Ilka problem has its method." James Clerk Maxwell; Rigid Body Sings (poem). -------- Date: Fri Dec 14 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yclept X-Bonus: In its original literal sense, "moral relativism" is simply moral complexity. That is, anyone who agrees that stealing a loaf of bread to feed one's children is not the moral equivalent of, say, shoplifting a dress for the fun of it, is a relativist of sorts. But in recent years, conservatives bent on reinstating an essentially religious vocabulary of absolute good and evil as the only legitimate framework for discussing social values have redefined "relative" as "arbitrary". -Ellen Jane Willis, writer (14 Dec 1941-2006) This week's theme: Words for Hangman yclept (i-KLEPT) adjective Called or named. [From Old English geclypod, past participle of (ge)clypian (clepe https://wordsmith.org/words/clepe.html ). Earliest documented use: 950.] "The teenage jam band tragically yclept Fruitful Dave is awfully exciting." In Rotation; Reader (Chicago, Illinois); Aug 14, 2014. -------- Date: Mon Dec 17 01:09:02 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dogmatic X-Bonus: Patriotism is often the cry extolled when morally questionable acts are advocated by those in power. -Chelsea Manning, activist and whistleblower (b. 17 Dec 1987) To include is the opposite of exclude, but intend is not the opposite of extend. Neither is inosculate https://wordsmith.org/words/inosculate.html the opposite of osculate https://wordsmith.org/words/osculate.html . To delist is to remove from a list, but to delight is not to remove from light (it's a respelling of Old French delitier: to charm). Patterns help us make sense of the world and words, but sometimes they lead us onto the wrong trail. This week's words are somewhat like that. For example, a dogmatic is not the latest gizmo for your favorite canine. dogmatic (dog-MA-tik) adjective Expressing beliefs or opinions forcefully or positively as if they were true. [From Latin dogma (tenet), from Greek dogma (opinion), from dokein (to seem good, think). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dek- (to take, accept), which also gave us dignity, discipline, doctor, decorate, docile, deign https://wordsmith.org/words/deign.html , condign https://wordsmith.org/words/condign.html , doxy https://wordsmith.org/words/doxy.html , heterodox https://wordsmith.org/words/heterodox.html , and philodox https://wordsmith.org/words/philodox.html . Earliest documented use: 1605.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dogmatic "A dogmatic conservative, Mr Ryan has often used the budget process to score ideological points." The Speaker's Shoes; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 24, 2015. -------- Date: Tue Dec 18 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lustrate X-Bonus: Art should be like a holiday: something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently and to change his point of view. -Paul Klee, painter (18 Dec 1879-1940) This week's theme: Words that aren't what they appear to be lustrate (LUHS-trayt) verb tr. 1. To purify by means of rituals or ceremonies. 2. To remove undesirable people from an organization, especially in an abrupt or violent manner. [From Latin lustrare (to make bright). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leuk- (light), which also gave us lunar, lunatic, light, lightning, lucid, illuminate, illustrate, translucent, lux, lynx, pellucid https://wordsmith.org/words/pellucid.html , lucubrate https://wordsmith.org/words/lucubrate.html , lutestring https://wordsmith.org/words/lutestring.html , limn https://wordsmith.org/words/limn.html , levin https://wordsmith.org/words/levin.html , and lea https://wordsmith.org/words/lea.html . Earliest documented use: 1623.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lustrate "Did the holy man lustrate this chamber ... It was lustrated by prayer and tears." John Buchan; The Blanket of the Dark; Hodder & Stoughton; 1931. "The new Polish law was both very broadly and very badly drawn. Among the categories of people to be lustrated were all journalists and academics." Timothy Garton Ash; Cleansing Poland of the 'Red' Poison; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 25, 2007. -------- Date: Wed Dec 19 00:01:05 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tourbillion X-Bonus: You must protest / It is your diamond duty / Ah but in such an ugly time / The true protest is beauty. -Phil Ochs, folksinger (19 Dec 1940-1976) This week's theme: Words that aren't what they appear to be tourbillion (toor-BIL-yuhn) noun A whirlwind or whirlpool. [From French tourbillon (whirlwind), from Latin turbo (spinning top, whirl), from Greek turbe (turmoil, confusion). Earliest documented use: 1477.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tourbillion_large.jpg Photo: Chandler Hummell https://www.flickr.com/photos/chandlerhphotography/5523552196/ "It doesn't take long for Kane to realize that this case is much larger and dangerous than he thought, as he's swept into a tourbillion of conspiracy, corruption, bloodshed, and potential revolution." John R. Joyce; Permutations in Holiday Gift Selections; Scientific Computing (Rockaway, New Jersey); Dec 18, 2017. -------- Date: Thu Dec 20 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--antigodlin X-Bonus: If we would have new knowledge, we must get us a whole world of new questions. -Susanne Langer, philosopher (20 Dec 1895-1985) This week's theme: Words that aren't what they appear to be antigodlin (an-ti-GOD-lin) adjective 1. Out of line; lopsided; out of whack. 2. Diagonal. [Of uncertain origin. The term is used in the American south. Perhaps from anti- (against) + goggling, from goggle (to look obliquely). Perhaps influenced by the folk etymology "against God". Earliest documented use: around 1900.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/antigodlin_large.jpg Photo: Pedro Menéndez https://www.flickr.com/photos/40738592@N00/5611038314/ "[Michele Bachmann] has been stunningly, publicly antigodlin about many aspects of the bill, including promoting what PolitFact dubbed the 'Lie of the Year'." Max Sparber; House, MD: Congress Passes Historic Health Care Reform; MinnPost (Minneapolis); Mar 22, 2010. -------- Date: Fri Dec 21 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aggrate X-Bonus: If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to him. -Rebecca West, author and journalist (21 Dec 1892-1983) This week's theme: Words that aren't what they appear to be aggrate (uh-GRAYT) verb tr. To please or gratify. [From Italian aggradare (to please), from Latin aggratare, from gratus (pleasing, grateful). Earliest documented use: 1590.] "... bending laws and conscience to aggrate men in power ..." Praveen Kumar; Inside India; PublishAmerica; 2009. -------- Date: Mon Dec 24 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--morbidezza X-Bonus: Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat. -John Morley, statesman and writer (24 Dec 1838-1923) It's that time of the year when the letter L gets to lie down and loosen up. In this week's words, all other letters make an appearance, they report for duty, but L gets some time off. At least that's what we tell it. In reality, no one is working. We are having a party sans L. Why? Because it's a No el celebration. Joyeux Noel! morbidezza (mor-bi-DET-suh) noun An extreme softness, smoothness, or delicacy, especially in works of art, sculpture, music, etc. [From Italian morbidezza (softness, smoothness), from morbido (soft, smooth), from Latin morbidus (diseased), from morbus (disease). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mer- (to rub away or to harm), which also gave us morsel, mordant, mortal, mortgage, nightmare, amaranth, amaranthine https://wordsmith.org/words/amaranthine.html , daymare https://wordsmith.org/words/daymare.html , mortify https://wordsmith.org/words/mortify.html , premorse https://wordsmith.org/words/premorse.html , and ambrosia https://wordsmith.org/words/ambrosia.html . Earliest documented use: 1624.] NOTES: Visualize the sensual delicacy of flesh tones in a classic painting and you're thinking morbidezza. Why a word related to death and disease to indicate delicateness of a work of art? Perhaps it's to denote extreme tenderness of the flesh. The word is sometimes used in a negative sense as well, to denote sickliness or effeminacy. "Leda and the Swan" (c. 1532) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/morbidezza_large.jpg Art: Antonio da Correggio "I accompanied them to the door; what a pretty effect the snow background gives to young faces; it lends a pretty morbidezza to the colouring, a sort of very delicate green tinge to the paler shades." Arthur Christopher Benson; The Altar Fire; The Floating Press; 2014. "The four Bellini songs are all gentle, slow, melancholy melodies dripping with morbidezza." Charles H. Parsons; Treasures of Bel Canto; American Record Guide (Washington, DC); Mar/Apr 2016. -------- Date: Tue Dec 25 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vociferate X-Bonus: Quite frankly I talk about the fact that I'm a feminist as often as I can, and every time I do it gets huge reaction and media reacts and the Twitterverse explodes and things like that, because here I am saying I'm a feminist. I will keep saying that until there is no more reaction to that when I say it, because that's where we want to get to. -Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 25 Dec 1971) This week's theme: No el vociferate (vo-SIF-uh-rayt) verb tr., intr. To shout or utter loudly. [From Latin vox (voice) + ferre (to bear). Earliest documented use: 1548.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/vociferate https://wordsmith.org/words/images/vociferate_large.jpg Image: Randomographer https://www.flickr.com/photos/butcher100/14874055623/ "For months, people rallied in their villages and vociferated on TV." Patrick LagacÃ; It's Not a Quebec Spring, But Perhaps a Seattle Moment (Think Protest, Not Grunge); The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Apr 28, 2012. -------- Date: Wed Dec 26 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--juxtapose X-Bonus: I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a man who goes around with a little oil can and when he sees a breakdown, offers his help. To me, the man who does that is greater than any holy man in saffron-colored robes. The mechanic with the oilcan: that is my ideal in life. -Baba Amte, social worker and activist (26 Dec 1914-2008) This week's theme: No el juxtapose (JUHK-stuh-pohz) verb tr. To place side by side for comparison or contrast. [Back-formation from juxtaposition, from Latin juxta (near, next) + French poser (to place). Ultimately from the Indo-European root yeug- (to join), which is also the ancestor of junction, yoke, yoga, adjust, enjoin https://wordsmith.org/words/enjoin.html , rejoinder https://wordsmith.org/words/rejoinder.html , junta https://wordsmith.org/words/junta.html , junto https://wordsmith.org/words/junto.html , syzygy https://wordsmith.org/words/syzygy.html , jugular https://wordsmith.org/words/jugular.html , jugulate https://wordsmith.org/words/jugulate.html , subjugate https://wordsmith.org/words/subjugate.html , zeugma https://wordsmith.org/words/zeugma.html , and rejoinder https://wordsmith.org/words/rejoinder.html . Earliest documented use: 1851.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/juxtapose "While an announcer talks about who the next American Idol will be, a man on the street behind her eats from a garbage can." (Hollywood Blvd., May 2007) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/juxtapose_large.jpg Photo: Jeff https://www.flickr.com/photos/passionate_photography/2102981835/ "The NRA suggests limiting entry [in schools] to a single point; building a prison-style fence (the report shows a photo of a deficient fence juxtaposed with one that would have made GDR border guards proud); banning greenery outside schools because intruders may hide in trees and bushes or use them to cut through the aforementioned fence; and making do without windows, or only small ones with ballistic protective glass. Front offices should be protected with two sets of automatically locking doors to create an 'entrapment area'. "At the end of the report is a draft for a law to allow schools to arm their teachers." Brutalism; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 30, 2018. -------- Date: Thu Dec 27 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hawkshaw X-Bonus: One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895) This week's theme: No el hawkshaw (HAWK-shaw) noun A detective. [After the name of a detective in the 1863 play "The Ticket-of-Leave Man" by Tom Taylor. The character also appeared in the comic strip "Hawkshaw the Detective" by Gus Mager. Earliest documented use: 1863.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hawkshaw https://wordsmith.org/words/images/hawkshaw_large.jpg Image: Wikimedia "Please don't think that Eleanor is so busy hobnobbing with Nobel Prize authors that she neglects her responsibilities as detective. In fact, FDR is always cautioning her to be discreet: 'I believe you are intermeddling in police business, Babs. Please leave the hawkshawing to the hawkshaws.'" Robert Gottlieb; Presidential Progeny Pen White House Whodunits; The New York Observer; Aug 26, 2002. -------- Date: Fri Dec 28 00:01:03 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quingentenary X-Bonus: I am not one of those who believe that a great army is the means of maintaining peace, because if you build up a great profession those who form parts of it want to exercise their profession. -Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president, Nobel laureate (28 Dec 1856-1924) This week's theme: No el quingentenary (kwin-jen-TEN-uh-ree) noun A 500th anniversary. (Also known as a quincentenary https://wordsmith.org/words/quincentenary.html ) [From Latin quingenti (five hundred), from quinque (five) + centum (hundred). Earliest documented use: 1884.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quingentenary_large.jpg Photo: Kevin Dooley https://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5402437090/ "[Ridley Scott's] contribution to the Columbus quingentenary, 1492: 'Conquest of Paradise' (1992), was a dire return to British filmmaking." Brian McFarlane; The Encyclopedia of British Film; Oxford University Press; 2016. -------- Date: Mon Dec 31 00:01:04 EST 2018 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fabulist X-Bonus: The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (31 Dec 1880-1959) The novelist Rex Stout once said, "Labels are for the things men make, not for men. The most primitive man is too complex to be labeled." While Stout's statement has merit, we have no option but to label. It's somewhat like standardized tests. You can't sum up a person's aptitude and knowledge and potential in a single numerical score, but with so much variation in grading, this number serves its limited purpose in academic testing. This week we feature nouns to describe people. While a single label may not completely describe a person, the good thing with words is that you can mix and match them. So a person can be a fabulist *and* a president, for example. fabulist (FA-byuh-list) noun 1. A writer or teller of fables. 2. A liar. [From French fabuliste, from Latin fabula (talk, tale, legend), from fari (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1593.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/fabulist Fabulist, def. 1: Aesop https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fabulist1_large.jpg Art: Velázquez Fabulist, def. 2: Trump https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fabulist2_large.jpg Image: Peter O'Connor https://www.flickr.com/photos/anemoneprojectors/39510641274/ "Florida political truisms have turned downright mendacious in 2018. Especially for Republicans, where candidates feel compelled to cozy up to the erratic fabulist occupying the White House; you know, the 'stable genius' who spent last week walking back walk-backs (Not, as it might sound, the latest dance craze.)". Fred Grimm; Putnam Faces Roiling Winds of Florida Politics; South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale); Jul 22, 2018. https://wordsmith.org/words/mendacious.html