A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Jan 1 12:02:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nouveau X-Bonus: A raindrop, dripping from a cloud, / Was ashamed when it saw the sea. / "Who am I where there is a sea?" it said. / When it saw itself with the eye of humility, / A shell nurtured it in its embrace. -Saadi of Shiraz (c. 1200 AD) This week's theme: "New" words nouveau (NOO-voh, noo-VOH) adjective New. [From French nouveau (new), from Latin novus (new). Earliest documented use: 1828.] NOTES: In French, nouveau simply means new, as in Nouvel An (New Year). A language rarely borrows a word as a pure synonym. In English it often carries a faintly dismissive tone, suggesting a lack of pedigree. It appears most often in compounds such as nouveau riche http://wordsmith.org/words/nouveau_riche.html and nouveau pauvre http://wordsmith.org/words/nouveau_pauvre.html . A Czech art nouveau new year postcard, c. 1900-1910 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/nouveau_large.jpg Art: Josef Wenig https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-result/czech-art-nouveau-new-year-postcard-josef-wenig-angel-with-hourglass-and-child-c1900-1910/ "The emergence of a nouveau privileged class comes with newfound anxieties about establishing a legacy, as we've seen demonstrated by billionaires adopting science-fiction measures to ensure their longevity." Sable Yong; What Would You Pay to Smell Like One in Eight Billion?; Marie Claire (New York); 2025. -------- Date: Fri Jan 2 12:02:03 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--new-collar X-Bonus: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (2 Jan 1920-1992) This week's theme: "New" words new-collar (NOO/NYOO-KOL-uhr) adjective Relating to jobs that require specialized skills, but not necessarily a college education. [Formed on the pattern of other terms related to jobs, such as blue-collar and white-collar. Earliest documented use: 1984.] NOTES: The term has been evolving. Originally it described service-sector jobs (such as store managers, salespeople, and servers) that fell somewhere between blue- and white-collar jobs. In 2016, then CEO of IBM Ginni Rometty called for developing specialized skills through nontraditional paths such as certifications, apprenticeships, and on-the-job training. She re-branded the term for the tech age (cybersecurity, cloud computing, etc.). If you need to brush up on your collars, here's a rundown: blue-collar: jobs requiring manual labor, such as factory or construction work white-collar: jobs involving nonphysical work, typically in offices pink-collar: jobs traditionally held by women, such as childcare and secretarial work https://wordsmith.org/words/pink-collar.html As for me, I'm a no-collar worker, literally and metaphorically. I work in a T-shirt and what I do doesn't feel like a job. Some -collar terms aren't about work at all: brass-collar (unwaveringly loyal to a political party) https://wordsmith.org/words/brass-collar.html arrow-collar (conventionally attractive and suave) https://wordsmith.org/words/arrow-collar.html On the internet nobody knows you are a dog And with a cybersecurity certificate, nobody cares about your pedigree https://wordsmith.org/words/images/new-collar_large.jpg Meme: https://imgflip.com/i/aft5s2 "The popular sectors offering new-collar jobs are in tech: big data, cybersecurity, generative AI, coding, machine learning, and meditech." Mamta Sharma; The New-Collar Revolution; The New Indian Express; Feb 1, 2025. -------- Date: Mon Jan 5 12:02:03 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--abjective X-Bonus: We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. -Konrad Adenauer, statesman (5 Jan 1876-1967) I heard a good one the other day: A priest, an imam, and a rabbit walk into a blood donation center. The nurse asks the rabbit: "What’s your blood type?" "I'm probably a type O," says the rabbit. In that spirit, this week's words may look funny at first glance. They are not typos, and they're definitely not bunnies. Each is a real word, certified and housebroken, differing by just one letter from a more familiar neighbor. Call them orthographic near misses. Welcome to the lexical uncanny valley. These are words that trigger the red squiggly line in your brain (and probably your word processor). They look wrong, sound wrong, and feel wrong. Until they don't. Beware of your Autocorrect this week. It will try to "fix" them. But stand your ground. A single letter makes all the difference. Just ask a blood bank. abjective (ab-JEK-tiv) adjective Tending to degrade, demoralize, or reduce to a lower state. [From abject, from Latin abicere (to throw away). Earliest documented use: 1865.] "The Absinthe Drinker", 1875-76 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/abjective_large.jpg Art: Edgar Degas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Absinthe "The 20 large color pictures of Mr. McGinley's 20-something friends, lovers, and fellow artists avoid the abjective grit of Mr. Clark's work and the noirish narcissism of Ms. Goldin's." Art Guide; The New York Times; Feb 21, 2003. -------- Date: Tue Jan 6 12:02:02 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--librate X-Bonus: Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (6 Jan 1883-1931) This week's theme: Words that look like misspellings librate (LY-brayt) verb intr. 1. To oscillate, waver. 2. To be poised or balanced. [From Latin libra (scales). Earliest documented use: 1623.] "Woman Holding a Balance", c. 1662-1663 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/librate_large.jpg Art: Johannes Vermeer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_Holding_a_Balance See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/librate "He walks around the house to the window of Caroline's bedroom, his heart librating in his chest like a seesaw." Kevin Brockmeier; Things that Fall From the Sky; Knopf; 2003. "The big chief's obscurely conflicting passions were not to be ignored because they librated in a tension that still balanced." Jonathan Bayliss; Gloucestertide; Drawbridge Press; 2013. -------- Date: Wed Jan 7 12:02:03 AM EST 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--psilanthropy X-Bonus: He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers. -Charles Peguy, poet and essayist (7 Jan 1873-1914) This week's theme: Words that look like misspellings psilanthropy (sil-LAN-thruh-pee) noun The doctrine or belief that Jesus was merely human. [From Greek psilo- (mere) + anthropos (human). Earliest documented use: 1821.] Mary and Jesus in "Christ in the House of His Parents" (detail), 1849-1850 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/psilanthropy.jpg https://wordsmith.org/words/images/psilanthropy_large.jpg Art: John Everett Millais https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_in_the_House_of_His_Parents NOTES: Charles Dickens loathed this painting for depicting Jesus and his family as ordinary, working-class people rather than divine icons. He called Millais's Jesus "a hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy, in a bed-gown" and described Mary as "so horrible in her ugliness, that ... she would stand out from the rest of the company as a monster, in the vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest ginshop in England." The artist embedded this beautiful painting with numerous Christian symbols, which Dickens seems to have overlooked. "I have never believed in psilanthropy. I am a Catholic priest and you might expect these words from me." Richard Conde; Century One; Writer's Showcase; 2001.