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A.Word.A.Day--fogram

Pronunciation RealAudio

fogram or fogrum (FO-gruhm) noun

A person with old-fashioned or overly conservative attitudes.

[Of uncertain origin.]

"...so civil to all the old fograms, you would make one imagine you liked nobody so well." Frances Burney, Margaret Anne Doody, and Peter Sabor; Cecilia: Memoirs of an Heiress; Oxford Press; 1999.

"Just as he had done making himself up, in came another old fogram of his acquaintance, by name the Count of Asumar. This genius made no secret of his grey locks; leant upon a stick, and seemed to plume himself on his venerable age instead of wishing to appear in the hey-day of his prime." A.R. LeSage; The Adventures of Gil Blas (translated from French by Tobias Smollett); George Routledge & Sons; 1912.

This week's theme: words to describe people.

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Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -Charles Darwin, naturalist and author (1809-1882)

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