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Nov 26, 2021
This week’s theme
Toponyms from England

This week’s words
Piltdowner
Devonshire
kersey
Halifax
Aldermaston

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Aldermaston

PRONUNCIATION:
(AL-duhr-mas-tuhn)

MEANING:
adjective: Relating to a protest, disapproval, dissent, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Aldermaston, a village in Berkshire, England. Earliest documented use: 1958.

NOTES:
Aldermaston is the home of Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) where the UK designs and builds its nuclear weapons. Since 1958, there have been many marches between London and Aldermaston in protest of nuclear armament.

USAGE:
“You who join in marches on the capital and cultivate an Aldermaston mystique on occasion.”
Umberto Eco (translation: William Weaver); Misreadings; Mariner Books; 1993.

“Perhaps they’d met on an Aldermaston march. Hadn’t Considine said something about a girl involving him in the campaign in the first place?”
Robert Goddard; Beyond Recall; Holt; 1998.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I would not enter on my list of friends, / (Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense, / Yet wanting sensibility) the man / Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. -William Cowper, poet (26 Nov 1731-1800)

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