A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon May 3 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zen X-Bonus: It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious. -Niccolo Machiavelli, political philosopher and author (3 May 1469-1527) This purple vegetable has names. In American English it goes as an eggplant, in South African and South Asian Englishes as a brinjal, in British English as an aubergine, and in the language of emojis, well, we'll talk about that some other time. In all the names for this bulbous vegetable, there is one that truly sticks out. Many words have traveled, but when it comes to linguistic miles covered, it would be hard to beat the aubergine. It rises above all. The aubergine spread its seed far and wide before reaching the English language. It came to English from Sanskrit via Persian, Arabic, Catalan, and French. That's some serious wanderlust. This week we'll look at some other words that have earned the well-traveled designation, words that have bounced around before planting their flag in the English language. -- On a different note, this Saturday I drove all the way to Lumen Field, a football stadium here in Seattle, and it turned out no game was taking place. So disappointing! Not! Some 8,000 people were getting vaccinated https://wordsmith.org/words/vaccinate.html that day. I too had an appointment. Got my first Pfizer shot. Here's to science! And to adults being in charge of running the country again! zen (zen) noun: An activity, approach, state of mind, etc., emphasizing intuition and insights, instead of fixation on goals. adjective: Calm, peaceful, unruffled. [After Zen, a school of Mahayana Buddhism. From Japanese zen (meditation), from Chinese chan (meditation), from Pali jhanam (jhanam), from Sanskrit dhyana (meditation). Earliest documented use: 1727. Also see satori https://wordsmith.org/words/satori.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Zen https://wordsmith.org/words/images/zen_large.jpg Cartoon: Dan Piraro https://www.facebook.com/bizarrocomics/ "Periods in my life have been very zen and calm. But after a while of swimming around in a blissful lake of contentment, I chuck a gigantic rock in it, cause huge ripples and start again somewhere else." Shappi Khorsandi; Happiness?; The Independent (London, UK); Oct 26, 2019. -------- Date: Tue May 4 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--butterfingered X-Bonus: It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence. -William Kingdon Clifford, mathematician and philosopher (4 May 1845-1879) This week's theme: Well-traveled words butterfingered (BUHT-uhr fing-guhrd) adjective Clumsy or careless, especially frequently dropping things. [From butter, from Old English butere, from Latin butyrum, from Greek boutyron, from bous (cow) + tyros (cheese) + finger, from Old English. Earliest documented use: 1615.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/butterfingered "Butterfinger, the official candy of Wes Welker" Read more at https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1057454-super-bowl-2012-wes-welker-tormented-with-butterfingers-for-big-game-blunder Image: https://ifunny.co/meme/the-official-candy-of-wes-welker-the-official-candy-of-nivCgi8J "The New Jersey country club [Alpine Country Club] that was sued by a patron [Maryana Beyder] after a waiter dumped red wine on her $30,000 Hermes handbag is turning on the butterfingered staffer -- they claim in new legal papers is liable for the flub." Craig McCarthy and Emily Saul; NJ Country Club Sues Waiter Who Dumped Wine on Member's $30K Hermes Bag; New York Post; Nov 11, 2019. [All that's wrong with the humanity in three acts: Woman seeks fulfillment with a $30k handbag; sues a club for involuntarily dyeing it from pink to red; the club goes after its own waiter who makes, perhaps, $30k in a whole year. -Ed.] -------- Date: Wed May 5 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--canary X-Bonus: Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. -Christopher Morley, writer (5 May 1890-1957) This week's theme: Well-traveled words canary (kuh-NAYR-ee) noun 1. A small finch, native to the Canary Islands, having greenish to yellow color, and known for its melodious song. 2. A bright yellow color. 3. A singer. 4. An informer. [From French canari (canary), from Spanish canario (canary; of the Canary Islands), from Latin canis (dog). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which also gave us canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic https://wordsmith.org/words/cynic.html , cynosure https://wordsmith.org/words/cynosure.html , canaille https://wordsmith.org/words/canaille.html , canicular https://wordsmith.org/words/canicular.html , and cynophobia https://wordsmith.org/words/cynophobia.html . Earliest documented use: 1568.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/canary The coat of arms of the Canary Islands features dogs, not canaries https://wordsmith.org/words/images/canary_large.png Image: HansenBCN / Wikimedia NOTES: The Canary Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Africa, are named after an animal, but it's not canaries. It's dogs. The island's name is, literally, the Island of the Dogs, from Latin Canariae Insulae, supposedly named after large dogs found there. The canary birds are native to the area and are named after the islands. The yellow sense is after the birds, the singer sense is named after their singing, and finally, the informer sense developed because an informer sings or squeals. The canary has also given us the idiom "canary in the coal mine" to refer to something that gives an early warning of a danger or failure. Due to their small size, canaries are more susceptible to carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases and were carried by coal miners in the mine shafts. "He enjoyed a close friendship with the MGM canary Kathryn Grayson, with whom he starred in Show Boat." Obituary of Howard Keel; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Nov 9, 2004. "The two high-ranking mobsters were named in a 39-count indictment in Brooklyn federal court yesterday, which made use of wiretaps and the recordings of a canary who is working with the government." Stefanie Cohen; Bonfire of the Bonannos Busts 19; New York Post; Feb 7, 2007. -------- Date: Thu May 6 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--panache X-Bonus: Not thinking critically, I assumed that the "successful" prayers were proof that God answers prayer while the failures were proof that there was something wrong with me. -Dan Barker, former preacher, musician (b. 1949) This week's theme: Well-traveled words panache (puh-NASH) noun 1. A confident, stylish manner; swagger. 2. A tuft of feathers on a headdress, such as a helmet, hat, etc. [From French panache, from Italian pennacchio, from Latin pinnaculum (small wing), diminutive of pinna (wing, feather). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, pterodactyl, and helicopter. Earliest documented use: 1584.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/panache Helmet with a panache https://wordsmith.org/words/images/panache_large.jpg Art: Lodewijk van der Helst, 1670 NOTES: The word was popularized in English from the success of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac". Cyrano proclaims, "I'm going to take the simplest approach to life of all ... I've decided to excel in everything." He, of course, wears a panache, and it is literally his last word: "Yet there is something still that will always be mine, and when today I go into God's presence, there I will doff it and sweep the heavenly pavement with a gesture: something I'll take unstained out of this world ... my panache." "Peter Sculthorpe's Tabuh Tabuhan ... dominated the afternoon concert through sheer sureness of touch and sometimes even panache." Clever Choice of Quartets; The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia); Mar 11, 2021. -------- Date: Fri May 7 00:01:01 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--alterity X-Bonus: The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of his tail. -Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (7 May 1861-1941) This week's theme: Well-traveled words alterity (al-TER-uh-tee) noun Otherness: the state or quality of being other or different. [From French altérité, from Latin alteritas (otherness), from alter (other). Earliest documented use: 1500.] "We don't want to get lost because we'd prefer not to see the reality of where we are and so be either appalled by its conformity or thrilled by its alterity." Will Self; On Location; New Statesman (London, UK); Apr 4, 2014. -------- Date: Mon May 10 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--unshirted X-Bonus: The softer you sing, the louder you're heard. -Donovan, musician (b. 10 May 1946) *Unshirted* is not the same as *shirtless* (poor) or descamisado https://wordsmith.org/words/descamisado.html and neither one is the opposite of shirty (bad-tempered) https://wordsmith.org/words/shirty.html . That's language for you. Try not to take it literally. Rarely works. Shirted or not -- whatever your sartorial preferences -- we aim to add new words to your linguistic wardrobe. Enjoy this week's fashion parade of words, all derived from shirts and their parts. We'll cover it all, from the collar to the shirt tail. unshirted (uhn-SHUHR-tid) adjective 1. Serious; unmitigated. 2. Plain; undisguised. [From un- (not) + shirt, from Old English scyrte. Earliest documented use: 1932.] "Trump did outdo former holders of the office in one regard: producing unshirted chaos." Doyle McManus; How Do Biden's First 100 Days in Office Compare with Trump's?; Los Angeles Times; Apr 25, 2021. "Maloof first gave Carter his unshirted opinion about some of his recent votes." Tom Baxter & Jim Galloway; Lebanese Legend Gets Irish Wake; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Georgia); Aug 13, 2004. -------- Date: Tue May 11 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--arrow-collar X-Bonus: Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. -Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer scientist (11 May 1930-2002) This week's theme: Shirts Arrow-collar (AR-o-kol-uhr) adjective Conventionally attractive and suave. [After the detachable Arrow Collars sold by Cluett, Peabody & Co. in the early 1900s. The collars were shown on a supposedly idealized man, known as the Arrow Collar Man, in ads drawn by the illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. Earliest documented use: 1915.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/arrow-collar_large.jpg Image: Halloween HJB https://www.flickr.com/photos/halloweenhjb/49854766502 "But Pisoni, whose Arrow-Collar looks, crack timing, and acute articulation are tailor-made for the acting career he eventually achieved, has more than classic routines on his mind." David C. Nichols; A Circus Life of Laughs and Heart; Los Angeles Times; Sep 26, 2013. -------- Date: Wed May 12 00:04:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--button-down X-Bonus: I do not torture animals, and I do not support the torture of animals, such as that which goes on at rodeos: cowardly men in big hats abusing simple beasts in a fruitless search for manhood. -George Carlin, comedian, actor, and author (12 May 1937-2008) This week's theme: Shirts button-down (BUHT-uhn-daun) adjective 1. Conservative, unimaginative, conventional, staid, repressed, etc. 2. Relating to a collar that can be fastened to the garment. 3. Relating to a garment having such a collar or having buttons from the collar to the waist. [From the association of a button-down shirt with people having a conventional outlook. Earliest documented use: 1883. The term also appears in the form buttoned-down.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/button-down Button-down: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/button-down_large.jpg Button-down and ashamed of it https://wordsmith.org/words/images/button-down2_large.jpg Photo: Pickashirt https://www.pickashirt.com/hidden-button-collar-shirts/ "Mr Golub is often brash ... has always stuck out in Amex's button-down corporate culture." Don't Leave Home Without Me; The Economist (London, UK); Jan 30, 1993. -------- Date: Thu May 13 00:04:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sleeveless X-Bonus: The Panama Canal was dug with a microscope. -Ronald Ross, doctor and Nobel laureate (13 May 1857-1932) [alluding to the research done to get rid of the mosquito http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/ ] This week's theme: Shirts sleeveless (SLEEV-luhs/lis) adjective 1. Unprofitable; futile; unreasonable; irrelevant. 2. Without sleeves. [From sleeve, from Old English sliefe + less, from Old English laes (less). Earliest documented use: 950. Also see shirtsleeve https://wordsmith.org/words/shirtsleeve.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/sleeveless NOTES: What does a sleeve have to do with profit? In former times, a lady would give her detachable sleeve (also known as a maunch/manche, from French) to a knight as a symbol of love and he would wear it as he went around in his adventures. A knight without a sleeve was, well, sleeveless. "The Encyclopedia Britannica" (1880) mentions: "Bayard took a lady's sleeve and proclaimed it, with a valuable ruby, as a prize to be contended for." An ermine sleeve on the coat of arms of the Family of Mohun, Earl of Somerset https://wordsmith.org/words/images/sleeveless_large.png Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohun.svg "I pictured them drearily slogging through the blackened midwinter slush on sleeveless errands." Jennifer Howard; What Does Everyone Need This Time of Year?; The Washington Post; Dec 3, 2000. -------- Date: Fri May 14 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--shirttail X-Bonus: You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet. -Hal Borland, author and journalist (14 May 1900-1978) This week's theme: Shirts shirttail (SHUHRT-tayl) noun: 1. The part of a shirt reaching below the waist, especially in the back. 2. A brief item added at the end of a newspaper article. 3. Something small or unimportant. adjective: 1. Very young or immature. 2. Very small or trivial. 3. Distantly related. verb tr.: To add an item to a piece of writing, discussion, etc. [From shirt, from Old English scyrte (shirt) + tail, from Old English toegl (tail). Earliest documented use: 1659. Also see coattail https://wordsmith.org/words/coattail.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/shirttail Shirttails at Hendrix College https://www.hendrix.edu/news/news.aspx?id=70660 "Your mother thinks I'm a damned old idiot to give a shirttail boy a gun that's just about as tall as the boy is." Robert Ruark; Old Man's Boy Grows Up; Hamish Hamilton; 1962. "It was a good place to live back then, back when Hollywood was just a shirttail country town on the interurban line." Grover Lewis, Dave Hickey, Robert Draper; Splendor in the Short Grass; University of Texas Press; 2005. "A previously unknown species of sea lily has turned up ... a shirttail cousin to the starfish." Science Notebook; Science News (Washington, DC); Oct 8, 2011. -------- Date: Mon May 17 00:01:01 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Hoyle X-Bonus: A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. -Alan Kay, computer scientist (b. 17 May 1940) When I'm being interviewed or when I take questions at the end of a talk, usually one of the questions is about my favorite word. I respond that I do not play favorites with words. They all are fascinating to me. You meet someone on the street and they may appear to be the most plain-looking person. You might think: What could be interesting about them anyway? Once you get to know them, once you learn their background and what paths they took to reach where they are, you may have a different opinion. It's the same with words. You may take any everyday word but once you get to know its history -- we call it etymology -- you realize there's no everyday word. A window is, literally, wind's eye. I don't have favorite words, but I can tell you my favorite *category* of words: eponyms. An eponym is a word coined after someone's name, from Greek ep- (after) + -onym (name). There are thousands of eponyms in the English language, words that are in everyday use (boycott https://wordsmith.org/words/boycott.html ) and words that are relatively uncommon (pasquinade https://wordsmith.org/words/pasquinade.html ). This week we'll look at five eponyms, coined after people from fact and fiction. Hoyle (hoyl) noun 1. A rule book. 2. Rules. [After Edmond Hoyle (1672?-1769), British writer on games. Earliest documented use: 1906.] NOTES: The word is typically used in the phrase "according to Hoyle", meaning strictly following rules and regulations. See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Hoyle Edmond Hoyle https://wordsmith.org/words/images/hoyle_large.jpg Art: James Latham (c. 1696-1747) Image: Country House Fine Art https://www.countryhousefineart.co.uk/products/portrait-circle-of-james-latham-edmund-hoyle-whist "Considering the underhanded tactics he used in that election ... but medieval Hungarian aristocrats don't fight according to Hoyle." Theodora Goss; The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl; Saga Press; 2020. -------- Date: Tue May 18 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Houdini X-Bonus: A book of verses underneath the bough, / A jug of wine, a loaf of bread -- and thou / Beside me singing in the wilderness -- / Oh, wilderness were paradise enow! -Omar Khayyam, poet, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and physician (18 May 1048-1131) https://wordsmith.org/words/enow.html This week's theme: Eponyms Houdini (hoo-DEE-nee) noun: An escape artist. verb intr.: To escape. [After Harry Houdini (1874-1926), a magician and escape artist. Earliest documented use: 1923.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Houdini NOTES: Houdini was born as Ehrich Weiss, but he admired the French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin so changed his name. His nickname Ehri became Harry. In his later years, Houdini devoted his life to debunking psychics, mediums, and other fraudsters. He worked with the "Scientific American" magazine https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientific-american-vs-the-supernatural/ to expose them. Also see, "Houdini's Skeptical Advice: Just Because Something's Unexplained Doesn't Mean It's Supernatural" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/houdinis-skeptical-advice/ If I had our way, I'd give a subscription to the "Scientific American" to every person on this earth, especially to lawmakers. Subscribe to the magazine here https://www.scientificamerican.com/store/subscribe/scientific-american-magazine/ (and no, we are not paid to say this). Houdini Straitjacket Escape, Houston, Texas (1923) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbwcYttRZAU (3 min.) How did he do his magic tricks? Read all about it here https://gizmodo.com/the-secrets-behind-harry-houdini-s-ten-greatest-illusio-1654107326 "My Two Sweethearts" Houdini with his mother Cecilia and wife Beatrice, c. 1907 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/houdini_large.jpg Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini#/media/File:Weiss_with_mother_and_wife.jpg "But Andrews has proven himself a Houdini when it comes to escaping such traps." Brett Martin; Top Brass; Vanity Fair (New York); Mar 2021. "Lucy has houdinied out of her car seat and is now climbing into the front." Carrie Mac; Equinox Gales; Antigonish Review (Canada); Winter 2006. -------- Date: Wed May 19 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tawdry X-Bonus: Red roses for young lovers. French beans for longstanding relationships. -Ruskin Bond, author (b. 19 May 1934) This week's theme: Eponyms tawdry (TAW-dree) adjective Cheap, showy, and gaudy. [Short for tawdry lace, a contraction of St Audrey lace. The story goes that Æthelthryth (c. 636-679 CE), also known as Etheldreda and Audrey, loved fine silk laces in her youth. She died of a throat tumor which she considered a punishment for her fondness of necklaces. She was a queen, but later became a nun, and eventually a saint. Cheap laces sold in St Audrey's Fair in Ely, England, came to be known as St Audrey lace, and eventually shrank to tawdry lace. Earliest documented use: 1612. Also see, trumpery https://wordsmith.org/words/trumpery.html .] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/tawdry A statue of St Audrey in St Etheldreda’s Church, Ely, UK. None of her laces exist, but the church has saved her actual hand. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/tawdry_large.jpg Photo: Fr Lawrence Lew, OP https://flickr.com/photos/paullew/837434219 "When they visit Las Vegas and stay at Caesar's Palace, she gazes in wonder at the tawdry casino." Why Did Sebastian Lelio Remake "Gloria"?; The Economist (London, UK); Mar 12, 2019. "'His library https://djtrumplibrary.com/ will service the man,' says the architect. 'His will be something very tawdry and very tacky.'" Andrew Buncombe; 'Tacky', 'Tawdry', and a Project of Self-Aggrandisement; The Independent (London, UK); Feb 4, 2021. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-presidential-library-where-b1787635.html https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/melania-donald-and-barron-trump-at-home-shoot -------- Date: Thu May 20 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--McDonaldization X-Bonus: Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence. -Honore de Balzac, novelist (20 May 1799-1850) This week's theme: Eponyms McDonaldization (muhk-dah-nuhl-dai/duh-ZAY-shuhn) noun 1. Standardization that focuses on efficiency, predictability, control, etc., at the expense of individuality or creativity. 2. The spread of the influence of American culture. [After McDonald's, a fast-food chain started by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940. Earliest documented use: 1975. Also see McJob https://wordsmith.org/words/mcjob.html .] NOTES: When I was in graduate school, I had a friend from Ethiopia who was doing his PhD in mechanical engineering. He once told me that when traveling, no matter where, he felt at home once inside a McDonald's. He knew he'd find his familiar food -- no surprises. One person's homogenized blandness is another's familiar comfort. "You found a human hair in your sandwich? That's not possible. We don't use natural ingredients." https://wordsmith.org/words/images/mcdonaldization_large.jpg Image: https://www.memesmonkey.com/topic/funny+ronald+mcdonald#&gid=1&pid=3 Also see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ktheory/43251048/ "The educators will be forced to take the vision of the economists and turn that into reality ... success will be measured by achievement tests alone. In that sense, I feel that the Dovrat report symbolizes the McDonaldization of Israeli schools." David B. Green; "It's Unconscionable That the Voice of the Teachers Is Not Heard"; The Jerusalem Report (Israel); Mar 7, 2005. "Huntington is skeptical about the implications of the McDonaldization of the world." Wendell Bell; Humanity's Common Values Seeking a Positive Future; The Futurist (Washington, DC); Sep/Oct 2004. -------- Date: Fri May 21 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pooh-bah X-Bonus: In words as fashions the same rule will hold,/ Alike fantastic if too new or old;/ Be not the first by whom the new are tried,/ Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. -Alexander Pope, poet (21 May 1688-1744) This week's theme: Eponyms pooh-bah or poo-bah (POO-bah) noun 1. A person who holds a high office or has great influence. 2. A pompous, self-important person. 3. A person holding many offices or positions of power. [After Pooh-Bah, a government official in Gilbert & Sullivan's 1885 operetta "The Mikado". Pooh-Bah holds all the high offices of the state (except Lord High Executioner), including relating to complaints about himself. He is also known as the Lord High Everything Else. Earliest documented use: 1886.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pooh-bah An advertising card for Coats thread, c. 1870-1900 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pooh-bah_large.jpg Image: Boston Public Library https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/9550122050/ "Yeah, yeah. I know every sport has a federation, a long history and a stuffy pooh-bah in charge." Allan Maki; Blog Hits; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Aug 12, 2008. -------- Date: Mon May 24 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chutzpah X-Bonus: Life is like a library owned by an author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. -Harry Emerson Fosdick, preacher and author (24 May 1878-1969) It's a game that sometimes needs a little chutzpah to win. What game am I talking about? Scrabble! The word chutzpah is a full 27 points, not counting any double/triple word/letter scores. There are some high-scoring words that are playable in Scrabble, but by themselves they are not very interesting. Names of drugs like Oxyphenbutazone (41 points) or Oxazepam (28) Should we place tiles in the form of the molecular structures then? Words such as quizzify (41) I'd argufy that we banish such -fy*king words. Words such as za (11) Fine to use them in an informal chat over pizza, but in a game of Scrabble? Is nothing sacred any more? Instead, this week we feature five words that will earn you a high score, words you may want to use outside Scrabble too. chutzpah (KHOOT-spuh, HOOT-) noun, also chutzpa Shameless boldness; brazen nerve; gall. [From Yiddish khutspe, from Late Hebrew huspa. Earliest documented use: 1853.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/chutzpah "'So the place that eschewed masks for months and organized mass rallies and White House superspreader events is going to vaccinate their staffers before we can vaccinate all of our first responders? That's some serious chutzpah,' tweeted Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University." David Jackson; Trump, Pence, Congress, Justices Will Be Offered Vaccine in Coming Days; USA Today; (McLean, Virginia); Dec 15, 2020. "'I wrote, and the House passed, the toughest election security reform bill to date, which then died in the Senate at Mitch McConnell's hands,' Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said in an email. 'It takes a special kind of chutzpah to block every single bill to make our elections more secure and then question the legitimacy of this election.'" Nicole Perlroth; Election Security Experts Push Back Against Trump's Voter Fraud Claims; The New York Times; Nov 17, 2020. -------- Date: Tue May 25 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quixotry X-Bonus: May my silences become more accurate. -Theodore Roethke, poet (25 May 1908-1963) High-scoring words in Scrabble quixotry (KWIK-suh-tree) noun Absurdly chivalrous, idealistic, or impractical ideas or behavior. [After Don Quixote, hero of the eponymous novel by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). Earliest documented use: 1703.] Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on a crossroad https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quixotry_large.jpg Art: Wilhelm Marstrand (1810-1873) "Neither British nor German hesitated at any time to violate the neutrality of Turkish territorial waters, but by the strange quixotry of a tacit gentlemen's agreement, hostilities between passing vessels and planes were almost unknown." Alistair MacLean & Sam LLewellyn; The Complete Navarone; HarperCollins; 2008. https://wordsmith.org/words/gentlemans_agreement.html -------- Date: Wed May 26 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--blowzy X-Bonus: But the fruit that can fall without shaking, / Indeed is too mellow for me. -Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (26 May 1689-1762) High-scoring words in Scrabble blowzy or blousy or blowsy (BLOU-zee) adjective 1. Having a coarsely ruddy complexion. 2. Disheveled. [From English dialect blowze (wench). Earliest documented use: around 1770.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/blowzy "In her somewhat soiled apron and blue print dress, her face flushed and her hands dirty, she looked the honest, blowzy, noisy wench that she probably was." Leo Bruce; Case with No Conclusion; Chicago Review Press; 2014. -------- Date: Thu May 27 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--quincunx X-Bonus: There are those who say to you -- we are rushing this issue of civil rights. I say we are 172 years late. -Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (27 May 1911-1978) High-scoring words in Scrabble quincunx (KWIN-kunks) noun An arrangement of five objects with one at each corner and one at the center. [From Latin quincunx (five twelfths), from quinque (five) + uncia (twelfth part). Earliest documented use: 1606.] NOTES: In ancient Rome, a quincunx was a coin equivalent to five twelfths of the coin known as an "as" or "libra". The coin's value was sometimes represented by five dots, four in corners and one in the middle. The number five on a die is represented by five dots in a quincunx. Saturn V rocket engines https://wordsmith.org/words/images/quincunx_large.jpg Photo: Clemens Vasters / Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn_V_rocket_on_display_at_Kennedy_Space_Center_(2).jpg Also see, five dice arranged in a quincunx (meta!) https://www.flickr.com/photos/allan_saw/5539510166/ "Until 'Ring', the last/third book of Alexis's quincunx arrives, treat 'The Night Piece' as its centre." Bert Archer; 'Always Funny, Mostly Unnerving'; Toronto Star (Canada); Oct 10, 2020. -------- Date: Fri May 28 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--whizbang X-Bonus: Why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair? -Walker Percy, author (28 May 1916-1990) High-scoring words in Scrabble whizbang (WHIZ-bang) noun: 1. Someone or something extraordinarily successful. 2. Someone or something flashy, impressive, technologically innovative, etc. 3. A firework that makes whizzing sounds and loud bangs. adjective: 1. Highly successful or talented. 2. Flashy, impressive, fast-paced, loud, etc. [Of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1881.] NOTES: The term has its origin in the onomatopoeic representation of the sound made by a firearm or firework. It was popularized in WWI as high-speed shells were called whizbangs. It was also the name given to a rocket launcher used by the US Army during WWII. A sign in Foncquevillers, France, advertising a British military Christmas party, Dec 1916 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/whizbang_large.jpg Photo: Lt. Ernest Brooks, British military https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205073391 See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/whizbang "You told me that you have whizbang people in the Devanez family who can read minds and do all kinds of crap." Iris Johansen; The Perfect Witness; St. Martin's; 2014. "It was in fact a touch firmer over bumps -- despite being equipped with the optional whizbang suspension." Joshua Dowling; Mercedes-Benz A-Class Sedan; Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jun 29, 2019. -------- Date: Mon May 31 00:01:02 EDT 2021 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Fort Knox X-Bonus: The poet judges not as a judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing. -Walt Whitman, poet (31 May 1819-1892) We feature words in A.Word.A.Day and readers around the world do things with them. Limericists make limericks, punsters make puns, cartoonists make cartoons, and so on. For this week's words, something different. Can you come up with a joke for one or more words featured this week? To get you started, I have written one for each word. Share your jokes on our website https://wordsmith.org/words/fort_knox.html or email us at words@wordsmith.org by Friday (include your location). Best entries will receive a brick of gold [make it strikethrough], a goldmine of words: a signed copy of any of my books https://wordsmith.org/awad/books.html . And, yes, the theme this week is gold -- each word is related to gold, sometimes obvious, sometimes not. Fort Knox (fort NAHKS) noun 1. An inordinate amount of wealth. 2. A place extraordinarily secure and thus impossible to break into. [After Fort Knox, nickname of the United States Bullion Depository, a vault that houses most of the US government's gold, in Fort Knox, Kentucky.] NOTES: Consider a kilo of gold. That sounds like a lot of the shiny yellow thing. How about a ton, equal to about 1000 kilos? How about 1000 _tons_ of gold? Now we're talking. Fort Knox houses about 4,600 tons of gold. 4,603 tons to be precise, but what's a ton here or there when we're talking about gold? That may sound like a lot, but all that gold is still going to buy you only about one-tenth of Apple *or* Google *or* Microsoft. If you have your GPS handy, you can locate the vault at the intersection of Gold Vault Rd. and Bullion Blvd. in Fort Knox, Kentucky. The map is on the right: https://goo.gl/maps/WbZ281zVv9vs5Kbn6 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/fort_knox.jpg Don't even think about it. "Goldfinger" was fiction and even that didn't end well. For more productive results I recommend launching an online startup. Whatever your idea, please make it into something less detrimental to humanity than Facebook. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/02/20/facebook-republican-shift/ (Permalink https://archive.is/k9cF0) Guess what happens when the vault in Fort Knox overflows? They turn all that extra metal into crayons for nearby elementary schools. https://flickr.com/photos/armydre2008/3395385144/ . JOKE: A man prayed. He prayed and prayed and prayed. God was relaxing on His celestial couch watching the Super Bowl. The man's whiny voice eventually got to Him. He picked up the remote and pressed pause. All the players froze in midair. "What the hell do you want?" God asked. "I want to be surrounded by so much gold, so much gold that I'd look tiny in comparison." This was a big ask, but God was eager to get back to the game. The man turned into a worm and found himself crawling among the pallets of gold inside Fort Knox. He was happy for a few seconds, but then reality set in. He prayed again. "What is it now?" "Thank you so much for granting my wish, but get me out of here, please!" "Man! Do you have any idea where you are? Even I can't get anything out of Fort Knox. How about I make your football team the winner?" Note 1: God does not play favorites. He makes the team that has the most prayers win (fair, don't you think?). How did you think the Steelers won that time? https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/fans-rely-on-god-rituals-to-boost-favorite-team/2014/01/16/4520a47a-7ec7-11e3-97d3-b9925ce2c57b_story.html Note 2: All my jokes this week happen to be related to prayers, but yours don't have to be. Note 3: The best entry will actually be decided by God based on how many prayers He receives for it. "The net result is a Fort Knox of vested-interest cash fighting for fewer and fewer genuinely contestable seats in an increasingly unrepresentative electorate." Peter Hartcher; Democracy Is Fragile. Guard It; Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia); Oct 17, 2020. "Q: Your TV wife, Mandy Moore, recently let it drop that there was a big hot plot twist at the start of Season 4. Can you hint at what we should expect? A: I think I'm a little more of a Fort Knox than Mandy Moore." Kathryn Shattuck; Milo Ventimiglia Finds a Good Guy Lane; The New York Times; Aug 4, 2019.