AWADmail Issue 268
July 1, 2007
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: Andrew Pressburger (andrew.pressburger primus.ca)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pudibund
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/pudibund.html
This is one of those words that cuts both ways by having two diverging
variants (cf. guest and host). Prudish and modest, while not exactly
antonyms, are not synonyms either. In Latin pudibundus means modest or
bashful. Pudendus on the other hand is translated as disgraceful, while
pudens (i.e. pudent) is modest. (In English we use mostly its opposite:
impudent.)
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From: Adale O'Brien (adale insightbb.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--agrestic
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/agrestic.html
There's a TV comedy called Weeds on Showtime, and the community all those
interesting characters live in is called Agrestic. It's an intelligent,
delightfully off-kilter, fascinating show.
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From: Frederick Lee Armstrong (frederick-lee.armstrong mex.dupont.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--sequacious
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/sequacious.html
In Spanish the word "secuaz" refers to a follower of a nefarious
organization. Sort of like henchman. Now I know where the word may come from.
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From: Toni Marsh (tonimarsh iinet.net.au)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--moiety
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/moiety.html
I'm glad you mentioned this word. I work in a remote Yolngu (who, in my
experience, dislike being lumped in with all Australian Aborigines, but
prefer to celebrate their difference) community in NE Arnhemland NT and
the 16 Yolngu clans of Yirrkala community are divided into two moieties.
These moieties relate to the Yolngu cultural traditions of what we "napaki"
(or whitefellas) might refer to as "skin", which clearly shows who can
"marry" whom, usually across moieties. This is a very simplistic
interpretation, the system is much more complex in reality. In the light
of the recent scaremongering about remote Aboriginal communities, it was
pleasant to see a word that is very commonly used and respected up here.
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From: Sherry Hardage (teckwando aol.com)
Subject: moiety
The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest have moieties that run the pueblo from
year to year. At Cochiti for instance, the moieties are called the Pumpkin
people and the Turquoise people. Each year on January first a moiety takes
over the management of the pueblo. So any rule or law passed one year can
easily be undone the next by the other group.
This system of government requires people to be very considerate of the other
side because they'll be in charge next year. Imagine how well the US would
run if the Dems ran everything one year, and the Republicans ran everything
the next year.
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From: Marc Williams (marc_williams comcast.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--moiety
Today's word, moiety brought back fond memories of my undergraduate days
as a chemistry major. Moieties are used in writing chemical formulae. The
official nomenclature rules are at
http://bioportal.weizmann.ac.il/iucr-top/cif/mmcif/ndb/dictionary/html-dic/Items/_chemical_formula.moiety.html
Presumably the use of the word in chemistry relates to the second definition,
portion. One of the core principles of chemistry is that each portion
(moiety) is represented in a specific proportion in relation to other moieties.
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From: Veronica Moriarty (vmoriart srhs.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ataraxia
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/ataraxia.html
Atarax is a brand name of an antihistamine, hydroxyzine, that has been used
to treat anxiety. I always wondered how the manufacturer came up with that
name. It now makes more sense.
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From: Eric Shackle (eshackle ozemail.com.au)
Subject: Compossible
Would a 107-year-old blogger be compossible with the youngsters who inhabit
the YouTube world? Olive Riley, the world's oldest blogger, believes she's
also the world's oldest YouTuber. I agree with her, and have written about
her and her amazing memory in "Life Begins at 80... on the Internet":
http://bdb.co.za/shackle
............................................................................
Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and
pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines. -Bill Bryson, author
(1951- )
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