In ancient China, people called a man of great virtue a gentleman.  In the world of flowers, plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums are known as the four gentlemen in China because these plants’ natural character have something in common with human virtues.  They have all long been featured in ancient paintings and poems used to express loftiness, righteousness, modesty and purity by Chinese literati.  Read about each of the four noble plants at http://english.visitbeijing.com.cn/a1/a-XB4Q2O3FE006B3234E1E1D 

Chromostereopsis is a visual illusion whereby the impression of depth is conveyed in two-dimensional color images, usually of red-blue or red-green colors, but can also be perceived with red-grey or blue-grey images.  Such illusions have been reported for over a century and have generally been attributed to some form of chromatic aberration.   See striking graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromostereopsis 

John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist.  He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice.  His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus on the African-American experience.  Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wideman excelled as a student athlete at the University of Pennsylvania.  In 1963, he became the second African American to win a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford.  In addition to his work as a writer, Wideman has had a career in academia as a literature and creative writing professor at both public and Ivy League universities.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Edgar_Wideman 

Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, KG, PC (c.  1674–1743) was a British Whig statesman who served continuously in government from 1715 until his death.  He sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1698 and 1728, and was then raised to the peerage and sat in the House of Lords.  He served as the prime minister of Great Britain from 1742 until his death in 1743.  He is considered to have been Britain's second prime minister, after Robert Walpole, but worked closely with the Secretary of State, Lord Carteret, in order to secure the support of the various factions making up the government.  The cities of Wilmington, Delaware, and Wilmington, North Carolina; the towns of Wilmington, Massachusetts, and Wilmington, Vermont; and, secondarily, the neighbourhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles, are named in his honour.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Compton,_1st_Earl_of_Wilmington 

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family Oleaceae.  There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe.  Forsythia is named after William Forsyth, (1737–1804), a Scottish botanist who was royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsythia  See also https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/treedetail.cfm?itemID=840 and https://thegardeningcook.com/tips-growing-forsythia-bushes/  “Nothing screams spring in your garden quite like Forsythia.” 

“Farming is just another word for bondage.”  “To trust someone is to take the greatest risk of all.  Without trust nothing ever happens”.   “The tomato was once believed poisonous, the eggplant thought to cause madness.”  Blood Test, #2 in the Alex Delaware series of novels by Jonathan Kellerman   https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/jonathan-kellerman/alex-delaware/ 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

Apgar or apgar  (AP-gar)  noun  A method of assessing a newborn’s health.  Also known as Apgar score.  After anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar (1909-1974) who devised it.  Earliest documented use:  1959.

Yarborough or yarborough  (YAHR-bur-oh/uh)  noun  In a card game, a weak hand, especially one in which no card is above a nine.  After Charles Anderson Worsley, 2nd Earl of Yarborough (1809-1897), who is said to have bet 1000 to 1 against the occurrence of such a hand.  The actual odds are 1827 to 1.  Earliest documented use:  1900.

Orwellism  (OR-wuh-liz-uhm)  noun  Something misleading, such as a word or phrase used euphemistically or ambiguously for propaganda purposes.  After George Orwell (1903-1950), whose novel 1984 depicted a futuristic totalitarian state employing misleading language for propaganda and control.  Earliest documented use:  1970.  Also see newspeak and Orwellian. 

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day
From:  Martin Rudoph  Long ago as I recall, my education professor, who constantly abused our language, once expressed an important idea thusly:  “A teach should teach at every teach moment.”  He used the same word as a noun, verb, AND adjective!
From Jayashree Coutinho  This lyric from John Mayer’s Come Back To Bed uses the word forgive as a noun:  “You know you’re not a quick forgive”
From:  Joe Presley  Have you nouned an adjective?  My 26-year-old son asked me “Can you do me a solid?”
From:  Ellen Formanek Tepper  to vultch, verb.  To hang hungrily over someone else’s dinner, picking pieces up to eat.  From vulture and my youngest daughter who would do precisely that.  (I had a restaurant job, playing the harp, dinner was included, and I would get it to go.)  I said, you’re like a little vulture.  She said, I am vultching your food!
From:  Kathy Geer Root  We live in the small Ohio town where the now-infamous virus that infects cruise ships, Chipotle restaurants, schools, and other places (its original name, Norwalk virus) has become a verb.  Even though the medical community felt the need to Latinize (there’s another noun-to-verb example) it into norovirus, here in its hometown, we say, “They got Norwalked.” 

From:  Joe Silber  My company makes software to create, manage, and simplify IT workflows.  Our latest tagline is “Let’s workflow it!” 

From:  Christine Caroppo   Here’s an interesting application of the word festoon from archaeology.  There is a pottery type called Parker Festooned.  It was made by Indigenous peoples in southern Michigan, northern Ohio, and southwestern Ontario in the 14th century.  It features rows of incised or applied chevrons or rounded festoons around the rim of the pottery vessel.  More here and here.

From:  Rebecca Eschliman  I was reminded of a quotation from one of my favorite plays, The Lady’s Not for Burning:  Am I invisible?  Am I inaudible?  Do I merely festoon the room with my presence?  AWADmailissue982 

Red roses for young lovers.  French beans for longstanding relationships. - Ruskin Bond, author (b. 19 May 1934) 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2366  May 19, 2021