When you see someone sporting a shirt with the manufacturer's name inscribed
in bold letters across the chest, it's hard to ignore the irony. The wearer
is paying the company to promote its name, rather than vice versa. For the
privilege of being a walking billboard, the purchaser may have paid many
times the normal price of that product.
So next time you wear a pair of shoes with that logo, or a pair of pants
with some large initials stitched on them, or a shirt with a brightly
painted name, remember, you're inadvertently advertising the company.
The word "advertise" comes to us from Latin advertere meaning "to turn
toward" or "to pay attention". The word "inadvertently" derives from
the same source. In other words, by not paying attention, we ARE paying
attention.
Do you ever wonder about the meaning of all those company names on
billboards, taxis, supermarket floors, movies, clothing, even in your
children's school books? While some of these are coined names (Sony,
Novartis, Intel), many of them are bona fide words from the dictionary.
This week we feature five such words. And no, none of them is an AWAD
sponsor.
cingular (SING-gyuh-luhr) adjective
1. Of or pertaining to a cingulum, an anatomical band or girdle on an
animal or plant.
2. Encircling, girdling, surrounding.
[From Latin cingulum (girdle), from cingere (to gird). Other words
derived from the same root are cincture, precinct, shingles, and succinct.]
"Differs ... in the greater degree of cingular development on cheek
teeth, especially molars."
Daniel L Gebo, et al; A Hominoid Genus; Science (Washington, DC);
Apr 18, 1997.
Sponsored by:
Acronym Finder -- the authoritative acronym and abbreviation reference source
for over 10 years. Free and easy to use. http://www.acronymfinder.com/awad.aspx
See a map of your word in the Visual Thesaurus. Wordsmith readers
save 10%. Try it free! http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?ad=aw&code=h7q
............................................................................
Like cars in amusement parks, our direction is often determined through
collisions. -Yahia Lababidi, writer (b. 1973)
Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board
Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html
Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/cingular.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/cingular.ram
Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/cingular.html
This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
