A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Mon Aug 3 00:07:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--iron-hearted X-Bonus: What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. -P.D. James, novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014) The heart is the seat of emotions. That's what people in earlier times believed and that's how languages have grown to have terms such as sweetheart, cruel-hearted, dishearten, heartbreak, and more. The heart is an important part, but it takes a whole bunch of parts to make a body run. This week, I have collected words derived from various body parts, both internal and external. These words are nowadays used metaphorically to describe someone. Can you think of a person for each of these words? For extra credit, identify one person to whom all these words would apply. iron-hearted (EYE-uhrn-har-tid) adjective Cruel; unfeeling. [From iron, from Old English iren + heart, from Old English heorte. Earliest documented use: 1570.] https://wordsmith.org/words/images/iron-hearted_large.jpg Photo: Kanisis / Dreamstime.com "the steely Gullah slave who was his grey-eyed great-great-great-grandmother survived endless snares to savor a life, scot-free of iron-hearted masters, harsh shouts, & malarial fields." Cyrus Cassells; Praise Song; African American Review (St Louis, Missouri); Fall 2015. -------- Date: Tue Aug 4 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pugnacious X-Bonus: Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren't for those who don't look like us or don't sound like us or don't pray like we do, that's an old playbook. It's as old as time. And in a healthy democracy it doesn't work. Our antibodies kick in, and people of goodwill from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fearmongers, and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature. -Barack Obama, 44th US President (b. 4 Aug 1961) This week's theme: Words derived from body parts pugnacious (puhg-NAY-shuhs) adjective Having a quarrelsome nature; belligerent. [From Latin pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick) which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, oppugn https://wordsmith.org/words/oppugn.html , repugn https://wordsmith.org/words/repugn.html , impugn https://wordsmith.org/words/impugn.html , pugilist https://wordsmith.org/words/pugilist.html , and repugnant https://wordsmith.org/words/repugnant.html . Earliest documented use: 1642.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/pugnacious https://wordsmith.org/words/images/pugnacious_large.jpg Photo: Apionid https://www.flickr.com/photos/apionid/24010731305/ "Sean Hannity, the pugnacious Fox host whose tough-guy persona attracted a passionate right-wing audience." Julian E. Zelizer; Burning Down the House; Penguin; 2020. -------- Date: Wed Aug 5 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ithyphallic X-Bonus: Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (5 Aug 1850-1893) This week's theme: Words derived from body parts ithyphallic (ith-uh-FAL-ik) adjective 1. Lewd or salacious. 2. Having an erect phallus. [From Latin ithyphallicus, from Greek ithyphallikos, from ithyphallos, from ithys (straight) + phallos (phallus). Earliest documented use: 1795.] Anthurium flower: https://wordsmith.org/words/images/ithyphallic_large.jpg Photo: Derek Ramsey / Wikimedia "All you have to do is say how totally upright, in the non-ithyphallic sense, your admirable ex has always been." Frederic Raphael; Fame and Fortune; JR Books; 2007. -------- Date: Thu Aug 6 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--chicken-livered X-Bonus: One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically, with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the needs and sufferings of the underprivileged. -Richard Hofstadter, historian (6 Aug 1916-1970) This week's theme: Words derived from body parts chicken-livered (CHIK-en-LIV-uhrd) adjective Cowardly; easily frightened. [The word chicken has traditionally been used to describe a coward. Also, earlier people believed that the liver was the seat of courage. But chicken-livered or chicken-hearted, it's all the same. Earliest documented use: 1616.] NOTES: The English language hasn't been very kind to the domestic fowl. Some similar terms are chicken hawk https://wordsmith.org/words/chicken_hawk.html and Chicken Little https://wordsmith.org/words/chicken_little.html . Also see lily-livered https://wordsmith.org/words/lily-livered.html and white-livered https://wordsmith.org/words/white-livered.html . https://wordsmith.org/words/images/chicken-livered_large.jpg Image: https://www.memesmonkey.com/topic/chicken+farmer#&gid=1&pid=4 "Hadn't I told her that he was no better'n a chicken-livered traitor?" Theresa Nelson; The Year We Sailed the Sun; Atheneum; 2015. -------- Date: Fri Aug 7 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--hysteric X-Bonus: Those who believe without reason cannot be convinced by reason. -James Randi, magician and skeptic (b. 7 Aug 1928) This week's theme: Words derived from body parts hysteric (his-TER-ik) adjective: Exhibiting an uncontrolled or overly emotional state, volatility, attention-seeking behavior, etc. noun: An overly emotional or unstable person. [Via Latin from Greek hystera (uterus), from the former belief that disturbances in the uterus resulted in such behavior. Earliest documented use: 1652.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/hysteric https://wordsmith.org/words/images/hysteric.jpg https://wordsmith.org/words/images/hysteric_large.mp4 Video: Time https://twitter.com/TIME/status/786547825517666304 "And they say, you know what, he is hysteric. He is the nut." General Wesley Clark Says Petraeus Is Right Man for Afghanistan; Analyst Wire; Jun 25, 2010. "[Her] father is suddenly transformed into a stranger -- a hostile hysteric who's lost all contact with the here and now." Sandra Hall; Strong McConville Gives Drama Punch; Sun Herald (Sydney, Australia); Mar 8, 2020. -------- Date: Mon Aug 10 00:45:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Jim Crow X-Bonus: The President is not only the leader of a party, he is the President of the whole people. He must interpret the conscience of America. He must guide his conduct by the idealism of our people. -Herbert Hoover, 31st US President (10 Aug 1874-1964) In 1991, when I came to America to study computer science in graduate school, I shared an apartment in Cleveland, Ohio, in an area known as Little Italy. This neighborhood was filled with restaurants and art galleries. A couple of times a year they held art fests and closed the roads to traffic so people could walk around and enjoy. One evening as I was returning from school, I happened to be driving and discovered that Little Italy roads were closed except for the people who lived there. A police car was at the entrance to the area. I stopped, rolled down the window, and the police officer asked me for my driver's license. I handed him the license, he confirmed that my address showed that I lived in the area, and waved me in. As he returned my license he said, "Thank you, sir." Sir? I was basically a kid and here this police officer was talking to me with such respect. I was impressed with American police. My illusion did not last long. Just a few months later Rodney King happened. In spring 1991, Los Angeles police beat Rodney King, a Black man, so badly that they broke many of his bones. They were tried and a year later found not guilty. If someone had beaten a dog so badly, they'd have been put behind bars for many years, but this was a Black man, so the verdict was: Not Guilty. That's when I realized that there's not one America. There's a separate America for Black people. I learned that little kids in Black homes have to be given "the talk". A talk on how to behave when stopped by police because one false move could mean death. Parents have to give the talk because Black people are stopped disproportionately. https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/08/having-talk-how-families-prepare-black-children-police-interactions Slavery remains a horrific mark on America's conscience, but far from atoning for it, we continue our history of injustice to Black people in other forms. If you think it's nothing, maybe walk in a Black person's shoes for a day. Talk with them about what their day-to-day life is like, being asked to show ID while mowing the lawn in front of their own house, having 911 called for strolling in a park, having unarmed people shot, having little kids shot. What can you do? Here are some suggestions: Watch the documenatry "13th". The title refers to the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution that outlawed slavery. It was passed in 1865, but we found another way to enslave people. We, in America, are #1 in many ways, including putting people in prisons. One fourth of the prison population in the world is in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8 Read "The 1619 Project" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html Learn more about US history, the real history, not the whitewashed version, starting with this episode from Last Week Tonight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsxukOPEdgg Read the book "The New Jim Crow" https://amazon.com/dp/1620971933/ws00-20 about how we put millions of Black people in prisons. And most importantly, speak up! When you see an injustice, write, talk, and go out and protest. As the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox once said, "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." Also see the words of rabbi and activist Joachim Prinz http://www.joachimprinz.com/civilrights.htm . This week we'll feature five characters related to slavery who have become words in the English language. Jim Crow or jim crow (jim kroh) noun The systematic practice of discriminating against Black people. [From Jim Crow, the name of a Black character in a 19th-century minstrel show. Earliest documented use: 1832.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Jim%20Crow "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" https://wordsmith.org/words/images/jim_crow.jpg https://amazon.com/dp/1620971933/ws00-20 "As droves of Black Americans fled the violence of Jim Crow, Canada’s government and residents organized to refuse you entry and even deport those fortunate enough to clear the bureaucratic obstacles." Andray Domise; Canada's Own Legacy of Oppression; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Jul 2020. -------- Date: Tue Aug 11 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Simon Legree X-Bonus: The hands that help are better far / Than lips that pray. / Love is the ever gleaming star / That leads the way, / That shines, not on vague worlds of bliss, / But on a paradise in this. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (11 Aug 1833-1899) This week's theme: Characters related to slavery who have become words in the English language Simon Legree (SY-muhn li-GREE) noun A harsh taskmaster. [After Simon Legree, a brutal slaveholder in the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896). Simon Legree has Uncle Tom, an enslaved man, whipped to death for refusing to divulge the whereabouts of two enslaved women who had escaped to freedom. Earliest documented use: 1857.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Simon%20Legree Gordon, an enslaved man, who received these scars as a result of beating by his enslavers. He later served in the Union Army. https://wordsmith.org/words/images/gordon_slave_large.jpg Photo dated April 2, 1863, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Photo: McPherson & Oliver / Wikimedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_(slave)#/media/File:Scourged_back_by_McPherson_&_Oliver,_1863,_retouched.jpg "The Simon Legree of the plot was Brahms, who routinely dumped on any young composer rash enough to seek his imprimatur." Don O'Connor; Bruckner & Rott: Quartets; American Record Guide (Washington, DC); Jul/Aug 2012. -------- Date: Wed Aug 12 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Uncle Tom X-Bonus: If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams -- the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (12 Aug 1774-1843) This week's theme: Characters related to slavery who have become words in the English language Uncle Tom (UHNG-kuhl tom) noun A person who is regarded as betraying their cultural allegiance by being subservient to another. [After Uncle Tom, an enslaved man in the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-96). Earliest documented use: 1852.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Uncle%20Tom "Uncle Tom and Little Eva", 1866 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/uncle_tom_large.jpg Art: Edwin Longsden Long https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin#/media/File:Edwin_Longsden_Long_-_Uncle_Tom_and_Little_Eva.JPG NOTES: The term is considered disparaging and offensive, especially when applied to a Black person seen as being subservient to White people. In the book, Uncle Tom is a heroic figure. For example, he disobeys the orders to beat other enslaved people. In minstrel shows he was depicted as a passive figure and that image has taken root in the language. "Fuming that he had been racially profiled, pulled from his car at gunpoint on his way to a team practice in Detroit, Russell proceeded to beat on white teammates until Reed intervened, asking, 'What the hell are you doing?' 'Be quiet, Uncle Tom,' Russell snapped at his captain." Harvey Araton; The Old Knicks Made Basketball Games the 'Hippest Place' in New York; The New York Times; May 8, 2020. -------- Date: Thu Aug 13 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--topsy X-Bonus: Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. -Alfred Hitchcock, film-maker (13 Aug 1899-1980) This week's theme: Characters related to slavery who have become words in the English language topsy (TOP-see) noun Something growing without intention or direction. [After Topsy, a young enslaved girl, in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Earliest documented use: 1885.] NOTES: Topsy, a young girl, is purchased by the slaveholder Augustine and she becomes friends with his daughter Eva. When Eva asks Topsy who made her, she replies, "Nobody, as I knows on. I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." The cute reply became popular in the English language to refer to an unplanned or an enormous growth. Topsy & Eva https://wordsmith.org/words/images/topsy_large.jpg Illustration: Louise Corbaux, 1852 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin#/media/File:Eva_and_Topsy_-_Louisa_Corbaux_delt._et_lith._LCCN94505407.jpg "The securities lending business had grown like topsy without any proper supervision, ballooning to as much as $2 billion." Ben Butler; Fast Cars, Big Houses, Hot Money; The Australian (Canberra); Sep 13, 2018. "But [Channel 4 is] also that uniquely British thing: a hodge podge that works, an institution you couldn't invent because, somehow, it's just grown. Topsy TV." Peter Preston; If Channel 4 Didn't Exist, You Couldn't Invent It; The Independent (London, UK); May 10, 2016. -------- Date: Fri Aug 14 00:18:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Aunt Tom X-Bonus: The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy. -John Galsworthy, author, Nobel laureate (14 Aug 1867-1933) This week's theme: Characters related to slavery who have become words in the English language Aunt Tom (ant tom) noun A woman considered to be a traitor to a cause. [Coined as a feminine version of Uncle Tom https://wordsmith.org/words/uncle_tom.html . Earliest documented use: 1956.] NOTES: There's no such character as Aunt Tom in the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Uncle Tom's wife is actually named Chloe. The term Aunt Jemima is also used sometimes as a synonym for Aunt Tom. The term could be derogatory and offensive, applied to a Black woman who is seen as servile to White people. "When [Phyllis] Schlafly suggested the reason there were so few women in Congress was that they weren’t willing to do the work to win elections and were more interested in having babies, [Betty] Friedan fired back by calling her 'a traitor to your sex, an Aunt Tom'." Meredith Blake; How Accurate Is 'Mrs. America's' Depiction of Betty Friedan? We Checked; Los Angeles Times; Apr 24, 2020. -------- Date: Mon Aug 17 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--zoonosis X-Bonus: I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized. -Davy Crockett, frontiersman, soldier, and politician (17 Aug 1786-1836) These are times that show that the tiniest can bring the mightiest to their knees. It doesn't go away if you pretend it's gone. It's something you can't scare with bluster. This is one thing you can't kill with guns. Some of the biggest threats can only be contained if we all work together. At any time, and especially in these strange times, let's follow the advice of experts in medicine and epidemiology, people who have dedicated their lives to helping people live and live better. The epidemic... this too shall pass, as the saying goes, but to make that happen let's cooperate: wear our masks. It's the least we can do. zoonosis (zo-AHN-uh-sis, zo-uh-NOH-sis) noun Any disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. [From Greek zoo- (animal) + nosos (disease). Earliest documented use: 1873.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/zoonosis Pandemics transmitted by eating animals https://wordsmith.org/words/images/zoonosis_large.jpg Infographic: Fangpila / Wikimedia Commons NOTES: It's too late now. The COVID-19 has already jumped from animals to humans. Let's not make it jump from humans to humans. So, let's wear a mask when in a public place. "Disease control had been studied there since the founding ... various zoonoses, like the Marburg virus, that move from monkey to human." Karen Joy Fowler; We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves; Penguin; 2013. -------- Date: Tue Aug 18 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--fomites X-Bonus: I've never been married, but I tell people I'm divorced so they won't think something's wrong with me. -Elayne Boosler, comedian (b. 18 Aug 1952) This week's theme: This pandemic in five words fomites (FOM-uh-teez, FOH-myts) noun Any inanimate object, such as a book, money, a carpet, etc., that can transmit germs from one person to another. [From Latin fomites, plural of fomes (touchwood, tinder), from fovere (to warm). Earliest documented use: 1803.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/fomites The word fomites is a plural of fomes, but the s at the end of the word led people to assume it's a plural of fomite and coin a new singular: fomite (FOH-myt). Some would say that the back-formation fomite is in error, but many words are formed from similar mistaken assumptions: cherry, from the already singular cherise, pea from the already singular pease, for example. The word fomites is often used as a singular nowadays, similar to other technically plural words such as agenda or errata. All this should be the least of our worries right now. Don't be a walking fomites. Wear your mask when away from home. "Fomites were recognized back in 1763 when the British military sent blankets that were infested with smallpox to Indians, who contracted the disease from the blankets, many dying from the ensuing epidemic." Frederick Ross; A Deadly Thaw; FriesenPress; 2018. -------- Date: Wed Aug 19 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--asymptomatic X-Bonus: I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it. -Ogden Nash, poet (19 Aug 1902-1971) This week's theme: This pandemic in five words asymptomatic (ay-simp-tuh-MAT-ik) adjective Not showing any symptoms of disease. [From a- (not) + Latin symptoma (symptom), from Greek symptoma (occurrence), from sym- (together) + piptein (to fall). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us appetite, feather, petition, compete, perpetual, propitious https://wordsmith.org/words/propitious.html , appetence https://wordsmith.org/words/appetence.html , lepidopterology https://wordsmith.org/words/lepidopterology.html , peripeteia https://wordsmith.org/words/peripeteia.html , pinnate https://wordsmith.org/words/pinnate.html , petulant https://wordsmith.org/words/petulant.html , and pteridology https://wordsmith.org/words/pteridology.html . Earliest documented use: 1932.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/asymptomatic https://wordsmith.org/words/images/asymptomatic_large.jpg Image: Marcel Salathé / Nicky Case https://twitter.com/ncasenmare/status/1242507365666209796 NOTES: If you're asymptomatic you don't show any symptoms, but it's still possible you are infected and can transmit the infection to others. That's why it's important to wear a mask. "Greg is standing somewhat apart from the crowd. He tested positive for the disease earlier this week, and though he's asymptomatic he's come to observe the people he will soon be forced to join." Tony Burgess; The Bewdley Mayhem; ECW Press; 2014. -------- Date: Thu Aug 20 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Typhoid Mary X-Bonus: If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed, and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon. -George D. Aiken, US senator (20 Aug 1892-1984) This week's theme: This pandemic in five words Typhoid Mary (TY-foid MAIR-ee) noun A person from whom a disease or something undesirable spreads. [After Mary Mallon (1869-1938), a cook in New York, who was a healthy carrier (contagious but showing no symptoms https://wordsmith.org/words/asymptomatic.html) of typhoid. She died of pneumonia. Earliest documented use: 1909.] Mary Mallon (left) quarantined in a hospital http://wordsmith.org/words/images/typhoid_mary_large.jpg . Photo: Wikimedia Commons Read/watch more about Typhoid Mary on PBS Nova: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/typhoid/ . See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/Typhoid%20Mary NOTES: One Typhoid Mary is enough in the history of humankind. Don't let yourself be the new Typhoid Mary. Wear your mask when out and about. "I walked out of the ward wearing the surgical mask and kept it on for forty-eight hours to avoid becoming Typhoid Mary." Kenneth Schneyer; Life of the Author Plus Seventy; Analog Science Fiction & Fact (New York); Sep 2013. "Insomnia is a global pandemic whose Typhoid Mary was Thomas Edison, forcing fake sunlight into hours when ancient biology demands shut-eye." Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep; The Scientist (Midland, Canada); Sep 2012. "One memorable time I'd actually shown up on my first day to find that the company had declared bankruptcy that morning. More than one person had suggested I was the Typhoid Mary of high tech." Margaret Dumas; The Balance Thing; HarperCollins; 2010. "She wasn't going to sit home on prom night the way she'd been doing so much lately. You'd think she was Typhoid Mary when it came to dates. So she wore her black strapless dress to the party and tried to pretend she was having a great time in the gymnasium." Ruth Jean Dale; Shane's Last Stand; Harlequin; 2013. -------- Date: Fri Aug 21 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vaccinate X-Bonus: There can be a new tomorrow / There can be a brighter day / There can be a new tomorrow / Love will find a way. -Jackie DeShannon, singer-songwriter (b. 21 Aug 1941) This week's theme: This pandemic in five words vaccinate (VAK-si-nayt) verb tr., intr. 1. To administer a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease. 2. To immunize against something. [From Latin vacca (cow), because in the beginning the cowpox virus was used against smallpox. Earliest documented use: 1803.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/vaccinate NOTES: Don't vacillate when it's time to vaccinate. But until a COVID-19 vaccine appears, do the next best thing: wear your mask, please. Don't be a covidiot. "The Cow-Pock--or--the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!" (1802) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/vaccinate_large.jpg A caricature showing the fear that being vaccinated would make them sprout cowlike appendages Cartoon: James Gillray https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#/media/File:The_cow_pock.jpg "'You're right. Laura and I are taking it slowly, that's all. She's come as a surprise to me.' 'Because you thought you'd vaccinated yourself against getting serious,' his father said sardonically." Janice Kay Johnson; To Love a Cop; Harlequin; 2015. -------- Date: Mon Aug 24 00:01:04 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cliticize X-Bonus: To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god. -Jorge Luis Borges, writer (24 Aug 1899-1986) A couple of years ago, a picture had been making the rounds of the Internet: "Kansas City welcomes 25 million visitors anally." https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/travel/kansas-city-tourism-poster-with-very-unfortunate-mistake-becomes-butt-of-jokes-on-twitter/news-story/24cccd3bb35b38156378d0312496a0a2 You'd think that when they print such a large sign they'd look at it a little more closely, and you'd be right. The picture was doctored. If you come across any of this week's words in the wild you might think they are fake -- someone made a typo or purposely misspelled the word -- but that's not it. Each of these words, like any word we feature, is a bona fide part of the language, and has earned a place in the dictionary. cliticize (KLIT-uh-syz) verb tr., intr. To attach or become attached. [From clitic (an unstressed word that occurs in combination with another word), from enclitic/proclitic, from klinein (to lean), from klitos (slope). Ultimately from the Indo-European root klei- (to lean), which also gave us decline, incline, recline, lean, client, climax, ladder, heteroclite https://wordsmith.org/words/heteroclite.html , and patrocliny https://wordsmith.org/words/patrocliny.html . Earliest documented use: 1970s.] NOTES: In linguistics, to cliticize is to attach a clitic to another word. What's a clitic? An unstressed linguistic element that can't exist on its own and is dependent on its neighbor. An example in the previous sentence is "'t" in "can't". "Say anything to me and I see her face; her name and image have been cliticized, in my mind as necessary adjuncts of life, birth, breath." John McManus; Stop Breakin Down; Picador; 2000. -------- Date: Tue Aug 25 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--ordonnance X-Bonus: Bullets cannot be recalled. They cannot be uninvented. But they can be taken out of the gun. -Martin Amis, novelist (b. 25 Aug 1949) This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings ordonnance (OR-dn-uhns, or-duh-NAHNS) noun The systematic arrangement of parts in art, literature, architecture, etc. [From French, from alteration of Old French ordenance (order), from Latin ordinantia, from ordinare (to put in order), from ordo (order). Earliest documented use: 1660.] NOTES: The same Old French ordenance has also given us two more cousins of today's word. So the whole lineup is: ordnance: military supplies ordinance: an order, decree, law, etc. ordonnance: a systematic arrangement I say we go back to communicating in grunts. "[Bishop Lancelot] Andrewes takes a word and derives the world from it; squeezing and squeezing the word until it yields a full juice of meaning which we should never have supposed any word to possess. In this process the qualities which we have mentioned, of ordonnance and precision, are exercised." William H. Pritchard; The Prose Eliot; The Hudson Review (New York); Spring 2015. -------- Date: Wed Aug 26 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--settlor X-Bonus: In the new version of the law of supply and demand, jobs are so cheap -- as measured by the pay -- that a worker is encouraged to take on as many of them as she possibly can. -Barbara Ehrenreich, journalist and author (b. 26 Aug 1941) This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings settlor (SET-luhr/lohr) noun One who makes a settlement of property. [From alteration of settler, from settle, from Old English setlan (to seat or place). Earliest documented use: 1818.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/settlor "The settlor was one of Oliver's personal clients, and it was Oliver who advised him to make the settlement and did all the arrangements." Sarah Caudwell; The Sirens Sang of Murder; Collins; 1989. -------- Date: Thu Aug 27 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exorcise X-Bonus: When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. -William Least Heat-Moon, travel writer (b. 27 Aug 1939) This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings exorcise (EK-sor/suhr-syz) verb tr. To drive out something or someone undesirable, such as an evil spirit, malign influence, troubling feeling, etc. [From Old French exorciser, from Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein (to swear a person), from ex- (out) + horkizein (to make one swear), from horkos (oath). Earliest documented use: 1546.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/exorcise St. Francis Borgia exorcising https://wordsmith.org/words/images/exorcise_large.jpg Art: Goya, c. 1788 "And voters have a White House to exorcise." Brian Dickerson; Donald Trump Suggests November Election Isn't Safe -- But He's the One in Trouble; Detroit Free Press; Jul 30, 2020. "Chewing on her lower lip, she knew somehow, she had to exorcise her feelings for the young man before he took up permanent residence in her heart." Lizzie Starr; Keltic Design; Elizabeth Struble; 2016. -------- Date: Fri Aug 28 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--equipollent X-Bonus: If only the sun-drenched celebrities are being noticed and worshiped, then our children are going to have a tough time seeing the value in the shadows, where the thinkers, probers and, scientists are keeping society together. -Rita Dove, poet (b. 28 Aug 1952) This week's theme: Words that appear to be misspellings equipollent (ee-kwuh-PAH-luhnt) adjective Equal in power, force, effect, etc. [From Old French equipolent, from Latin aequipollens (of equal value), from aequus (equal) + pollens (able), present participle of pollere (to be strong). Earliest documented use: 1420.] "[Sebright] locked gazes with Neale in a silent, furious battle of equipollent wills." Michael P. Kube-McDowell; Enigma; Berkley Books; 1986. -------- Date: Mon Aug 31 00:01:03 EDT 2020 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--wheel horse X-Bonus: The fingers of your thoughts are molding your face ceaselessly. -Charles Reznikoff, poet (31 Aug 1894-1976) What do you call a horse who says no to riding? A neigh-sayer. Horses have been a hardworking part of our lives over the years. As a result, they have left their hoof marks all over the language. From putting the cart before the horse (doing something in the wrong order) to backing the wrong horse (losing candidate), the English language has dozens of words, phrases, and idioms that employ horses metaphorically. I say that's the best way to put horses to work, by letting them serve us metaphorically in the language. We don't have to ride on their backs any more. This week we have picked five terms with horses in their origins, some obvious, some not. Now we're champing at the bit* -- can't wait to share them with you. *If you're champing at the bit, you're eager to get started or you're being impatient at something. "To champ at the bit" is the original (since 1885), but "chomping at the bit" (1937) is more common these days. The word "chomp" (1645) is an alteration of the original "champ" (1530). Whether you champ at the bit or chomp, it's fine either way, though they say patience is a virtue. wheel horse (HWEEL hors) noun 1. Someone responsible and diligent, especially one who bears the biggest share of burden in a group. 2. A horse harnessed closest to the front wheel(s) of a carriage. [From wheel, from Old English hweol + horse, from Old English hors. Earliest documented use: 1708.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/wheel%20horse Wheel horses, in dark coats https://wordsmith.org/words/images/wheel_horse_large.jpg Art: John Cameron, 1887 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-in-hand_(carriage)#/media/File:%22Four_in_hand%22_LCCN2001699185.tif "Germany is widely viewed as the economic wheel horse of the EU and, in that sense, is on the hook." Greece's Turmoil: Wall Street's Role in the Crisis Should Be Revealed; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania); Mar 4, 2010. "[Chris Pronger] is the wheel horse of a defensive side that smothers high-flying offences." David Shoalts; Immovable Net-Front Object, Meet Irresistible Blueline Force; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 28, 2010.