AWADmail Issue 175
August 28, 2005
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
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From: Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org)
Subject: new email address
After some 2500 messages a day, 90% of which were spam, I've decided it's time
to retire my email address. I thank the outgoing address (anuATwordsmith.org)
for 11 years of fine service and welcome the new one (gargATwordsmith.org)
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From: Donna Pappas (donnapappasATclovisusd.k12.ca.us)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--axiomatic
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/axiomatic.html
I was intrigued by the Greek root for "axiomatic". You see, when a
priest is ordained in the Greek Orthodox church, his vestments are
bestowed one item at a time. Each item is held up by the ordaining
hierarch with the inquiry, "Axios?", and then presented to the ordainee
only after the congregation responds with an unequivocal "Axios!" Simply
translated, it is a question of "Is he worthy?" and a response of "Yes, he
is worthy!" Being married to a Greek (who also happens to be an Orthodox
priest), I doubt I shall ever stumble over the definition to axiomatic
again! A huge "Axios!" to Wordsmith for broadening all our horizons.
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From: Diane Wing (diane.wingATfirstdata.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--legerity
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/legerity.html
My friend, Gordon Hicks, submits an even lesser-known variant of this word:
lagerity. Meaning, of course, agility in handling beer!
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From: Dean Kennedy (deank1220ATnetscape.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--malversation
So, "malversation" could be described as "male behavior"?
I'd be offended . . . if it didn't have a certain ring of truth to it.
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From: Kate Gillogly (kagilloglyATcomcast.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sodality
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/sodality.html
Why, that's a word from anthropology! We define it as nonresidential groups
that cut across kinship ties and thus promote broader social solidarity; or
a group organizing people of similar interests or occupations. It's common
in tribal societies -- that is, societies without any overarching or
centralized government to run things. Sodalities link people across the
social boundaries of kinship and village and so can be important in getting
things done -- fighting wars, negotiating settlements, repairing tracks and
roads, and so on. A type of sodality is age grades. Usually men, but
sometimes women, belonged to these organizations for socializing purposes,
charity work, or to ensure proper completion of a task.
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From: Ed Pechter, MD (drpechterATaol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--terete
I was hoping terete signaled a week of words about shapes. I invented a
new method of bra measurement which I'm publishing in the plastic surgery
literature but haven't been able to come up with a good term for the
measurement of the distance across a single b reast. Bre ast circumference
isn't quite accurate and brea st breadth is a bit awkward. I'll have to
settle for breas t width unless one of your subscribers comes up with
something catchier.
[We've broken the word "br east" by spaces to prevent this issue
getting caught by nanny filters that many corporations use to
make sure their employees aren't corrupted by the sight of this
word.
Please send your suggestions directly to Dr. Pechter and we hope
he'll send us a summary.
-Anu Garg]
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From: Tasha Pelaez (tpelaez29ATgmail.com)
Subject: Words in Standardized Tests
Thank you so very much for presenting the few, the proud, and the nerdy who
are seeking every means possible of expanding their vocabulary for tests
such as the S.A.T. with this week's words As a rising senior, this is my
second time taking the test (this coming October), and a more nervous wreck
is not to be found anywhere else on earth, as I need to raise my score
intensely. On the first try, I received a 2160 out of 2400, which seems
high enough, but most schools now don't even look at the writing section,
which comprised the majority of my score (an 800, a perfect score)--so the
fruit of many students' labor has gone fairly unnoticed.
Many high schoolers complain that the Reading Comprehension (the renamed
"Verbal" section) is their worst section on the test, but I've seen my
practice scores increase since receiving A-Word-A-Day in my inbox almost
two years ago. Thanks for the nervous wrecks like me back to shore.
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From: Eric Shackle (eshackleATozemail.com.au)
Subject: Legerity
Goldfish display great legerity when forced to participate in races. In
a fast-growing craze in US and UK bars, goldfish race in narrow troughs,
hurried along by jets of water squirted at them by noisy drinkers in
various states of sobriety. Some animal lovers claim it's cruel. This
fishy foolishness is fully fathomed in the September edition of The
World's First Multi-National e-Book, just posted at
http://bdb.co.za/shackle
............................................................................
We should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken
for what they are, the signs of our ideas, and not for things themselves.
-John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)
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