This week's theme: eponyms. poindexter (POIN-dek-stuhr) noun
An extremely intelligent but socially inept person. [After Poindexter, a character in the animated series Felix the Cat.] Poindexter is a synonym of nerd or geek. In the cartoon, Poindexter is the nephew of The Professor, the arch-enemy of Felix the Cat. The creator of the cartoon series is said to have named the character Poindexter after his lawyer. Here is a picture: http://felixthecat.com/friends-poindexter.htm -Anu Garg (gargATwordsmith.org) "As more companies try to recruit business-literate CIOs, the title looks increasingly attractive to Young Turks who might earlier have dismissed it as a job for Poindexters." Mindy Blodgett; Across the Great Divide; CIO (Framingham, Massachusetts); Dec 15, 1999. Sponsors' Messages: Derivation, a fascinating game about word and phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com or http://amazon.com/o/asin/b00005btb8/entspire-20 Give an awesome stocking stuffer: Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty! Friends and family adore its fun colors and adult-sized handfuls: http://puttyworld.com Like wordplay? Get "The Giant Book of Animal Jokes: Beastly Humor for Grownups" by Richard Lederer & James Ertner from http://stoneandscott.com ............................................................................ Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility, may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain. -H.L.F. von Helmholtz, physiologist and physicist (1821-1894) Looking for a word/quotation previously featured in AWAD? Archives are at http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/poindexter.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/poindexter.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/poindexter.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
