A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Jul 3 00:01:22 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--scintillescent X-Bonus: The further one grows spiritually, the more and more people one loves and the fewer and fewer people one likes. -Gale D. Webbe, clergyman and author (1909-2000) It's human nature to seek patterns: some find the shapes of elephants in the clouds, the face of Jesus in a piece of burnt tortilla, and spelling coincidences in the names of Kennedy and Lincoln assassins. There's a pattern, too, in this week's words, even if it's not very apparent. Can you find it? If you think you know the answer, email it to wordsATwordsmith.org (replace AT with @). One entry per person, please. The first person to identify it correctly wins an autographed copy of the book "Another Word A Day" by yours truly. Results will be announced in AWADmail this weekend. scintillescent (sint-uh-LES-uhnt) adjective Sparkling or twinkling. [From Latin scintillare (to sparkle), from scintilla (spark).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "She tried to discern his thoughts as they stood in the scintillescent moonlight, the dark forest pressing in on them." Chelsea Quinn Yarbro; A Feast In Exile; Tor Books; 2002. -------- Date: Tue Jul 4 00:01:17 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vetitive X-Bonus: The object of most prayers is to wangle an advance on good intentions. -Robert Brault, software developer, writer (1938- ) This week's theme: yours to discover. vetitive (VET-i-tiv) adjective 1. Relating to a veto. 2. Having the power to forbid. [From Latin vetare (to forbid).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The only case in which our executives have a real vetitive power, is the case of pardon, and most unfortunately it is used in an alarming degree, against the supremacy of the law and the stability of the right -- both essential to civil liberty." Francis Lieber; On Civil Liberty and Self-government; 1853. -------- Date: Wed Jul 5 00:01:16 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rapparee X-Bonus: The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to authority. -Lord Acton, historian (1834-1902) This week's theme: yours to discover. rapparee (rap-uh-REE) noun 1. An Irish guerrilla fighter in the late seventeenth century. 2. Any freebooter or robber. [From Irish rapaire/ropaire (half-pike), since rapparees were known to carry these.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The bloody man, the more than Hun, the sottish rapparee, he will not die." Patrick O'Brian; Master and Commander; Harper Collins; 1970. -------- Date: Thu Jul 6 00:01:17 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bilabial X-Bonus: Religion--freedom--vengeance--what you will, A word's enough to raise mankind to kill. -Lord Byron, poet (1788-1824) This week's theme: yours to discover. bilabial (by-LAY-bee-uhl) adjective Using both lips. noun A bilabial sound or consonant, for example p, b, m, where both lips touch each other, and w in which lips are rounded. [Latin bi- (two) + labial, from labium (lip), ultimately from Indo-European root leb- (lip, to lick) that's also the source of lip, labrose (having thick or large lips), and labret (an ornament worn in a pierced lip).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Bilabial sounds like mamma, papa and baba are probably the easiest for the infant mouth to master." Jack Rosenthal; From Arf to Zap; The New York Times; Jun 30, 1985. -------- Date: Fri Jul 7 00:01:17 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--froufrou X-Bonus: Adulthood is the ever-shrinking period between childhood and old age. It is the apparent aim of modern industrial societies to reduce this period to a minimum. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (1920- ) This week's theme: yours to discover. froufrou (FROO-froo) noun 1. Something fancy, elaborate, and showy. 2. A rustling sound, as of a silk dress. [From French, of imitative origin.] What's common among the five words (scintillescent, vetitive, rapparee, bilabial, froufrou) featured here this week? If you know the answer, send it to wordsATwordsmith.org (replace AT with @). The first person to identify it wins an autographed copy of the book "Another Word A Day". -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Too often I go to some lunch party and am presented with an exquisite froufrou creation when what I long for is the pasta the three-year-old sitting next to me is given." Nigella Lawson; Indulge a Childhood Craving; Calgary Herald (Canada); Aug 23, 2003. -------- Date: Mon Jul 10 00:01:33 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--iris X-Bonus: The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect, and author (1743-1826) Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) writes: The field of ophthalmology has burgeoned over the last decade. New treatments for such blinding eye diseases as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic eye disease have improved the vision of millions of people around the world. The term "miracle of sight" is something that I, as an eye surgeon, am privileged to hear every week, from successful cataract and LASIK eye surgery patients. This week, we will explore words associated with the eye and vision. Interestingly, these words also have non-scientific definitions, which underscores the fact that ophthalmology, which is obviously such a visual science, often borrows words from observations in the real world and associates them with the myriad eye conditions that exist. [This week's guest wordsmith Dr. Vincent de Luise is an ophthalmologist who specializes in cataract and corneal surgery. He practices and lives in Connecticut, and is on the clinical faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine. As a lifelong spelling bee participant, scrabbler, and cruciverbalist, Dr de Luise has long been fascinated by words and sight.] iris (EYE-ris) noun, plural irises, irides 1. The pigmented tissue of the eye in the center of which is the opening called the pupil. 2. A rainbow. 3. A showy, flowering plant. [From Latin iris, from Greek Iris/iris (the goddess of the rainbow, rainbow).] The iris of the eye has been admired and studied for millennia. The Egyptians memorialized beautiful irides in their sculpture, especially pharaohs and queens. Of note is the bust of the 18th dynasty Queen Nefertiti, whose magnificent right lapis lazuli iris insert is still in its eye socket, (though, curiously, her left lapis lazuli insert is missing). There is an alternative medical practice called iridology which purports to identify health and illness from an analysis of the spots on the iris, through the creation of iris charts and iris maps. Peer-review literature does not support its accuracy. The iris constricts with light and dilates in darkness. All of us have hazel or bluish irides at birth. Our final, genetically determined eye color, be it hazel, blue, or brown, will usually declare itself by the end of the first year of life. Other words with the same etymology as iris include iridescent and iridium. "In the meantime, banks are considering using iris scans and even palm scans at ATMs in an effort to cut down on fraud." Jonathan Curiel; The Last Days of Privacy; San Francisco Chronicle; Jun 25, 2006. -------- Date: Tue Jul 11 00:01:18 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vitreous X-Bonus: One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006) This week's theme: words related to the eyes. vitreous (VI-tree-uhs) noun The clear, glassy, sticky inner substance of the eye. adjective Glassy. [From Latin vitreus (made of glass), from vitrum (glass).] The vitreous humor, or vitreous, is the glassy clear sticky material within the eye. Its actual function is still unknown. When the vitreous gel separates from the retina, one can get "floaters and flashes". During some types of retinal surgery, the vitreous is removed (a vitrectomy) and replaced with saline solution, with seemingly no ill effect in most cases. "Vitreous" also means "glassy" in a non-medical sense, from which we get vitrine, vitriol, vitriolic, and vitrescent. -Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) "I stuck my fist in the air and screamed as my eyes exploded and vitreous humour ran down my cheeks and my face melted from their sheer onslaught of power Witch was broadcasting. It was awesome." Francis Joseph Smith; How J. Mascis Melted My Face; Maisonneuve (Montreal, Canada); Jun 16, 2006. -------- Date: Wed Jul 12 00:01:15 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--dendriform X-Bonus: It takes a certain maturity of mind to accept that nature works as steadily in rust as in rose petals. -Esther Warner Dendel, writer and artist (1910-2002) This week's theme: words related to the eyes. dendriform (DEN-druh-form) adjective In the shape of a tree. [From Greek dendron (tree), from which stem dendritic (treelike or tree-branch like) and dendrochronology (the study of a tree's age by counting its rings).] The shape of the herpes simplex virus when it attacks the cornea is dendriform. The herpes simplex virus is not only a cause of the common "cold sore" that one can get on one's lips, but is also an infectious cause of ocular pain and visual loss. When herpes simplex virus attacks the cornea, it can appear in many different ways, the most classical of which is as a "tree-branching" ulcer, which leads to the very visual adjective "dendriform" ulcer. -Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) "The story is classic Garcia Marquez. Its effect is rich. Multi-tentacled. Dendriform." Marie Arana; The Love of His Life; The Washington Post; Nov 6, 2005. -------- Date: Thu Jul 13 00:01:14 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cataract X-Bonus: Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true. -Robert Brault, software developer, writer (1938- ) This week's theme: words related to the eyes. cataract (KAT-uh-rakt) noun 1. A clouding of the naturally occurring crystalline lens. 2. A waterfall. [From Latin cataracta (waterfall, portcullis), from Greek katarahaktes (downpour), from Greek katarassein (down rush), from Greek kata (down) + arassein (to strike). The medical term cataract stems from the sense of portcullis which is a falling gate or covering.] The whitish appearance of onrushing water, cascading down a waterfall, is exactly what a dense cataract looks like through the pupil -- it can be a whitish, sometimes vertically streaked density. The cataract itself, in medical terms, is a clouding of the normally clear crystalline lens. In the 1500s, the term cataract began to be applied to the whitish clouding of dense clouding of the crystalline lens. The lens, along with the cornea, focuses light rays onto the retina, which is how we see. As a cataract develops, our vision progressively blurs and objects become duskier and browner (brunescent) because blue and violet rays are preferentially absorbed by the cataractous lens, leaving largely the murkier reds and browns to pass through. The last works of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), especially his Japanese footbridge paintings and the "House from the Rose Garden" series painted at his home at Giverny, show this brunescent change over time. Monet's right cataract was removed in January, 1923, and works painted after this time show a return of the blues and violets to his artistic palette. In fact, his magisterial "Waterlilies" series of 22 murals (Les Nympheas), finally completed right before his death in 1926 and now spectacularly viewable in the refurbished Orangerie in Paris, show the subtle blues and greens of the lily pads on the ponds. The other definition of cataract is waterfall. The six large waterfalls of the Nile river are usually called the cataracts of the Nile, near one of which was built the Aswan Dam. -Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) "The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep No more shall grief of mine the season wrong; I hear the Echoes through the mountains throng, The Winds come to me from the fields of sleep." William Wordsworth; Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood; 1802. -------- Date: Fri Jul 14 00:01:19 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--spectral X-Bonus: Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957) This week's theme: words related to the eyes. spectral (SPEK-truhl) adjective 1. Pertaining to a light energy spectrum, usually the visible spectrum. 2. Pertaining to a ghost, wraith, or apparition. [From Latin spectrum (appearance), from Latin specere (to look at).] The visible spectrum of light is a range of energy from an incandescent source, measured in wavelengths, from red to violet. That oft-memorized acronymic fellow ROY G BIV reminds us that the colors of the visible spectrum, from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength, are Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - and Violet. To be sure, there is an ultraviolet spectrum and an infrared spectrum, but the visible light that we see, as refracted through a prism, are the colors mentioned in the acronym. The appearance or apparition of a ghost gives us the lay term "spectral" as an adjective describing a wraith or a ghost. One therefore has to wonder: at what wavelength do ghosts reside? -Guest wordsmith Vincent de Luise, MD (eyemusic73ATaol.com) "Josh is an adult gripped by broken women, the memory of his dead mother, the spectral presence of his living-dead father and the oddity of messianic Judaism." Tod Goldberg; A Shipwrecked Life; The Los Angeles Times; Mar 26, 2006. -------- Date: Mon Jul 17 00:01:24 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--yenta X-Bonus: Good prose is like a windowpane. -George Orwell, writer (1903-1950) Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, is reported to have said, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." One wonders how he would have completed, "and Yiddish to..." Yiddish, a language full of wit and charm, embodies a deep appreciation of human behavior in all its colorful manifestations. This week we'll look at a few Yiddishisms that have enriched the English language. Add these words from Yiddish to bring a little tang to your conversation. yenta (YEN-tuh) noun A busybody or a gossip. [From Yiddish yente, originally a female name.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Q. How do you describe what you do? A. I'm a yenta. I can't wait to learn new things. And then to tell people about them." Claudia Dreifus; Latter-Day Mr. Wizard Expounds on the Joy of Science; The New York Times; Apr 4, 2000. -------- Date: Tue Jul 18 00:01:21 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--schmooze X-Bonus: I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826) This week's theme: words from Yiddish. schmooze, schmoose, or schmoos (shmooz) verb intr. To chat, especially in order to gain an advantage or to make a social or business connection with an influential person. noun A gossipy or ingratiating chat. [From Yiddish shmues (chat, gossip), from Hebrew shemuah (reports, rumor).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Of course, there are exclusives in all newspapers that are genuinely a result of hard work by reporters, either through digging or just schmoozing with politicians." Anne Davies; Truth Loses When Only Half the Story Will Do; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jul 3, 2006. -------- Date: Wed Jul 19 00:01:17 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--maven X-Bonus: Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965) This week's theme: words from Yiddish. maven (MAY-vuhn) noun An expert, connoisseur, or enthusiast. [From Yiddish meyvn, from Hebrew mebhin (one who understands).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The panelists are a who's who of television and film mavens." James Adams; TV Networks Can Relax; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Jun 12, 2006. -------- Date: Thu Jul 20 00:01:17 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--schlub X-Bonus: You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone, yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even going and coming. -Emily Carr, artist and writer (1871-1945) This week's theme: words from Yiddish. schlub (shlub) noun, also spelled as zhlub or zhlob A clumsy oaf. [From Yiddish, from Polish zhlob (blockhead, trough, manger).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "This is ... the comedy of the schlub on the barstool who wonders when it all went wrong." Allan Brown; The Joke's Wearing a Bit Thin; The Sunday Times (London, UK); Jun 18, 2006. -------- Date: Fri Jul 21 00:01:36 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--shtick X-Bonus: A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones. -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (1918- ) This week's theme: words from Yiddish. shtick or schtick or schtik (shtik) noun 1. A performer's routine or gimmick. 2. One's special trait, interest, or talent. [From Yiddish shtik (pranks, gimmick, routine, literally piece), from German Stück (piece).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "The trio, whose shtick is to give a 1940s swing treatment to modern hits, do amazing things to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights." Caroline Sullivan; Wireless Festival; The Guardian (London, UK); Jun 26, 2006. -------- Date: Mon Jul 24 00:01:20 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--roscian X-Bonus: The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely. -Lorraine Hansberry, playwright and painter (1930-1965) Eponyms -- AWAD's perennial favorites -- make their appearance once again. There is a reason for their popularity: where else can you a find a whole story in just one word? This week's selection features words named after people famous and infamous, real and fictional, well-known and obscure. Among the folks we'll meet are a Roman actor, an English preacher, a legendary hero, and a Greek god. roscian (ROSH-ee-uhn) adjective Of or related to acting. [After Quintus Roscius Gallus (c.126-62 BCE), a Roman actor famous for his talent in acting.] Roscius was born in slavery but his success on stage won him freedom from the dictator Sulla. He was considered the greatest comic actor and Cicero took elocution lessons from him. Cicero later returned the favor by defending him in a lawsuit and the defense speech survives to this day. In his honor, accomplished actors are sometimes called Roscius. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "I put my hands in my pockets. A folded piece of paper in one of them attracting my attention, I opened it and found it to be the playbill I had received from Joe, relative to the celebrated provincial amateur of Roscian renown." Charles Dickens; Great Expectations; 1861. -------- Date: Tue Jul 25 00:01:21 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--bunyanesque X-Bonus: Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) This week's theme: eponyms. bunyanesque (bun-yuh-NESK) adjective 1. Gigantic; of or relating to the legends of the fictional hero Paul Bunyan. 2. Of or relating to the allegorical style of the author John Bunyan. The first sense of the word alludes to the legendary giant Paul Bunyan. He was a lumberjack and an American folk hero of tall tales. The story goes that the infant Paul was so huge that it took a mustering of storks to deliver him. An example of his ability is a story that when he dragged his axe behind him, he created the Grand Canyon (a near-rhyme for Bunyan). John Bunyan (no relation to Paul Bunyan) was a 17th century English preacher famed for his allegorical novel Pilgrim's Progress. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Once again, a Dominican strongman with a catchy nickname -- Big Papi -- is up against a strapping native strongman of Bunyanesque dimensions -- Thome." Gordon Edes; Ramirez Will Rest During Break; The Boston Globe; Jul 8, 2006. -------- Date: Wed Jul 26 00:01:18 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--adamite X-Bonus: We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) This week's theme: eponyms. adamite (AD-uh-myt) noun 1. A nudist. [After the name of some Christian sects who professed to imitate the first human, Adam, in not wearing any clothes.] 2. A human being. [After Adam, the prototypical human.] 3. A mineral (zinc arsenate hydroxide) usually yellow and green in color. [After mineralogist Gilbert Joseph Adam (1795-1881).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Among the curious assembly in this utopian community were British transcendentalist Charles Lane and his ten-year-old son; Isaac Hecker, who founded the Roman Catholic Paulist Fathers; and an adamite." Laurie Morrow; The Philosopher's Daughter; The World & I (Washington, DC); May 2002. -------- Date: Thu Jul 27 00:01:23 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hermeneutic X-Bonus: The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating. -Pearl S. Buck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1892-1973) This week's theme: eponyms. hermeneutic (hur-muh-NOO-tik, -NYOO-) adjective Interpretive or explanatory. [From Greek hermeneutikos (of interpreting), from hermeneuein (to interpret), from hermeneus (interpreter). After Hermes in Greek mythology, who served as a messenger and herald for other gods, and who himself was the god of eloquence, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Musically, the soundtrack is a trashy genre-fest that provokes a kind of hermeneutic overload. Is it for a horror film, a B-grade sci-fi, a masterpiece of Soviet cinema? Or a kung-fu flick, a western, or a gangster movie?" Cameron Woodhead; The Session; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Jun 19, 2006. -------- Date: Fri Jul 28 00:01:18 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--galen X-Bonus: The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955) This week's theme: eponyms. galen (GAY-luhn) noun A physician. [After Galen, a famous Greek physician in the 2nd century. He pioneered the study of anatomy and wrote extensively about his findings.] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "I need a Galen for my fermenting mind seeking the vintner." Raficq Abdulla; Words of Paradise: Selected Poems of Rumi; Frances Lincoln Ltd; 2000. -------- Date: Mon Jul 31 00:01:20 EDT 2006 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ensorcell X-Bonus: There is a tragic clash between Truth and the world. Pure undistorted truth burns up the world. -Nikolai Berdyaev, philosopher (1874-1948) Verbs are special words. They describe action. Nothing would ever get done if it were not for the verbs. Look at a sentence on your screen or on paper -- it just lies there listless, a mere collection of random words until a verb comes to infuse life into it. This week we'll feature five unusual verbs - words for a few things you most likely don't do every day. ensorcell (en-SOR-suhl) verb tr. To bewitch; to enchant. [From Middle French ensorceler, from Old French ensorcerer, from en- + -sorcerer, from Old French sorcier, from Vulgar Latin sortiarius, from Latin sort-, stem of sors (lot, fate).] -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Pritchett is determined to beguile, even to ensorcell his reader." Richard Howard; V.S. Pritchett: The Seduction Of Criticism; The Washington Post; Jun 14, 1992.