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This week's theme Words derived from birds This week's words columbarium pied roustabout crestfallen canard Today's word in Visual Thesaurus Give a gift that ... keeps on giving, all year long A gift subscription of AWAD Next week's theme Whose what? Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg canard PRONUNCIATION: (kuh-NAHRD) MEANING: noun: 1. A deliberately misleading story; hoax. 2. An airplane with small forward wings mounted in front of the main wings; also such a wing. ETYMOLOGY: From French, literally a duck. The term is said to have come from the French expression vendre un canard à moitié (to sell half a duck, or to take in or swindle). USAGE: "Lyndon Johnson's half-truths about the Gulf of Tonkin, supported by subservient media, embroiled the United States in a nasty war that took the lives of millions of souls. Ultimately, the Vietnam War's distortions and canards prevented him from running for a second term." Mansour El-Kikhia; Realists Conquer Politics With Lies; San Antonio Express-News; Nov 28, 2003. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Knowing what / Thou knowest not / Is in a sense / Omniscience. -Piet Hein, poet and scientist (1905-1996)

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