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Jul 14, 2008
This week's themeWords related to royalty This week's words magna carta royal we morganatic king's ransom queen regnant Magna Carta, 1297 edition
Photo: The US National Archives
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with Anu GargRoyalty -- an outdated idea. Kings and queens, princes and princesses mostly appear in fairy tales now, and that's exactly where they belong. Most of the world did away with them long ago. Others, such as the citizens of Nepal recently, are realizing that having someone appointed as the head of a country just because he or she was born in a certain family makes about as much sense as fire-breathing dragons and gold-spinning maidens. Well, what would happen to the publishing world without them, one might ask. Sure, the royals do help the tabloid industry, but in their absence we can count on Paris Hilton and Michael Jackson to fill the vacuum. As a service to humanity, they would selflessly agree to ratchet up their daily quota of antics. And they would do it without being a burden on the taxpayers. The only species of monarchs I support is the monarch butterfly. Monarchy deserves to be extinct. In the meantime this week let's look at five terms related to royalty. magna cartaPRONUNCIATION:
(MAG-nuh KAHR-tuh)
MEANING:
noun:
A document or a law recognizing basic rights and privileges.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin magna carta (great charter). After Magna Carta, a charter
of political and civil liberties that King John of England was forced to
sign on June 15, 1215. It was revised several times over the years, and it
became an important symbol, establishing for future generations that there
were limits to royal power.
USAGE:
"A magna carta for industry development recognizing that 'small and medium
enterprises are the dominant constituent of the industry' is an absolute
necessity."Integrated Approach Needed For Construction Industry; The Island (Colombo, Sri Lanka); Jun 18, 2008. See more usage examples of magna carta in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Invention requires an excited mind; execution, a calm one. -Johann Peter Eckermann, poet (1792-1854)
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