This week’s theme
Words from singer-songwriter Roy Zimmerman’s songs

This week’s words
legionnaire
moribund
carny
nanny state
inveigle

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAHR-nee)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A person who works in a carnival.
2. A carnival: a traveling amusement show.
3. The jargon used by carnival workers.

ETYMOLOGY:

Short for carnival, from Italian carnevale, from carnelevare (removal of meat), from carne (flesh) + levare (to remove or lift). A carnival is named so because it was a period of merrymaking before Lent (a season of fasting and penitence before Easter). Earliest documented use: 1931.

USAGE:

“I’m the huddled masses.
I’m the amber waves of grain.
I’m the toothless carny in the shooting gallery at the county fair.”
Roy Zimmerman; I Approve This Message; 2008.
(lyrics; video, 4 min.)

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: