A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Wed Mar 1 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--infame X-Bonus: What is the opposite of two? A lonely me, a lonely you. -Richard Wilbur, poet and translator (1 Mar 1921-2017) This week's theme: Nouns that are also verbs infame (in-FAYM) noun: A person having a bad reputation. verb tr.: To defame: to attack the reputation or to disgrace. adjective: Having a bad reputation. [From Latin in- (not) + fama (reputation). Earliest documented use: for noun: 1413; for adjective: 1551; for verb: 1413.] "She had called him a coward, a sneak, an infame, a liar, childish, stubborn, and uncaring 'you are a fool.'" Conor Fitzgerald; The Namesake; Bloomsbury; 2012. "So what if I am an evil person from ancient times? So what if I am infamed for thousands of years?" Ying Xing; Supreme Immortal, Volume 2; Funstory; 2020. -------- Date: Thu Mar 2 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scend X-Bonus: One does not advance the swimming abilities of ducks by throwing the eggs in the water. -Multatuli (pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), novelist (2 Mar 1820-1887) This week's theme: Nouns that are also verbs scend or send (send) verb intr.: To rise or lift by, or as if by, a wave. noun: The rising movement of a wave or a ship on a wave. [Perhaps an alteration of send, influenced by ascend or descend. Earliest documented use: for verb: 1625; for noun: 1726.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/scend The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1831 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/scend_large.jpg Art: Katsushika Hokusai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa "But the riches that scended over the waves of the Dark Ocean arrived on the Dark Continent with an unintended gift." Rachel Kushner; The Strange Case of Rachel K; New Directions; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Mar 3 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--swan X-Bonus: When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. -Alexander Graham Bell, inventor (3 Mar 1847-1922) This week's theme: Nouns that are also verbs swan (swan) noun: 1. Any of various long-necked large waterbirds, usually in white plumage. 2. Someone or something of unusual beauty, grace, purity, etc. verb intr.: 1. To move about in an idle, aimless way. 2. To declare or to swear. [For verb 2: From shortening of "I shall warrant" or "I swear on". For the rest: From Old English swan. Ultimately from the Indo-European root swen- (to sound), which also gave us sound, sonic, sonnet, sonata, and unison. Earliest documented use: for noun: 700; for verb 1: 1893; for verb 2: 1823.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/swan "[François Poulain] scoffs at Europeans who swan around thinking they are better than everyone else." Judith Shulevitz; I Found the Feminism I Was Looking for in the Lost Writings of a 17th-Century Priest; The Atlantic (New York); Sep 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/09/francois-poulain-radical-feminism/619499/ "'It will be okay,' he said. 'I swan.'" Homer Hickam; Red Helmet; Thomas Nelson; 2008. -------- Date: Mon Mar 6 00:01:02 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--interpunction X-Bonus: Beauty is the purgation of superfluities. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (6 Mar 1475-1564) What does a Tyrannosaurus eat for breakfast? I don't know, but I do know what a Thesaurus likes. Synonym Toast Crunch. And that's what we are serving this week. Some crunchy synonyms. What's a synonym for the word love? You may be able to give one or more synonyms for "love" and other words, but chances are you have never thought about a synonym for the word punctuation. This week we'll fill this and other deep chasms in your verbal repertoire with uncommon synonyms. interpunction (in-tuhr-PUNGK-shuhn) noun 1. Punctuation. 2. A punctuation mark. 3. The insertion of punctuation marks in a text. [From Latin inter- (between) + punctum (dot, point). Earliest documented use: 1617.] "Church parking - Only violators will be Baptized." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/interpunction_large.jpg Photo: Tom Djll https://www.flickr.com/photos/djll/99906835/ "In one continuous plethoric outburst, uninterrupted of course by any form of interpunction, he expresses the universally present yet ever unsatisfiable desire for wholeness." Martinus Arnoud Bakker; Book Review; World Literature Today (Norman, Oklahoma); Winter 1994. "Our life is full of interpunctions, or commas; death is but the period or full point." Thomas Jackson; Maran Atha; A. Maxey; 1657. -------- Date: Tue Mar 7 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exuviate X-Bonus: If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weeds. -Luther Burbank, horticulturist (7 Mar 1849-1926) This week's theme: Unusual synonyms exuviate (ig-ZOO-vee-ayt) verb tr., intr. To shed or cast off. [From Latin exuere (to take off). Earliest documented use: 1855.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/exuviate Exuviate, waxing and skin salon https://wordsmith.org/words/images/exuviate_large.jpg Photo: Exuviate Esthetics https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=898290494829685 "Jianfei coiled in her quilt like a serpent exuviating." Lijian Zhao; Red Love; AuthorHouse; 2018. -------- Date: Wed Mar 8 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cyesis X-Bonus: Death tugs at my ear and says, "Live, I am coming." -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet, novelist, essayist, and physician (1809-1894) This week's theme: Unusual synonyms cyesis (sy-EE-sis) noun Pregnancy. [From Greek kyesis (pregnancy).] "It's... she's... we're..." "You'd better hurry. His contractions are getting closer." https://wordmsith.org/words/images/cyesis_large.jpg Cartoon: Dan Piraro https://www.facebook.com/bizarrocomics/ "She greeted me at the door, her cyesis immediately evident, about the eighth month of it." Blossom Elfman; The Girls of Huntington House; Houghton Mifflin; 1972. -------- Date: Thu Mar 9 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cogitate X-Bonus: What has occurred over the course of the last few centuries is a growing (but by no means universal or certain) recognition that science gets the job done, while religion makes excuses. Sometimes they are very pretty excuses that capture the imagination of the public, but ultimately, when you want to win a war or heal a dying child or get rich from a discovery or explore Antarctica, you turn to science and reason, or you fail. -PZ Myers, biology professor (b. 9 Mar 1957) This week's theme: Unusual synonyms cogitate (KOJ-i/uh-tayt) verb tr., intr. To think, reflect, meditate, etc. [From Latin cogitare, from co- (together) + agitare (to turn over, to consider). Earliest documented use: 1570.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cogitate As surely as I cogitate Verily, I do continue to exist. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cogitate_large.jpg Image: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/4yb9 "Ask someone how she thinks and you might learn that she talks to herself silently, or cogitates visually, or moves through mental space by traversing physical space. I have a friend who thinks during yoga, and another who browses and compares mental photographs. I know a scientist who plays interior Tetris, rearranging proteins in his dreams. My wife often wears a familiar faraway look; when I see it, I know that she’s rehearsing a complex drama in her head, running all the lines." Joshua Rothman; Thought Process; The New Yorker; Jan 16, 2023. -------- Date: Fri Mar 10 00:01:03 EST 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--blatteroon X-Bonus: The basis of all animal rights should be the Golden Rule -- we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us were any other species in our dominant position. -Christine Stevens, activist and conservationist (10 Mar 1918-2002) This week's theme: Unusual synonyms blatteroon (blat-uh-ROON) noun A babbler. [From Latin blaterare (to babble). Earliest documented use: 1647.] Keep talking. I'm diagnosing you. https://amazon.com/dp/B07GTDTTMT/ws00-20 "Watch your tongue, you blatteroon!" Gavin Wood; Tales of the Jacobite Grenadiers; AuthorHouse; 2016. -------- Date: Mon Mar 13 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--aderation X-Bonus: Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life. -Giorgos Seferis, writer, diplomat, Nobel laureate (13 Mar 1900-1971) The atomic number of copper is 29. Planet Saturn takes about 29 years to orbit the Sun. The month of Feb in a leap year has 29 days. The period between new moons is about 29 days. The human head has 29 bones. Why are we on a 29 kick this week? Because it's our 29th anniversary! Dictionaries do not list a word for a 29th anniversary but we can coin one: novevicennial, from Latin nove- (nine) + vicennial (20th anniversary). On Mar 14, 1997, as a student studying computer science I started what became Wordsmith.org. After graduating I worked in software while running Wordsmith.org in my spare time. Eventually, I quit my job (AT&T Labs) to write full time. Time flies while you are having fun. I still enjoy it just as much as in the beginning. When I have to tell someone that I have to get back to work, I put "work" in quotation marks. Because it doesn't feel like work. I can't wait to wake up every morning and explore new words, write about them, and share with you. And I look forward to your emails, notes, and stories. Thank you for being here. You are truly what makes Wordsmith.org. CONTEST To celebrate our anniversary we are having a contest. Can you define each of this week's words in exactly 29 letters. For example, one possibility for a 29-letter definition for today's word aderation is: Assigning cash value to something. PRIZES Winners receive their choice of any of the following: A signed copy of any of my books https://wordsmith.org/awad/books.html A copy of the word game One Up! https://oldscoolcompany.com/products/one-up HOW TO ENTER Email your 29-letter definitions to words@wordsmith.org by Fri. Include your location (city, state). A BONUS CONTEST Can you guess the remainder of this week's words? Yes, they all have something to do with the number 29. We have given other hints already. It'd be hard to guess the exact words, but reader(s) whose guesses are closest to this week's words win their choice of the above prizes. Enter the contest as above. aderation or adaeration (ay-di-RAY-shuhn) noun The act of giving a monetary value to something. [From Latin adaerare (to calculate or estimate), from ad- (to, toward) + aes (copper, brass). Earliest documented use: 1623.] Nature: Can we put a value on it? https://wordsmith.org/words/images/aderation.jpg https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/nature-can-we-put-a-value-on-it# "Hendy ... uses the adaeration rate of 1 solidus = 10 artabai." J.A.S. Evans; The Age of Justinian; Routledge; 2000. -------- Date: Tue Mar 14 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--saturnalian X-Bonus: Hail to the man who went through life always helping others, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (14 Mar 1879-1955) This week's theme: Words related to the number 29 saturnalian (sat-uhr-NAY-lee-uhn) adjective Marked by unrestrained revelry, overindulgence, licentiousness, etc. [From Latin Saturnalia (relating to Saturn). In ancient Rome, Saturnalia was a festival organized in honor of the Roman god Saturn who also gave his name to the planet Saturn. Earliest documented use: 1621.] "Saturnalia or Winter", 1783 http://wordsmith.org/words/images/saturnalia_large.jpg Art: Antoine Callet (1741-1823) "By day he worked for the nightlife impresario Serge Becker. By night, he held saturnalian parties at a downtown strip." Alex Williams; Taavo Somer Can Make Anything Cool, Even Golf; The New York Times; Oct 3, 2021. -------- Date: Wed Mar 15 00:01:02 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bissextile X-Bonus: It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. -Cesare Beccaria, philosopher and politician (15 Mar 1738-1794) This week's theme: Words related to the number 29 bissextile (by-SEKS-til/tyl) adjective: Relating to the leap year or the extra day in a leap year. noun: Leap year. [From Latin bisextilis annus (leap year), from Latin bissextus (Feb 29: leap day), from bi- (two) + sextus (sixth), from the fact that the sixth day before the Calends of March (Feb 24) appeared twice every leap year. Earliest documented use: 1398.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bissextile%20year Patiently waiting until 2024 for my next birthday. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/bissextile.jpg Image: https://www.amazon.com/Leap-Day-Birthday-Funny-T-Shirt/dp/B0838D54V7 "You do know that 2012 will be a bissextile year, don't you?" Jack Dillard; Chocolate Milk for You, Water for Your Tree; The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana); Dec 11, 2011. -------- Date: Thu Mar 16 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--lunation X-Bonus: The fetters imposed on liberty at home have ever been forged out of the weapons provided for defence against real, pretended, or imaginary dangers from abroad. -James Madison, 4th US president (16 Mar 1751-1836) This week's theme: Words related to the number 29 lunation (loo-NAY-shuhn) noun The time between two new moons, about 29 and a half days. A lunar month. [From Latin luna (moon). Earliest documented use: 1398.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/lunation https://wordsmith.org/words/images/lunation_large.jpg Photo: György Soponyai https://flickr.com/photos/vanamonde81/41464804964/ "'A mountainside stripped bare in, say, one lunation. And another forest gone in another lunation, and so on.' Tam swallowed heavily. 'That would destroy the planet before long.'" L.S. King; Children of the Enaisi; Loriendil Publishing; 2017. -------- Date: Fri Mar 17 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--occiput X-Bonus: When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him. -Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist (17 Mar 1912-1987) This week's theme: Words related to the number 29 occiput (OK-suh-puht) noun, plural occipita (ok-SIP-i-tah) or occiputs The back part of the head or skull. [From Latin occipit, from oc- (against) + caput (head). Earliest documented use: 1398.] "Saint Francis in Prayer" c. 1602-1604 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/occiput_large.jpg Art: Caravaggio See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/occiput "Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.) Is planning a ban on smut. Oh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut. And his reverend occiput. Smite, Smoot, smite for Ut., Grit your molars and do your dut., Gird up your l--ns, Smite h-p and th-gh, We'll all be Kansas By and by." Ogden Nash; Invocation; 1931. Note: This is the opening stanza of Ogden Nash's on Senator Reed Smoot of Utah whose anti-porn stance led to a newspaper headline "Smoot Smites Smut". Read the full poem here https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/invocation-68 . -------- Date: Mon Mar 20 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Capuan X-Bonus: What didn't you do to bury me / But you forgot that I was a seed. -Dinos Christianopoulos, poet (20 Mar 1931-2020) What comes to mind when you think of Paris? Love, some would say. It has been called the City of Love. Stand on top of the Eiffel Tower and you'll probably see Seine overflowing with romance. We'll always have Paris. Dictionaries, English or French, don't yet list Paris as another word for love, but there are other cities that have entered the English lexicon as metaphors. For example: Waterloo (a crushing defeat) https://wordsmith.org/words/waterloo.html to Babylon (a place of luxury and extravagance) https://wordsmith.org/words/babylon.html . to Shanghai (to recruit forcibly) https://wordsmith.org/words/shanghai.html These words are known as toponyms, from Greek topos (place) + -nym (name). This week we'll feature five more such words, derived after Italy, the UK, Greece, Middle East, and a mythical place. Capuan (KAP-yoo-uhn) adjective Luxurious. [After Capua, a city in south Italy, that was known for its luxurious comfort in ancient times.] Ancient instagrams are lost to history, but we'll take the modern-day Olympus Capua on their word that they offer "Exclusive Luxury Suites": https://wordsmith.org/words/images/capuan_large.jpg Image: Olympus Capua https://www.olympuscapua.it/ "Or occupy yourself elsewhere until we are returned to our Capuan comforts." J.M. Clements; Spartacus: Swords and Ashes; Titan Books; 2012. -------- Date: Tue Mar 21 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--canterbury X-Bonus: Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account? -Jean Paul Richter, writer (21 Mar 1763-1825) This week's theme: Toponyms Canterbury or canterbury (KAN-tuhr-ber-ee) noun A rack with open top and slatted partitions for magazines, sheet music, documents, etc. [After Canterbury, UK. It's said that a bishop of Canterbury first ordered this piece of furniture. Earliest documented use: 1803.] Some other words with Canterbury connections are canter https://wordsmith.org/words/canter.html and Canterbury tale https://wordsmith.org/words/canterbury_tale.html . See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Canterbury https://wordsmith.org/words/images/canterbury_large.jpg Photo: Antiques World https://antiquesworld.co.uk/antique-canterbury/ "Mr. Chadwick pored over stacks of yellowed sheet music his mother had kept in a rosewood Canterbury." Mavis Gallant; Varieties of Exile; New York Review of Books; 2003. -------- Date: Wed Mar 22 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--helotage X-Bonus: There is far too much law for those who can afford it and far too little for those who cannot. -Derek Bok, lawyer and educator (b. 22 Mar 1930) This week's theme: Toponyms helotage (HEL-uh-tazh) noun A state of servitude or bondage. [After Helos, a town in Laconia in ancient Greece, whose inhabitants were enslaved. Earliest documented use: 1934.] NOTES: Other towns in Laconia that have also inspired words in the English language are spartan, after Sparta, the capital of Laconia https://wordsmith.org/words/spartan.html and caryatid https://wordsmith.org/words/caryatid.html . Laconia itself has given us the word laconic https://wordsmith.org/words/laconic.html . An amphora, c. 520 BCE depicting slaves working in the fields https://wordsmith.org/words/images/helotage_large.jpg Art: Antimenes Painter Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Greece#/media/File:Amphora_olive-gathering_BM_B226.jpg "If access to the web does indeed become the determinant of future knowledge and economic growth ... the poor will be condemned to a helotage even worse than that which they are suffering now." Tom Holland; Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again; New Statesman (London, UK); Nov 22, 1999. -------- Date: Thu Mar 23 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Elysium X-Bonus: Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980) This week's theme: Toponyms Elysium (i-LIZH-ee-uhm) noun A place of perfect happiness. [From Latin Elysium, from Greek elysion pedyon (Elysian plain/fields). In Greek mythology, Elysium (or the Elysian Fields https://wordsmith.org/words/elysian.html ) was the final resting place for the souls of heroes and the virtuous after their death. Earliest documented use: 1599.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Elysium "Enee Meeting With His Father in the Elysium", 1597 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/elysium_large.jpg Art: Sebastien Vrancx https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Elysium#/media/File:Enee_meeting_with_his_father_in_the_Elysium-Sebastien_Vrancx-MBA_Lyon_H1153-IMG_0415.jpg "They're used to the chancellor gloating about how wonderful everything is, and how they live in an Elysium created by Gordon Brown." Simon Hoggart; Things Can Only Get Much Worse; The Guardian (London, UK); Sep 23, 2008. -------- Date: Fri Mar 24 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Canaan X-Bonus: Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations. -Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and painter (24 Mar 1919-2021) This week's theme: Toponyms Canaan (KAY-nuhn) noun A land of promise, abundance, and fulfillment. [After Canaan, an ancient region between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. In the Bible, Yahweh promises this land to Abraham. Earliest documented use: 1548.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Canaan "Abraham on the Road to Canaan", 1614 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/canaan_large.jpg Art: Pieter Lastman "It is shameful that the most effective arrangements should not be made for the safety of these helpless beings who come to these shores with the hope of finding a Canaan." Marie E. Zakrzewska; A Woman's Quest; D. Appleton; 1924. -------- Date: Mon Mar 27 00:01:02 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--trochilic X-Bonus: If you view religion as necessary for ethics, you've reduced us to the ethical level of four-year-olds. "If you follow these commandments you'll go to heaven, if you don't you'll burn in hell" is just a spectacular version of the carrots and sticks with which you raise your children. -Susan Neiman, philosopher and author (b. 27 Mar 1955) I was taking a leisurely walk the other day when I noticed a bicycle pass by at high speed. Saw it. Heard it. Smelled it too. It was going fast. It was loud. It was smelly. It had a gas engine. Bicycle, to my mind, is such a pure thing. Putting a gas engine on a bicycle is like adding cigarettes to your yoga practice. Growing up in India, I learned how to ride a cycle (as we called it in British English) when I was in seventh grade. Late, I know. I walked to school until then. It had a shiny red frame and I totally loved it. When I outgrew it, I used Dad's large black cycle (he transitioned to a Vespa). When I went to college, my younger brother used it. When my brother went to college, our nephews used it. All this use -- thousands of kilometers -- and it never asked for a sip of fuel, fossil or otherwise. Now I call it a bicycle instead of a cycle. I measure distances in miles instead of kms, but I still believe a bicycle is one of the best inventions ever. When I see someone pedaling away on a bicycle I'm filled with hope for our species. In this week's selection I have picked words with wheels. In some words, it's obvious, while in others you may have to look at their etymologies. Another way to look at it, some words this week may have two o's in their spellings. Other words may have only one o (or none), but they all have wheels in their origins. Read this fascinating article about the Dutch bicycle culture and history https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23587916 . Also, check out "Why I ride my bike to work, by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands" https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/why-i-ride-my-bike-to-work-by-the-prime-minister-of-the-netherlands/ What's your relationship with the bicycle? Share on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/trochilic.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org. As always, include your location (city, state). trochilic (truh-KI-lik) adjective Relating to the wheel or the rotary motion. [From Greek trochos (wheel), from trechein (to run), which also gave us troche (lozenge) https://wordsmith.org/words/troche.html and the metrical trochee. Earliest documented use: 1570.] "You are in the wrong bar, pal." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/trochilic_large.jpg Cartoon: Dan Piraro https://www.facebook.com/bizarrocomics/ "The swirling fog augured a time sublime. Trochilic mist ... still did not hear me yelp." Alexa Pope; Even More Gifts from Swift; Lulu; 2011. -------- Date: Tue Mar 28 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rotiform X-Bonus: A scholar is just a library's way of making another library. -Daniel Dennett, philosopher, writer, and professor (b. 28 Mar 1942) This week's theme: Wheels rotiform (ROH-tuh-form) adjective Wheel-shaped. [From Latin rota (wheel). Earliest documented use: 1816.] Wheel-shaped pasta (rotelle) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/rotiform_large.jpg Photo: MOs810 / Wikimedia "An internal pipe is designed in the interior of the handle, whose both ends are connected to the T-shaped pipe and a rotiform joint." Taiwanese Inventor Develops Improved Teeth Cleaner; US Fed News Service (Washington, DC); Oct 17, 2007. -------- Date: Wed Mar 29 00:01:04 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zodiac X-Bonus: At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted. -Eric Idle, comedian, actor, and author (b. 29 Mar 1943) This week's theme: Wheels zodiac (ZOH-dee-ak) noun 1. A circular diagram with 12 parts, each named after a constellation, used in astrology. 2. A circle, circuit, etc. [From Latin zodiacus, from Greek zoidiakos, shortening of zoidiakos kyklos (zodiac circle), from zoion (living being) + kyklos (circle, wheel). Earliest documented use: 1390.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/zodiac "Pisces, you?" https://wordsmith.org/words/images/zodiac_large.jpg Cartoon: Dan Piraro https://www.facebook.com/bizarrocomics/ NOTES: I'm an Aries. I haven't checked my zodiac reading, but I assume it says "Aries don't believe in such nonsense." If you like to check your zodiac reading, read this first https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/horoscopes-reality-or-trickery-review/ Also check out this podcast (7 min.) from "Scientific American" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-astrology-real-heres-what-science-says/ Don't miss this most fascinating article An Astronomer Looks at Astrology https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/849760a8-4adc-495f-8981-d537f047a7db (pdf) "The richest travels are those along the thoroughfares of the mind -- a welcome insight in this era of trips not taken, sights not seen, back streets not explored. Or as the Khan comes to understand: 'The empire is nothing but a zodiac of the mind's phantasms.'" In the Mind's Eye; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 22, 2020. -------- Date: Thu Mar 30 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exorbitant X-Bonus: One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul, and yet no one ever comes to sit by it. -Vincent van Gogh, painter (30 Mar 1853-1890) This week's theme: Wheels exorbitant (ig-ZOR-bi-tuhnt) adjective Greatly exceeding what's considered reasonable, especially in cost or price. [From Latin exorbitare (to go out of the track), from ex- (out) + orbita (wheel track), from orbis (circle, disk). Earliest documented use: 1460.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/exorbitant Thus, once all the dorm bedrooms are occupied by romantic pairs, additional roommates are forced into less restful "living room couch" orbitals. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/exorbitant_large.jpg Cartoon: xkcd / Randall Munroe https://xkcd.com/658/ "In a city like New York, with exorbitant housing costs, ninety-five thousand dollars a year does not buy the same comforts." Jennifer Gonnerman; The Total Package; The New Yorker; Jan 16, 2023. -------- Date: Fri Mar 31 00:01:03 EDT 2023 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--encyclical X-Bonus: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. -Leo Buscaglia, author, speaker and professor (31 Mar 1924-1998) This week's theme: Wheels encyclical (in/en-SIK-li-kuhl) noun: An official letter. adjective: For wide circulation. [From Greek kyklos (circle, cycle). Earliest documented use: 1616.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/encyclical NOTES: A more common word for an encyclical is circular. In the Roman Catholic Church, a letter from the pope to bishops, usually dealing with the matters of doctrine, is called an encyclical. Vatican stamps commemorating Pope Leo XIII's encyclicals https://wordsmith.org/words/images/encyclical_large.jpg Image: tomstampshop/eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/144481270980 "In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a fair wage, safe working conditions, and the formation of trade unions ..." See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIII "[Robert Armstrong] also possessed a dry humour. One encyclical he sent to senior Whitehall officials deploring leaks was itself leaked. When the journalist, now filmmaker, Paul Greengrass, raised this during a Granada TV World in Action interview, Armstrong replied: 'I was very sad that it took so long as six weeks to leak. I hoped it would leak much sooner than that.'" Richard Norton-Taylor; Lord Armstrong of Ilminster; The Guardian (London, UK); Apr 5, 2020.