A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Thu Nov 1 00:01:28 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--limpid X-Bonus: We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies? -Edward Young, poet (1683-1765) limpid (LIM-pid) adjective 1. Clear; transparent. 2. Easily comprehensible; clear. 3. Calm; serene. [From Latin limpidus (clear).] "In her limpid, elastic prose the business of creating photographs is turned into poetry." Books and Arts: A Lot on Her Plate, The Economist (London), May 5, 2001. This week's theme: red-herring words. -------- Date: Fri Nov 2 00:01:39 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--sexcentenary X-Bonus: Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (1928- ) sexcentenary (seks-sen-TEN-uh-ree) adjective Relating to the number 600 or a period of 600 years. noun A 600th anniversary. [From Latin sex (six) + centenary (a period of 100 year), from centenarius.] "These essays from a Cambridge conference held on the sexcentenary of the Lollard Twelve Conclusions (1395) explore questions that have arisen ...." William B Robison, Lollardy And the Gentry in the Later Middle Ages, Historian, a Journal of History (Allentown), Fall 1999. This week's theme: red-herring words. -------- Date: Mon Nov 5 00:01:47 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--eminence grise X-Bonus: With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. -Chinese proverb eminence grise (ay-mee-nahns GREEZ) noun, also, gray eminence plural eminences grises (ay-mee-nahns GREEZ) One who wields unofficial power, often secretly, through someone else. [From French éminence grise, literally gray eminence.] "Vladimiro Montesinos, Peru's former spy chief, was arrested in Venezuela and deported to Lima to face charges of arms- and drug-dealing, embezzlement, directing death-squads and money-laundering. Mr Montesinos was the eminence grise behind President Alberto Fujimori, who was forced to resign last year." News Summaries: Politics This Week, The Economist (London), Jun 30, 2001. Clothes Make the Man. So goes an old saying. While we know it is what is inside that really counts, there is a grain of truth in the statement. And in many cases, it is the distinctive clothes that turn out to be defining marks of some. We all are familiar with redcoats (British soldiers) and blue stockings (women with intellectual interests). Today's term provides another example where clothes are used as a symbol for a particular type of people. Francois Leclerc du Tremblay, aka Pére Joseph (1577-1638) was a French monk and secretary of Cardinal Richelieu. However, the monk was more than just a secretary. He was the Cardinal's confidant who governed the diplomatic negotiations on his behalf and encouraged French participation against Protestant forces in the Thirty Years' War. The Cardinal wore a red habit and was known as Eminence Rouge. The monk, on the other hand, went with a gray shade, and accordingly, his title became synonymous with people exercising unofficial influence. It is easy to find people in many organizations who would precisely fit today's term. Can you think of someone from modern times who would qualify for this epithet? Hint: think of top political figures in the US. And meanwhile in this week's AWAD enjoy other words to describe people. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 6 00:01:19 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cunctator X-Bonus: Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purpose is beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. -Louis Dembitz Brandeis, lawyer, judge, and writer (1856-1941) cunctator (kungk-TAY-tuhr) noun One who hesitates; a procrastinator or delayer. [From Latin cunctari (to hesitate, delay).] "No cunctator, he quickly provided his wife with the surefire ammunition to divorce him -- adultery." Richard Kepler Brunner, With Marriage Penalty, It Can Pay to Get Divorced, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), Oct 3, 1999. This week's theme: words to describe people. -------- Date: Wed Nov 7 00:02:51 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--neophyte X-Bonus: Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. -Leonardo Da Vinci, painter, engineer, musician, and scientist (1452-1519) neophyte (NEE-uh-fyt) noun 1. A beginner; novice. 2. A new convert to a belief. [From Middle English, from Late Latin neophytus, from Greek neophytos (newly planted), from phyein (to plant).] "The work of published writers and neophytes alike can be found at the Dimsum site, in part because it attracts people with such a wide range of experience." Maureen Pao, Virtual Workshop, Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong), Dec 30, 1999. This week's theme: words to describe people. -------- Date: Thu Nov 8 00:01:27 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--faineant X-Bonus: Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things within that enormous immensity. -Wernher von Braun, rocket engineer (1912-1977) faineant (FAY-nee-uhnt, French: fay-nay-AHN) adjective Idle. noun A do-nothing; idler. [From French, alteration of fait-néant (literally, does nothing), by folk etymology from faignant, present participle of faindre (to feign).] "Moved in equal parts by ambition, restlessness, and an impulse to do good, he has filled any and all roles abdicated by the faineant previous rectors." Jim Mora, Away With All This Bavardage, Sunday Star-Times (Auckland, New Zealand), Oct 11, 1998. This week's theme: words to describe people. -------- Date: Fri Nov 9 00:01:31 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--shirty X-Bonus: Often you must turn your stylus to erase, if you hope to write anything worth a second reading. -Horace, poet and satirist (65-8 BCE) shirty (SHUHR-tee) adjective Bad-tempered, irritable. [From the expression "to get someone's shirt out" to annoy or to lose temper.] "We can appreciate why Lukie Muhlemann is a little agitated and shirty, but he should remember that CSFB is essentially a law unto itself." Ian Kerr, A Week in the Markets, Euroweek (London), Jan 26, 2001. This week's theme: words to describe people. -------- Date: Mon Nov 12 04:01:27 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--osculate X-Bonus: When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me? -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592) osculate (OS-kyuh-layt) verb tr. 1. To kiss. 2. Mathematics: (For a curve) to touch another curve in such a way that they have same tangent and curvature at the common point. verb intr. To touch or to bring together. [From Latin osculatus, the past participle of osculari, from osculum (kiss; literally, little mouth), diminutive form of os (mouth).] "So, the next time you do some osculating, remember a kiss is not just a kiss, it's some kind of psychological compulsion. A sigh, however, is just a sigh." A Kiss is Never Just a Kiss, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, Jan 26, 1993. "... Julia sets, basins of attraction ..., osculating systems. There is such an amazing amount of creation from just some numbers, some lines, some dots. Math and Science for Girls, Contemporary Women's Issues Database, Jan 1, 1993. What do the shape of a sea shell, Mozart's sonatas, arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, and paintings by the masters have in common? It is a little fraction with the value 1.61803..., known as the golden mean. Who said math (or, as many subscribers know it, maths) was only for mathematicians, and who claimed math was dry? This week's selection features five words from the vocabulary of math where numbers can be irrational, transcendental, surreal, imaginary, and every other shade in between. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 13 00:02:31 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--singularity X-Bonus: Language is not neutral. It is not merely a vehicle which carries ideas. It is itself a shaper of ideas. -Dale Spender, writer (1943- ) singularity (sing-gyuh-LAR-i-tee) noun 1. Something that is distinctive, unusual, or remarkable. 2. A unique quality. 3. Mathematics: A point at which a complex function is undefined, one where no derivative exists but the neighborhood of which contains point where the derivative exists. Also known as a singular point. 4. Astrophysics: A point or region where gravitation forces cause space and time to be infinitely distorted and matter to be infinitely compressed -- the state of matter falling into a black hole. [From Late Latin singularitas.] "His earliest biographers presented him as the isolated genius and a singularity has clung to his status ever since." Frances Spalding, Book Review / A Grey Dandy: Whistler While He Worked, Independent (London), Nov 8, 1994. "Before we conclude this section, we still have to address the question of singularities, which are critical for every marching algorithm. In our context, we have to deal with two types of singularities: those of the surfaces to be marched and those of their intersection." Stefan Freitag & Karsten Opitz, Enhancements in Blending Algorithms, Hewlett-Packard Journal, Oct 1, 1995. This week's theme: words from math. -------- Date: Wed Nov 14 00:01:31 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--congruent X-Bonus: There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592) congruent (KONG-groo-uhnt, kuhn-GROO-) adjective 1. In agreement; congruous. 2. Mathematics: a. Having identical shape and size, e.g. congruent triangles. b. Of or relating to one of the two numbers which when divided by a third number, yield the same remainder. e.g. 8 and 17 both yield a remainder of 2 when divided by 3. [From Middle English, from Latin congruens, present participle of congruere (to agree).] "The life-paths of men and women, and to a lesser extent, of black and white Americans, are much more likely to be congruent than at any time in history." Josh Clark, et al, 20 Ways We've Changed, Mother Jones (San Francisco), Jan 11, 1996. "The language of geometry became a powerful means of communicating ideas through terms that had previously been just words on a textbook page. Other applications to geometry and measurement involved in the crane-folding process included forming congruent triangles..." Elizabeth S. Senger, et al., Mathematical Meaning in Context, Teaching Children Mathematics, Mar 1997. This week's theme: words from math. -------- Date: Thu Nov 15 00:01:29 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vinculum X-Bonus: He whom the gods love, dies young. -Titus Maccius Plautus, dramatist (circa 254-184 BCE) vinculum (VING-kyuh-lum) noun 1. A bond or tie. (Vinculum matrimonii is Latin for the bond of marriage). 2. Mathematics: A horizontal bar placed over two or more terms to show that they are to be treated together, equivalent to enclosing them in a parenthesis. 3. Anatomy: A ligament. [From Latin vinculum (fetter), from vincire (to tie).] "It excels in setting equations. Fraction bars, underscores, baseline rules and vinculum rules will automatically adjust either with the addition or subtraction of characters." ProType Math 9.0, SoftBase, Dec 19, 1994. This week's theme: words from math. -------- Date: Fri Nov 16 00:02:44 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tangential X-Bonus: I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. -Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826) tangential (tan-JEN-shuhl) adjective 1. Only slightly relevant to the matter in hand; digressive; divergent. 2. Merely touching. 3. Mathematics: Of or pertaining to the nature of a tangent. [From Latin tangent-, tangens, present participle of tangere (to touch).] "Countries that have set their central banks free have had to be flexible in deciding where oversight of the money-clearing system (essential to running monetary policy) ends and bank supervision (tangential, at best, to monetary policy) begins." Narrow Money, The Economist (London), Aug 28, 1993. "Japanese sangaku problems usually involve multiple tangential circles within a large outer circle, examples of what are known in the West as Apollonian packings." Paul J Campbell, Science News, Mathematics Magazine (Washington), Oct 2001. This week's theme: words from math. -------- Date: Mon Nov 19 01:01:55 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--passible X-Bonus: It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one's life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than "try to be a little kinder." -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963) passible (PAS-uh-buhl) adjective Capable of feeling, especially pain or suffering; susceptible to sensation. [From Middle English, from Middle Latin passibilis, from Latin passus, past participle of pati (to suffer).] "Only the most sensitive of seats in the thinnest of pants worn by the most passible of owners will detect differing harmonies of the Accords." Paul Dean, Honda Finally Comes to an Accord With a V-6, The Los Angeles Times, Nov 25, 1994. It's good to have modern computers around that can scan thousands of lines of text in a jiffy and provide quick fixes with their handy find-and-replace feature. I heard there was a story in a newspaper that talked about the dramatic turnaround of a business. It had been deeply in debt earlier but now it was "running in the African American." While these electronic beasts are useful to keep our wayward fingers in check and take care of sundry typos that creep in, they are no substitute for humans. This week's words are the ones that defeat the spell-checker. You could use them to your advantage: to defeat your opponents in a game of Scrabble. These words appear to be mis-spellings of common words but they are fully accredited, licensed, certificated words from a dictionary -- as official as any word can be in the English language. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 20 00:01:35 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--monestrous X-Bonus: Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) monestrous (mon-ES-truhs) adjective Of or related to mammals which experience one estrus (rut or period of heat) in a breeding season. [Combining form mon- (one) from Greek monos, mono- + oistros (gadfly, madness).] "The ova vaccine, Miller says, is a better choice for monestrous species, like coyotes, that come into heat only once a year, regardless of whether the female conceives." Mary Roach, One Marsupial Too Many, Discover (Chicago), Dec 2000. This week's theme: words that appear to be mis-spellings of everyday words. -------- Date: Wed Nov 21 00:01:34 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cloture X-Bonus: Many people hear voices when no-one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing. -Margaret Chittenden, writer (1935- ) cloture (KLO-chuhr) noun The action of closing a debate by calling for an immediate vote. verb tr. To close a debate by cloture. [From French cloture (closure), eventually from Latin claustrum (barrier).] "A senator can challenge legislation by staging a filibuster, a maneuver to block action on an item by controlling the Senate floor for an unlimited time. A filibuster can be ended through legislative agreement, or by invoking cloture, which requires 60 votes. The Senate is evenly split, with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats." Filibuster Vowed if Bush Seeks Arctic Oil, The New York Times, Feb 13, 2001. This week's theme: words that appear to be mis-spellings of everyday words. -------- Date: Thu Nov 22 00:02:37 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nutriment X-Bonus: He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778) nutriment (NOO-truh-ment, NYOO-) noun A substance that provides nourishment; food. [From Middle English, eventually from Latin nutrimentum, from nutrire (to nourish).] "In order for oral consumption-or the lack thereof-to become our God, nutriment itself must reach a transcendent status. So here's the latest gastrosophical gospel: Food is no longer food. Food is a drug." Frederick Kaufman, Our Daily Bread, Harper's Magazine (New York), Jan 2000. This week's theme: words that appear to be mis-spellings of everyday words. -------- Date: Fri Nov 23 00:04:08 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--assoil X-Bonus: As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls. -Matt Cartmill, anthropology professor and author (1943- ) assoil (uh-SOIL) verb tr. 1. To pardon. 2. To atone for. [From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin absolvere (to absolve).] "I sank my teeth into the salt ground. There was no cry. Only later, when the city put on sackcloth and starved its cattle, I heard something hiss of pity rising from the dry, ungathered grain. An assoiling sound." Barbara J Orton, Jonah, Literary Review (Madison, New Jersey), Spring 1998. This week's theme: words that appear to be mis-spellings of everyday words. -------- Date: Mon Nov 26 01:01:38 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--procrustean X-Bonus: Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -Susan Ertz, author (1894-1985) Procrustean (pro-KRUS-tee-uhn) adjective Producing conformity using harsh means. [After Procrustes, a giant in Greek mythology, who stretched or cut his victims to make them fit his bed.] Wordpix: https://wordsmith.org/words/procrustean.gif "Why don't you go on a diet, dear, instead of throwing this dress away,' the old Mr. Parsimoni gave his wife the procrustean advice." If words could take any shape they wished, what would they look like? This week's words show my vision of some of them. When you are immersed in words for most of the day, even your dreams are filled with dancing words. Words come and talk to you, and do their own show-and-tell. These visual forms are what I call wordpix. To see other wordpix that have appeared here in the past, visit https://wordsmith.org/words/wordpix.html . This week I've concocted usage examples myself instead of quoting from newspapers or magazines. -Anu -------- Date: Tue Nov 27 00:02:36 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--pendulous X-Bonus: The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. -Henry Miller, novelist (1891-1980) pendulous (PEN-juh-luhs, PEN-dyuh-, -duh-) adjective 1. Hanging 2. Undecided. [From Latin pendulus, from pendere, to hang.] Wordpix: https://wordsmith.org/words/pendulous.gif "Charmed by his literary insights yet repelled by his slobbery eating habits, Nepentha remained pendulous about Fredfud's proposal." This week's theme: wordpix, words drawn so that they explain themselves. -------- Date: Wed Nov 28 00:02:09 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--acclivity X-Bonus: Simplicity doesn't mean to live in misery and poverty. You have what you need, and you don't want to have what you don't need. -Charan Singh, mystic (1916-1990) acclivity (a-KLIV-i-tee) noun An upward slope. [From Latin acclivitas, from acclivis (uphill), from ad- + clivus (slope).] Wordpix: https://wordsmith.org/words/acclivity.gif "A few days on the neighborhood acclivities and Fenton dropped his life goal of scaling Mt. Everest in favor of improving his bowling scores." This week's theme: wordpix, words drawn so that they explain themselves. -------- Date: Thu Nov 29 03:02:33 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--kowtow X-Bonus: Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts. -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662) kowtow (kow-TOW) verb To kneel and touch the forehead to the ground as a mark of respect; to show servile deference. noun An act of kowtowing. [From Chinese kou (knock) tou (head).] Wordpix: https://wordsmith.org/words/kowtow.gif "When the head of the giant software corporation refused to kowtow to the swami, he was promptly transformed into a little bug." This week's theme: wordpix, words drawn so that they explain themselves. -------- Date: Fri Nov 30 03:01:34 EST 2001 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--inebriety X-Bonus: Nothing so soon the drooping spirits can raise / As praises from the men, whom all men praise. -Abraham Cowley, poet (1618-1667) inebriety (in-i-BRY-i-tee) noun Drunkenness. [Intensive prefix in- + Latin ebriare (to make drunk), from ebrius (drunk).] Wordpix: https://wordsmith.org/words/inebriety.gif "On receiving his third warning for inebriety while at work, Dipsom sent his resignation with the note, `This job interferes with my drinking.'" This week's theme: wordpix, words drawn so that they explain themselves.