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Post by IdahoBoy on Jul 9, 2004 14:26:12 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for July 9 is: haywire \HAY-wyre\ adverb or adjective *1 : being out of order or having gone wrong 2 : emotionally or mentally upset or out of control Example sentence: The TV goes haywire every time we use the blender. Did you know? The wire used in bailing hay -- haywire -- is often used in makeshift repairs. This hurried and temporary use of haywire gave rise to the adjective "haywire." When the adjective was first used in the early 20th century, it was primarily in the phrase "haywire outfit," which denoted originally a poorly equipped group of loggers and then anything that was flimsy or patched together. This led to a "hastily patched-up" sense, which, in turn, gave us the more commonly used meaning, "being out of order or having gone wrong." The "crazy" sense of "haywire" may have been suggested by the difficulty of handling the springy wire, its tendency to get tangled around legs, or the disorderly appearance of the temporary repair jobs for which it was used. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. This definition brought tears to my eyes. It makes me miss home to have such reminiscent pictures painted.
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Post by FloridaPerson on Jul 23, 2004 15:48:08 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2004 22:18:54 GMT -5
I've been on vacation...
The Word of the Day for July 23 is:
quodlibet \KWAHD-luh-bet\ noun 1 : a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; also : a disputation on such a point *2 : a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts
Example sentence: The concert ended with a quodlibet of 20th-century music that ranged from Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
Did you know? Whatever. Try to get philosophical nowadays and that may be the response you hear. Someone quibbling over a minor philosophical or theological point 500 years ago might have gotten basically the same reaction, but in Latin. At least it seems that way, since the Latin "quodlibet," meaning "any whatever," was the name given to such academic debates. "Quodlibet" is a form of "quilibet," from "qui," meaning "what," and "libet," meaning "it pleases." We can't say with certainty how "quodlibet" went from disputations to musical conglomerations, but English speakers have been using "quodlibet" for light musical melanges since the mid-19th century.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2004 11:54:11 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for July 25 is:
espouse \iss-POWZ (OW as in "cow")\ verb 1 : marry *2 : to take up and support as a cause : become attached to
Example sentence: Many environmentalists have espoused the belief that global warming is a serious concern to the well-being of the planet.
Did you know? As you might guess, the words "espouse" and "spouse" are related, both deriving from the Latin verb "spondere," meaning "to betroth." In fact, the two were once completely interchangeable, with each serving as a noun meaning "a newly married person" or "a husband or wife" and also as a verb meaning "to marry." Their semantic separation began in the 17th century, when the noun "espouse" fell out of use. Around the same time, people started using the verb "espouse" figuratively to mean "to commit to and support a cause." "Spouse" continued to be used in both noun and verb forms until the 19th century, when its verb senses waned and it came to be used mainly as a noun meaning "husband or wife."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2004 12:09:35 GMT -5
Oldie, but goodie, dedicated to BiK (don't throw your drinks at me!):
he Word of the Day for July 21 is:
frisson \free-SOHNG (the last vowel is pronounced nasally, and the final "ng" is not pronounced)\ noun : a brief moment of emotional excitement : shudder, thrill
Example sentence: When the roller coaster reached the top of the first hill, a frisson of fear shot through Angie as she anticipated the thrilling and terrifying downward plunge.
Did you know? "I feel a shiver that's not from the cold as the band and the crowd go charging through the final notes ... That frisson, that exultant moment...." That's how writer Robert W. Stock characterized the culmination of a big piece at a concert in 1982. His allusion to the cold is apt given that "frisson" comes from the French word for "shiver." "Frisson" traces to the Old French "fricon," which in turn derives from "frictio," Latin for "friction." What does friction -- normally a heat generator -- have to do with thrills and chills? Nothing, actually. The association came about because "frictio" (which derives from the Latin "fricare," meaning "to rub") was once mistakenly taken to be a derivative of "frigere," which means "to be cold."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2004 12:11:28 GMT -5
Wouldn't want to leave out the Deutsch...
The Word of the Day for July 20 is:
putsch \PUCH ("U" is as in "butcher")\ noun : a secretly plotted and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government
Example sentence: German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed for his role in an intricate putsch aimed at assassinating Adolf Hitler that occurred on July 20, 1944.
Did you know? In its native Swiss German, "putsch" originally meant "knock," or "thrust," but these days both German and English speakers use it to refer to the kind of government overthrow also known as a "coup d'etat." "Putsch" debuted in English in June of 1920, just three months after the tumultuous Kapp Putsch, in which Wolfgang Kapp and his right-wing supporters attempted to overthrow the German Weimar government. Putsch attempts were common in Weimar Germany, so the word appeared often in the stories of the English journalists who described the insurrections. Adolf Hitler himself even attempted a putsch (known as the Beer Hall Putsch), but he ultimately gained control of the German government via other means.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2004 12:13:43 GMT -5
This one just burns my goat. Once again, we cater to the ignorant. The Word of the Day for July 18 is: comprise \kum-PRYZE\ verb 1 : to include especially within a particular scope *2 : to be made up of 3 : compose, constitute Example sentence: The city developers' plans include a massive recreational complex that comprises a concert hall, four restaurants, two hotels and a theater. Did you know? "Comprise" has undergone a substantial shift in usage since first appearing in English in the 15th century. For many years usage commentators insisted that the usage of "comprise" meaning "to be made up of" (as shown in our example) was the only one that was correct. However, "comprise" is now familiarly used to mean "to make up," as in "the players who comprise the team," and is often used in passive constructions such as "The album is comprised of ten classic songs." Until relatively recently, this sense appeared mostly in scientific writing, but current evidence shows that it is now somewhat more common in general use than the word's other meanings. *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2004 12:15:22 GMT -5
Can't pass this one by...
The Word of the Day for July 17 is:
bildungsroman \BIL-doonks-roh-MAHN ("oo" as in "good")\ noun : a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character
Example sentence: The critic described Max's first novel as "a typical bildungsroman about an angst-ridden youth struggling to find his place in the world."
Did you know? "Bildungsroman" is the combination of two German words: "Bildung," meaning "education," and "Roman," meaning "novel." Fittingly, a "bildungsroman" is a novel that deals with the formative years of the main character -- in particular, his or her psychological development and moral education. The bildungsroman usually ends on a positive note with the hero's foolish mistakes and painful disappointments over and a life of usefulness ahead. Goethe's late 18th-century work _Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre_ (_Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_) is often cited as the classic example of this type of novel. Though the term is primarily applied to novels, in recent years, some English speakers have begun to apply the term to films that deal with a youthful character's coming-of- age.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2004 9:22:11 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for July 26 is:
magniloquent \mag-NIL-uh-kwunt\ adjective : speaking in or characterized by a high-flown often bombastic style or manner
Example sentence: Poet Edward Weismiller told _The Baltimore Sun_ (April 10, 2004) that his former tendency to be magniloquent "was stamped out" of him by his mentor John Berryman.
Did you know? "Magnus" means "great" in Latin; "loqui" is a Latin verb meaning "to speak." Combine the two and you get "magniloquus," the Latin predecessor of "magniloquent." English speakers started using "magniloquent" for the bombastic in the 1600s -- even though we'd had its synonym "grandiloquent" since the 1500s. ("Grandiloquent" comes from Latin "grandiloquus," which combines "loqui" and "grandis," another word for "great" in Latin.) Today, these synonyms continue to exist side by side and to be used interchangeably, though "grandiloquent" is the more common of the two.
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Post by FloridaPerson on Jul 26, 2004 14:03:43 GMT -5
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Post by IdahoBoy on Jul 26, 2004 14:15:08 GMT -5
Direct violation of new posting reminders: Posts intended to up your post count...
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Post by FloridaPerson on Jul 26, 2004 15:01:42 GMT -5
It was less an attempt to up my post count and more a magniloquent voicing of my joy at the Word of the Day's return.
This post, on the the other hand...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2004 15:05:26 GMT -5
All we ask is to make one person happy and we are happy. I think I'm going to cry...
The Word of the Day for July 27 is:
causerie \koh-zuh-REE\ noun *1: an informal conversation : chat 2: a short informal essay
Example sentence: After the table was cleared and coffee was served, the dinner guests rose and continued their causerie in the other room.
Did you know? "Causerie" first appeared in English in the early 19th century, and it can be traced back to the French "causer" ("to chat") and ultimately to the Latin "causa" ("cause, reason"). The word was originally used to refer to a friendly or informal conversation. Then, in 1849, the author and critic Charles- Augustin Sainte-Beuve began publishing a weekly column devoted to literary topics in the French newspaper _Le Constitutionnel_. These critical essays were called "Causeries du lundi" ("Monday chats") and were later collected into a series of books of the same name. After that, the word "causerie" acquired a second sense in English, referring to a brief, informal article or essay.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2004 9:54:34 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for July 28 is:
abominable \uh-BAH-muh-nuh-bul\ adjective 1 : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : detestable *2 : quite disagreeable or unpleasant, BiK-like
Example sentence: "I imagine it must be a relief to receive another letter from me written on a typewriter, for ... my handwriting has been abominable for several years past." (Alexander Woollcott, _Letters_)
Did you know? The tendency to hate evil omens is a vital part of the history of "abominable." The word descends from the Latin verb "abominari," which means "to deprecate as an ill omen" or "to detest"; "abominari" itself comes from "ab-" plus "omin-" ("from an omen"). When English speakers adopted "abominable" in the 14th century, they used it to express their disgust over evil or truly detestable things -- and for 500 years that's the way things stood. In the 1800s, the word's meaning moderated, so that Scottish novelist William Black could write in _A Princess of Thule_ (1873), "Sheila had nothing to do with the introduction of this abominable decoration." Other descendents of "abominari" are "abominate" ("to hate or loathe intensely") and "abomination" ("something odious or detestable").
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by IdahoBoy on Jul 28, 2004 13:34:30 GMT -5
The Word of the Day for July 28 is: abominable \uh-BAH-muh-nuh-bul\ adjective 1 : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : detestable *2 : quite disagreeable or unpleasant, BiK-like Example sentence: "I imagine it must be a relief to receive another letter from me written on a typewriter, for ... my handwriting has been abominable for several years past." (Alexander Woollcott, _Letters_) Did you know? The tendency to hate evil omens is a vital part of the history of "abominable." The word descends from the Latin verb "abominari," which means "to deprecate as an ill omen" or "to detest"; "abominari" itself comes from "ab-" plus "omin-" ("from an omen"). When English speakers adopted "abominable" in the 14th century, they used it to express their disgust over evil or truly detestable things -- and for 500 years that's the way things stood. In the 1800s, the word's meaning moderated, so that Scottish novelist William Black could write in _A Princess of Thule_ (1873), "Sheila had nothing to do with the introduction of this abominable decoration." Other descendents of "abominari" are "abominate" ("to hate or loathe intensely") and "abomination" ("something odious or detestable"). *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. So the cartoons where they show the abominable snowman as a cute guy should rename it huh? I always thought abominable was a region in the Himalayas.
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