A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--cereologist This week's theme: eponyms (words coined after people's names). Cereologist (seer-ee-OL-uh-jist) noun One who specializes in investigating crop circles. Going by the countless varieties of cereals on the supermarket shelves, you'd think you have to be a cereologist to be able to select one. But it's not that. Rather, a cereologist is someone who studies crop circles, intricate circular patterns on crop fields. The word is coined after Ceres, the goddess of agriculture in Roman mythology. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "'Some formations bear no trace of a human hand,' says cereologist and electrical engineer Colin Andrews, who's studied thousands of circles." Victoria Marcinkowski; Crop Circles: Real or Hoax?; Science World (New York); Nov 18, 2002. X-Bonus For blocks are better cleft with wedges, / Than tools of sharp or subtle edges, / And dullest nonsense has been found / By some to be the most profound. -Samuel Butler, poet (1612-1680)

Subscribe: Sign up to receive A.Word.A.Day in your mailbox every day. The Book: A Word A Day is now a book. Find it in your local bookstore or at Amazon.com. "A delightful, quirky collection." -The New York Times Give the Gift of Words Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Anu on Words: Writer Magazine SF Gate SF Gate Globe & Mail  Interact: Bulletin board AWADtalk Moderated Chat AWADchat Readers' Voice AWADmail