AWADmail Issue 210
May 21, 2006
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: Interesting stories from the net
Dolphins Have Their Own Names:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/4750471.stm
The Art of Translation:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature-literature-matters-edition32-art-of-translation.htm
Monkeys Use "Sentences":
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/monkey-sentence.html
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From: Phil Curl (philcurlATyahoo.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pulchritude
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/pulchritude.html
This word features prominently in the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" which is
currently showing in the U.S. It's a very positive movie in which words
are the co-stars, and contains much insight into word origins, spelling,
etc., but also into how spelling is more than memorization, it's an extension
of a love for the language.
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From: Mary Stoltz (stoltzmjATflcc.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pulchritude
Today's word, "pulchritude", brought a fond memory. The only person I have
ever heard use the word was my dad. He often held up my mother as an
example of "feminine pulchritude". I may not have known the dictionary
definition but, in context, it seemed to be both beautiful and good.
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From: Stuart Tarlowe (starloweATearthlink.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pulchritude
Pulchritude may merely mean "beauty" but, while reading Playboy (in
my youth) I encountered the word used so many times to describe the
Playmates' attributes that I was sure that pulchritude had something
to do with, uh, large br easts.
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From: Hennie M. Lloyd (h.m.lloydATsympatico.ca)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day - pulchritude
I can't see myself using 'pulchritude' to denote beauty -- it reminds
me of the word 'putrid' too much. I guess that's part of its unusual
quality. Yet, if one were a scientist studying the process of decay and
discovered an unusual form of putridity, the word 'pulchritude' might be.
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From: Lynn Mancini (manciniATdtcc.edu)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--terpsichorean
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/terpsichorean.html
My favourite use of the word "terpsichorean" comes from T.S. Eliot's
poem "The Song of the Jellicles", which describes a type of cat. The
relevant verse is,
"They're quiet enough in the morning hours,
They're quiet enough in the afternoon,
Reserving their terpsichorean powers
To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon."
This poem, along with many others from Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of
Practical Cats", form the basis for the musical "Cats".
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From: Jarrett Gonzales (shmoovioATgmail.com)
Subject: Terpsichorean
As with silly walks and unexpected Spanish Inquisitions, 'terpsichorean' was
first brought to my attention by Monty Python, who used the word in their
famous 'cheese shop' sketch:
Customer: I want to buy some cheese.
Owner: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the bazouki player!
Customer: Oh, heaven forbid: I am one who delights in all manifestations of
the Terpsichorean muse!
http://www.minderella.com/words/cheeseshop.htm
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From: Robert Walker-Smith (rwlkrsmithATaol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--terpsichorean
Terpsichorean reminded me of a Felicia Lamport poem from decades past,
commenting on the then-new fashion for summer cultural festivals in rural
locations, specifically the lines:
"In hickory thickery folks once got liquory;
Now it's Terpsichore's lair."
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From: Chris Roberts (chris.robertsATrodney.govt.nz)
Subject: Unusual words theme
As soon as I saw your theme and first example yesterday, a phrase sprang into
my mind from the one of the M*A*S*H novels by Richard Hooker (on which the
film and TV series were based). Hawkeye and Trapper John had a running gag
that involved them using these sort of phrases for commoner expressions to
try to catch each other out and the one I have always remembered was
"terpsichorean ecdysiast", another euphemism of which would be "exotic
dancer". I was about 16 at the time and had to go and find a Big Dictionary
to track down the second term.
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From: Rama Kulkarni, MD (ramaa1ATpacbell.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--succedaneum
The medical term caput succedaneum refers to a boggy, indistinct swelling
of the scalp of newborns caused by the tourniquet effect of the cervix on
the scalp. It is temporary, lasting only about a day or so. Perhaps the
swelling is imaginatively considered a "substitute head"?
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From: Tuvik Beker (tuvikATsoligence.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--margaritaceous
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/margaritaceous.html
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for pearl is margalit (mar-ga-LIT).
This is a common Hebrew name to this day, by the way.
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From: Rudy Rosenberg Sr. (rrosenbergsrATaccuratechemical.com)
Subject: A.Word.A.Day
During the war (WWII, there have been so many since then) I had to interrupt
my studies for three years and go into hiding. The last 17 months were spent
with my mother, in a basement where the only reading material was the
Larousse French dictionary. We became dear friends as I read it from A to Z.
Although it did not become an addiction, we have remained on friendly terms.
Reading your daily "tisane" keeps me alert and sane in this increasingly
bewildering world. Thank you.
............................................................................
Words are also actions, and actions are a kind of words. -Ralph Waldo
Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)
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