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Dec 29, 2017
This week’s theme
No el

This week’s words
quartziferous
hypercathexis
bavardage
aciniform
crackjaw

Svínafellsjökull
Svínafellsjökull
Literally, Swine Mountain Glacier
(SVEE-nah-fells-yuhk-ud-hl)

Photo: Kevin Hale
Audio: Gunnlaugur Þór Briem

This week’s comments
AWADmail 809

Next week’s theme
Blend words
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

crackjaw

PRONUNCIATION:
(KRAK-jaw)

MEANING:
adjective: Hard to pronounce.
noun: A word or phrase that’s hard to pronounce.

ETYMOLOGY:
From crack, from Old English cracian (to resound) + jaw, from Old French joue (cheek). Earliest documented use: 1827.

USAGE:
“[Julia] exclaims ‘Ach, what a crackjaw language this German is!’”
Gayden Wren; A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert and Sullivan; Oxford University Press; 2001.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. -William Ewart Gladstone, British prime minister (29 Dec 1809-1898)

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