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Sep 22, 2016
This week’s theme
Words borrowed from German

This week’s words
kitsch
verboten
ubermensch
gauleiter
clerisy

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

gauleiter

PRONUNCIATION:
(GOU-ly-tuhr)

MEANING:
noun: An overbearing petty official.

ETYMOLOGY:
From German Gauleiter (a district leader in Nazi Germany), from Gau (district) + Leiter (leader). Earliest documented use: 1936.

USAGE:
“Even if you don’t like a council leader, don’t call her a gauleiter.”
Stuart Jeffries; ‘Swamped’ and ‘Riddled’; The Guardian (London, UK); Oct 28, 2014.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease. -Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (22 Sep 1694-1773)

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