This week's theme: eponyms. Cringeworthy (KRINJ-wur-thee) adjective
Causing extreme embarrassment. [From Old English cringan (to yield or shrink). So someone cringeworthy makes you feeling crinkled, etymologically speaking.] The term was popularized by Cuthbert Cringeworthy, a character in the British comic strip The Bash Street Kids. Cuthbert is the brightest kid in the class, a bespectacled, hard-working Brit (I thought that was Harry Potter). Wait, Cuthbert is also bossy and rude. He is a teacher's pet and looks exactly like him. No one wants to be seen with him. Clearly, Cringeworthy is a charactonym, a name that suggests personality traits of a character. -Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org) "Not that there was much cringeworthy in the Tiger Bay forum; everyone behaved nicely and stayed on message incessantly." David Warner; Matters of Primary Importance and Signs of Change; Weekly Planet (Tampa, Florida); Aug 25, 2004. Sponsors' Messages: The delights of "Prinderella and the Since," "Beeping Sleauty," and 41 other tales twisted by Col Stoopnagle can be yours from http://stoneandscott.com Now, good books come in small packages! Digital audiobooks can be enjoyed on the go, no PC required. Smart, portable gifts. http://audiofy.com/awad Give an awesome stocking stuffer: Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty! Friends and family adore its fun colors and adult-sized handfuls: http://puttyworld.com Derivation, a fascinating game about word and phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com or http://amazon.com/o/asin/b00005btb8/entspire-20 ............................................................................ If only I could so live and so serve the world that after me there should never again be birds in cages. -Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen), author (1885-1962) Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). For subscriber services, visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/cringeworthy.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/cringeworthy.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/cringeworthy.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
