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Post by David on Dec 12, 2021 1:52:29 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 12, 2021 1:53:00 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 12, 2021 1:53:31 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 12, 2021 2:17:29 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 12, 2021 2:18:22 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 13, 2021 23:55:40 GMT
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
A pomegranate is a seedy apple, literally speaking. I said literally. Not trying to denigrate the pomegranate, an upright member of the fruit family, named from Latin pomum (apple) + granum (seed).
The pomegranate is a hard-working fruit. It has given us much. We got the word grenade from French grenade, which got it from Spanish granada. In both languages the words mean both a pomegranate and a grenade. The deep-red gem garnet is also named after the pomegranate.
That’s a behind-the-scenes peek of what I have gathered from our word gardens lately. So this week’s menu is all fruit. We’re doing our part to keep your vocabulary fit and perky.
Now it’s time for a question.
An apple knocker knocks them down, but how does a playwright get his fruit? He shakes pear. apple knocker PRONUNCIATION: (AP-uhl nok-uhr)
MEANING: noun: 1. An ignorant or unsophisticated person. 2. A baseball player, especially a batter. 3. A fruit picker, farmer, or seller.
ETYMOLOGY: 1. From the stereotypical view of those working in the field as boorish or naive. 2. From the jocular reference to a baseball as an apple. 3. From the image of someone picking apples by knocking them down with a stick. Earliest documented use: 1902.
NOTES: In the term apple knocker, a baseball has been compared to an apple. In the past, those balls were even made in red color. And a ballpark is also called an apple orchard probably because that’s where the game was often played. So it figures that a batter is an apple knocker. Baseball players will continue knocking the apple with a bat, but fruit picking is going high-tech. Here in Washington state, we grow apples and many other fruits and a robotics arm race is going on to develop automated fruit pickers. In the future, we may need to amend the definition of the term apple knocker. Instead, an apple knocker may be someone working with drones and robots.
USAGE: “Look, just because I live on a tobacco farm doesn’t mean I’m some apple-knocker.” Harper Lin; Scandals in Savannah; Harper Lin Books; 2020.
“That big apple knocker out there on the mound is batting ninth now on my card.” Philip Roth; The Great American Novel; Holt; 1973.
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Post by David on Dec 13, 2021 23:57:36 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry ... To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery.
-George Polya, mathematician (13 Dec 1887-1985) |
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Post by David on Dec 15, 2021 1:15:36 GMT
banana oil PRONUNCIATION: (buh-NAN-uh oyl) MEANING: noun: 1. Nonsense. 2. Insincere talk or flattery.
ETYMOLOGY: It’s not known why the banana oil earned this sense, although “to go bananas” means to be crazy or wildly enthusiastic. Perhaps the sense arose because the liquid known as banana oil does not involve bananas at all. Instead, it’s a mixture of amyl acetate and cellulose that has a banana-like odor and is used as food flavoring and a solvent. Earliest documented use: 1927.
USAGE: “Eisenberger insists the timing has nothing to do with political convenience. But that’s pure banana oil.” Andrew Dreschel; Council Votes to Drag its Feet for a Year; The Spectator (Hamilton, Canada); Nov 25, 2009.
See more usage examples of banana oil in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Dec 15, 2021 1:16:08 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Style is time's fool. Form is time's student.
-Stewart Brand, writer and editor (b. 14 Dec 1938)
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Post by David on Dec 15, 2021 5:13:25 GMT
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Post by David on Dec 16, 2021 0:26:44 GMT
razz
PRONUNCIATION:
(raz)
MEANING:
noun: A sound, similar to breaking wind, made by pushing the tongue between the lips and blowing air through the mouth.
verb intr.: To make such a sound.
verb tr.: To tease or heckle.
ETYMOLOGY:
From the shortening and alteration of raspberry, from the rhyming slang raspberry tart ⇨ fart. Earliest documented use: 1917.
USAGE:
“One of the ladies in line ended the razzing with, ‘Honey, we’re just kidding. You’ve done a lot for us around here.’”
Jane Running Doe; Neil’s Summer Vacation; Page Publishing; 2019.
See more usage examples of razz in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Dec 16, 2021 0:27:22 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Writing is like carrying a foetus.
-Edna O'Brien, writer (b. 15 Dec 1930)
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Post by David on Dec 27, 2021 5:04:40 GMT
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
The English language has hundreds of thousands of words. These words have work to do. They take their places in the dictionary, ready to serve, wherever and whenever you need them. Some are deployed often. Others only stand and wait.
This week we’ve summoned some of the words who have been patiently waiting for their turn in the dusty pages of the dictionary. Say hello to them. Put them to work. They are handy. They are happy to serve. They will do whatever you ask them to do, but please use them only for the good. agathism PRONUNCIATION: (A-guh-thiz-uhm)
MEANING: noun: The doctrine that, in the end, all things tend toward good.
ETYMOLOGY: From Greek agathos (good), which also gave us agathokakological and the name Agatha. Earliest documented use: 1830.
NOTES: An optimist would say that everything is for the best. An agathist, on the other hand, would say that what’s happening right now may be unfortunate or evil, but, ultimately, it will all end well. For optimists (and pessimists) from fiction who became words, see here and here.
USAGE: “His stubbornness and agathism have been an inspiration to me. I don’t naturally have his persistence. So I often ask my mother to put him on the phone when I am struggling with something. It doesn’t matter what the issue is or that he can’t possibly know the future. I just want to hear his standard line, the only setting he has: Everything will be OK in the end.” Mieke Eerkens; All Ships Follow Me; Picador; 2019.
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Post by David on Dec 27, 2021 5:05:11 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become. -Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895) |
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Post by David on Dec 28, 2021 5:05:04 GMT
yesternight PRONUNCIATION: (YES-tuhr-nyt)
MEANING: noun: Last night. adverb: During last night.
ETYMOLOGY: From Old English giestran/gierstan (a time one period prior to the present period) + niht (night). Earliest documented use: c. 450. A related word is yestreen (yesterday evening).
USAGE: “It didn’t help that she’d searched for him so long yesternight, she’d been forced to dig under the roots of a windblown tree at dayrise.” Charles Coleman Finlay; A Democracy of Trolls; Fantasy & Science Fiction (Hoboken, New Jersey); Oct/Nov 2002.
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