This week's theme: uncommon homophones of common words. bourn (born) noun
1. A destination or goal. 2. A boundary or limit. [From Middle French bourne, from Old French bodne (boundary). Ultimately from Indo-European root bhendh- (to bind) that is also the source of band, bend, bind, bond, bundle, and bandanna.] A small stream [Variant of burn (brook).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=bourn -Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org) "There is still an undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns with credibility intact." Dan Hancox; The Download; New Statesman (London, UK); Oct 20, 2005. Sponsors' messages: Give an awesome stocking stuffer: Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty! Friends and family adore its fun colors and adult-sized handfuls: http://puttyworld.com Ever laugh so hard you eructated? Read Weeping Willow. Alone. http://www.WeepingWillowTheBook.com/AWAD Quickly start speaking one of 30+ languages with tiny Pimsleur audiobook chips. Also for PCs, Macs and handhelds! http://pimsleurdirect.com/awad2 ............................................................................ Because we don't understand the brain very well we're constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (What else could it be?) And I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and now, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer. -John R. Searle, philosophy professor (1932- ) Looking for a word/quotation previously featured in AWAD? Archives are at http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/bourn.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/bourn.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/bourn.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
