Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

November 05, 2010

Word of the Day

greasy spoon
\GREE-see-SPOON\

DEFINITION

noun
: a dingy small cheap restaurant

FELIX’S EXAMPLES

My grandfather delighted in taking his grandchildren to a hamburger joint called “PeeWee’s,” referred to by my grandmother as a greasy spoon, which slander never dampened our enthusiasm for the food.

A necessary stop on the way home from drinking late is the most convenient late-night greasy spoon, to cut the alcohol in your system with cheap, unhealthy food.

DID YOU KNOW?

In the decades following its first use in 1902, the surrounding context of “greasy spoon” usually included words along the lines of “lousy,” “wind up eating in,” “slinging hash,” “the underside of society,” “settle for,” or “rather starve.” And while things haven’t changed entirely, a recent wave of nostalgia has elevated the status of greasy spoons. Since the 1970s, the descriptions might contain words like “fabled,” “distinction,” “beloved,” “classic,” “an institution,” “fondness for,” and “comfort food.” Now you can consult a “Greasy Spoon Guide” and read up on “Best Greasy Spoons,” or lunch at a diner “restored to look like a greasy spoon.” Some of these eateries are now even named “The Greasy Spoon.”

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

November 04, 2010

Word of the Day

ululate
\ULL-yuh-layt\

DEFINITION

verb
: howl, wail

FELIX’S EXAMPLES

In many cultures around the world, celebrants wanting to express joy ululate, producing an eerie trilling sound, quite impressive in a large group.

As another cold front moves into the area, gusts of wind ululate in the unleaved trees.

DID YOU KNOW?

“When other birds are still, the screech owls take up the strain, like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu.” When Henry David Thoreau used “u-lu-lu” to imitate the cry of screech owls and mourning women in that particular passage from his book Walden, he was re-enacting the etymology of “ululate” (a word he likely knew). “Ululate” descends from the Latin verb “ululare.” That Latin root carried the same meaning as our modern English word, and it likely originated in the echoes of the rhythmic wailing sound associated with it. Even today, “ululate” often refers to ritualistic or expressive wailing performed at times of mourning or celebration or used to show approval.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

September 09, 2010

Word of the Day

auxiliary
\awg-ZILL-yuh-ree\

DEFINITION

adjective
1
a : offering or providing help b : functioning in a subsidiary capacity
2
: constituting a reserve : supplementary

FELIX’S EXAMPLE

A dictionary serves as an auxiliary part of writing, or reading, expanding the range of vocabulary and correcting spelling.

DID YOU KNOW?

“Auxiliary” can be used in a wide range of capacities in English to describe a person or thing that assists another. A fire department may bring in auxiliary units, for example, to battle a tough blaze, or a sailboat may be equipped with auxiliary engines to supply propulsion when the wind disappears. In grammar, an auxiliary verb assists another (main) verb to express person, number, mood, or tense, as “have” in “They have been informed.” The Latin source of “auxiliary” is “auxilium,” meaning “help.”

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

September 04, 2010

Word of the Day

bona fides
\boh-nuh-FYE-deez\

DEFINITION

noun

1
: good faith : sincerity
2
: evidence of one’s good faith or genuineness
3
: evidence of one’s qualifications or achievements

FELIX’S EXAMPLE

The 2008 campaign established Sarah Palin as a cheerleader for the rightmost wing of the Republican Party, but left in doubt serious questions about her bona fides as potential President

DID YOU KNOW?

“Bona fides” looks like a plural word in English, but in Latin, it’s a singular noun that literally means “good faith.” When “bona fides” entered English, it at first stayed very close to its Latin use — it was found mostly in legal contexts and it meant “honesty or lawfulness of purpose,” just as it did in Latin. It also retained its singular construction. Using this original sense one might speak of “a claimant whose bona fides is unquestionable,” for example. But in the 20th century, use of “bona fides” began to widen, and it began to appear with a plural verb in certain contexts. For example, a sentence such as “the informant’s bona fides were ascertained” is now possible.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

August 29, 2010

Word of the Day

quorum
\KWOR-um\

DEFINITION

noun
1
: a select group
*2
: the number (as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business

FELIX’S EXAMPLE

One of many parliamentary maneuvers designed to slow down or avoid a vote on a disputed measure is to repeatedly suggest the absence of a quorum, forcing a roll call to count legislators present.

DID YOU KNOW?

In Latin, “quorum” means “of whom,” which is itself the genitive plural of “qui,” meaning “who.” At one time, Latin “quorum” was used in the wording of the commission issued to justices of the peace in England. In English, “quorum” initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, but it’s not surprising that “quorum” has come to mean both “a select group” and “the minimum people required in order to conduct business.”

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

The Word of the Day for June 23, 2010 is:
chatelaine • \SHAT-uh-layn\ • noun

1 a : the wife of a castellan : the mistress of a château
* b : the mistress of a household or of a large establishment

2 : a clasp or hook for a watch, purse, or bunch of keys

Felix’s Example Sentence:

If Ellen Goodhue expected to become chatelaine of Sutpen’s Hundred upon marrying Thomas Sutpen, her new husbands demonic and cruel behavior soon disabused her of that notion.

Did you know?

The original chatelaine’s domain was a castle or fort, and the chatelaine’s duties were many. To complete them, she certainly needed keys. In the 18th century, the word “chatelaine” (borrowed from the French “châtelaine”) took on an additional meaning in English that alluded to this: the word came to be used for a decorative clasp or hook from which chains holding a watch, purse, keys, etc. were suspended. These popular accessories evoked the bunch of keys the original chatelaine had worn of necessity.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

The Word of the Day for March 16, 2010 is:
archetype • \AHR-kih-type\ • noun

: the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example

Felix’s Example Sentence:

Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, is the acknowledged archetype of later such characters, from Sherlock Holmes to Hercule Poirot.

Did you know?

“Archetype” derives via Latin from the Greek adjective “archetypos” (“archetypal”), formed from the verb “archein” (“to begin” or “to rule”) and the noun “typos” (“type”). (“Archein” also gave us the prefix “arch-,” meaning “principal” or “extreme” and used to form such words as “archenemy,” “archduke,” and “archconservative.”) “Archetype” has specific uses in the fields of philosophy and psychology. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, for example, believed that all things have ideal forms (aka archetypes) of which real things are merely shadows or copies. And in the psychology of C. G. Jung, “archetype” refers to an inherited idea or mode of thought that is present in the unconscious of the individual. In everyday prose, however, “archetype” is most commonly used to mean “a perfect example of something.”

Poetry for the Day

Sylvia Plath, even when writing about her newborn child, evoked images mixed of  foreboding and inspired lyricism.

Morning Song
by Sylvia Plath

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival.  New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety.  We stand round blankly as walls.

I’m no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind’s hand.

All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses.  I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s.  The window square

Whitens and swallows its dull stars.  And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.

From Ariel, published by Harper & Row, 1966. Copyright © 1966 by Ted Hughes. All rights reserved.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

The Word of the Day for February 21, 2010 is:
chastise • \chass-TYZE\ • verb

1 : to inflict punishment on (as by whipping)

*2 : to censure severely : castigate

Felix’s Example Sentence:

The tendency of political partisans to chastise even their own party for insufficient rigor in ideology is, in the long run, destructive of those partisans’ own goals.

Did you know?

“Chastise,” “castigate,” “chasten,” “correct,” “discipline,” and “punish” all imply the infliction of a penalty in return for wrongdoing. “Chastise” often applies to verbal censure or denunciation (“he chastised his son for neglecting his studies”). “Castigate” usually implies a severe, typically public censure (“an editorial castigating the entire city council”), while “chasten” suggests any affliction or trial that leaves someone humbled or subdued (“chastened by a landslide election defeat”). “Correct” implies punishment aimed at reforming an offender (“the function of prison is to correct the wrongdoer”), and “discipline,” a punishment or chastisement intended to bring a wrongdoer under control (“parents disciplining their children”). Finally, “punish” implies the imposition of a penalty for a misdeed (“punished for stealing”).

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Word of the Day

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

The Word of the Day for February 05, 2010 is:
alow • \uh-LOH\ • adverb

: below

Felix’s Example Sentence:

Passing in review during the Fourth of July, the tall ship had sailors in whites alow and aloft.

Did you know?

In nautical use, “alow” means “in or to a lower part of the vessel,” indicating the deck or the area of the rigging closest to the deck, or below-deck as opposed to above-deck. The opposite of “alow” in this sense is “aloft,” used to indicate a higher part of the vessel. Yet, while we are still likely to encounter “aloft,” in both nautical and non-nautical use, “alow” has become something of a rarity. When encountered, it is usually found in the combination “alow and aloft.” This phrase literally refers to the upper and lower parts of a ship or its rigging, but it can also be used to mean “completely” or “throughout” — similar to the more familiar “high and low.”

… courtesy of Merriam Webster, with slight modifications by me:

The Word of the Day for February 06, 2010 is:
comptroller • \kun-TROH-ler\ • noun

1 : a royal-household official who examines and supervises expenditures

2 : a public official who audits government accounts and sometimes supervises expenditures

*3 : the chief accounting officer of a business enterprise or an institution (as a college)

Felix’s Example Sentence:

The chief financial officer of the agency obviously neglected her responsibility as comptroller, allowing the depletion of reserves and the mingling of funds meant for separate purposes.

Did you know?

If you think “comptroller” looks like a mistaken spelling of “controller,” you’re partially right. Today, “comptroller” is an established word that shares one of its meanings (sense 3) with “controller.” The term did originate as a misspelling, however. Around the 15th century, Middle English speakers altered the spelling of “conterroller” (meaning “controller,” from the Middle French “contrerolleur”) under the influence of the Middle French word “compte” (“account”). The resulting word, “comptroller,” has attracted criticism over the years. Grammarian Henry Fowler condemned “comptroller” as “not merely archaic, but erroneous” in 1920, and a lexicographical column from 1931 agreed that “comptroller” is “erroneous and should not be accepted as correct.” Nevertheless, such modern institutions as colleges and governments continue to have comptrollers. “Comptrollership” occasionally turns up as well.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.