A.Word.A.Day --cookie monster

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Today's Word

cookie monster

PRONUNCIATION:

(KU-kee mon-stuhr)

MEANING:

noun: Someone or something that is insatiably hungry or greedy.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Cookie Monster, a puppet character in the children’s television show Sesame Street. Earliest documented use: 1971.

NOTES:

Cookie Monster is fond of cookies. How fond? The story goes that when he won a contest on a quiz show and was offered his choice of a prize from: $10,000 cash, a car, a trip to Hawaii, or a cookie, well, he took a cookie. His signature song is “C is for Cookie” (video, 2 min.). He loves to chomp on cookies, but he is anything but cookie-cutter.

USAGE:

“The internet’s cookie monsters are harvesting your secrets.”
Caroline Baylon; Big Brother Is Cashing in on You; OpenDemocracy (London, UK); Mar 28, 2014.

“Think of black holes as giant cosmic Cookie Monsters.”
Ethan Siegel; No, Black Holes Don’t Suck Everything Into Them; Forbes (New York); Jun 19, 2019.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

My mother used to tell me -- she would tell my sister -- my mother would look at me and she'd say, "Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last." And that's why breaking those barriers is worth it. As much as anything else, it is also to create that path for those who will come after us. -Kamala Harris, first female vice president of the US (b. 20 Oct 1964)

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