The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) A FULL AND TRUE ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE FOUGHT LAST FRIDAY BETWEEN THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN BOOKS IN SAINT JAMES'S LIBRARY is a short satire published with Tale of A Tub The text is widely available online--one site is: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jswift/bl-jswift-battleofbooks.htm

A border collie called Chaser has been taught the names of 1022 items - more than any other animal. She can also categorise them according to function and shape, something children learn to do around the age of 3. Chaser follows in the footsteps of Rico, who trained at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Rico had a "vocabulary" of 200 words and could identify new objects in a group of familiar objects by a process of elimination, according to a study published in 2004. To find out whether there was a limit to the number of words a border collie could learn, psychologists Alliston Reid and John Pilley of Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, started an intensive training programme with Chaser. Over three years, they taught the collie the names of 1022 toys by introducing them to her one by one, getting her to fetch the toy and then repeating the name to reinforce the association. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827921.900-border-collie-takes-record-for-biggest-vocabulary.html

Why did z and x become so attractive in the attempt to influence prescribers? asks Rob Stepney If you leaf through the June 2000 issue of the British Journal of Cardiology you will see advertisements for Zocor, Xenical, and Cozaar before you reach a brand name that does not contain a prominent x or z (and that brand is Viagra). In an issue of Hospital Doctor from the same month (22 June), adverts for Celebrex, Topamax, Flomax, Vioxx, Zispin, Zyprexa, Oxis, Efexor, and Fosamax outnumber those for brands not containing letters from the tail end of the alphabet. Examination of the British National Formulary (BNF) from 1986 to 2004 confirms that z and x suddenly achieved remarkable and previously unexplained popularity in the branding of drugs. Of 1436 products added to the BNF between 1986 and 2005, more than a fifth had names that began with z or x or contained a prominent x or z within them. In 1986, only 19 branded drugs began with one of these letters. Over the next two decades, the number of brands beginning with a z increased by more than 400% (to 63) and those beginning with an x increased by 130% (to 16). In the same period, the overall content of the BNF grew by only 80%. Why did these letters suddenly become so attractive to companies trying to persuade doctors to prescribe their drugs? In linguistics, the “zuh” sound is described as a voiced fricative. The “fricative” element refers to the fact that airflow directed over the tongue becomes turbulent when passing the sharp edges of the teeth, while the “voiced” aspect reflects the vibration of the vocal cords. But there is nothing magical in the sound itself. One suggestion for the popularity of z is that it works well in the Middle East, which was becoming an increasingly important market for drug companies. This has a superficial plausibility: think of how Arab scientists launched astronomy with the terms zenith and azimuth and zodiac. X, though representing the unknown for centuries, has been famously associated with medical advance since x rays. http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6895.full

Fricatives are speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then') http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:fricative&sa=X&ei=nxovTeC-CIX6lwfx-YHtCw&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQkAE

World Court is the popular name of the Permanent Court of International Justice, established pursuant to Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The protocol establishing it was adopted by the Assembly of the League in 1920 and ratified by the requisite number of states in 1921. By the time of its dissolution in 1945 (when its functions were transferred to the newly created International Court of Justice), the court had 59 member states. Established at The Hague, the court was empowered to render judgments in disputes between states that were voluntarily submitted to it and to give advisory opinions in any matters referred to it by the Council or the Assembly of the League. Its functions, thus, were judicial rather than, as in the case of the older Hague Tribunal, purely arbitral and diplomatic. It also differed from the Hague Tribunal in having a permanent group of judges instead of a panel from which judges might be selected to hear a particular dispute. The court originally had 11 judges and 4 deputy judges, but in 1931 its composition was changed to 15 regular judges. Judges were elected for nine-year terms by the Council and the Assembly concurrently; they were selected from a list of nominees of the Hague Tribunal regardless of nationality, except that not more than one citizen of a country might sit on the bench at any one time. Although the United States never joined the court (because the Senate refused to ratify the protocol), there was always an American jurist on the bench. To assure impartiality, the judges were paid salaries and were forbidden to engage in governmental service or in any legal activity except their judicial work. In the course of its existence, the court rendered 32 judgments and 27 advisory opinions. An important judgment was that which affirmed (1933) Danish sovereignty over the northern coast of Greenland and disallowed Norway's claim. The advisory opinions of the court were important in developing international law. A notable opinion declared (1931) that the proposed customs union of Germany and Austria would violate Austria's pledge to remain independent. The court virtually ceased to function after the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0852731.html

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French. http://www.icj-cij.org/court/index.php?p1=1

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Ralf Czerny Subject: wormwood The word "wormwood" reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Cliff Klingenhagen.
From: Tom Priestly Subject: wormwood What an interesting substance! 500 years ago it was used to protect clothing and animals from fleas and mites -- "A medecyne for an hawke that hath mites. Take the Juce of wormewode and put it ther thay be and thei shall dye", The Book of St. Albans, 1486; later it was a useful medicine for humans; Thomas Tusser wrote, in 1590, "Where chamber is sweeped, and wormwood is strowne, No flea for his life dare abide to be knowne," and Dr. John Pechey wrote in 1694: "It strengthens the Stomach and Liver, excites Appetite, opens Obstructions, and cures Diseases that are occasion'd by them; as, the Jaundice, Dropsie, and the like." And apparently the wormwood used in absinthe not only made the drink cloudy and green, and very bitter, but contained a hallucinogen.
From: Frances Wade Subject: primrose path Def: 1. An easy life, especially devoted to sensual pleasure. 2. A path of least resistance, especially one that ends in disaster. I think the easy path is called the primrose path because the primrose is thornless, unlike the real rose, which is thorny. There is probably a cultural assumption in this expression as well, that the 'real' rose with its thorny path yields a superior reward (the primrose is of the primulaceae family, unlike the rose, which is one of the rosaceae).