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A.Word.A.Day--scurf

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scurf (skurf) noun

1. Scaly or shredded dry skin, such as dandruff.

2. A loose, scaly crust coating a surface, especially of a plant.

[Middle English, probably of Scandinavian origin.]

"One moment the sky was full of words, the next flakes of blue were falling upon the earth like scurf from the unwashed heads of angels." Jeremy Sharp, Necessary Angel: On the Nature and History of Anne Szumigalski, Essays on Canadian Writing, Fall 1998.

This week's theme: words that make one say, I didn't know there was a word for that.

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Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it. -Anne O'Hare McCormick

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