A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
ornery (OR-nuh-ree)
adjective Having an unpleasant
disposition: irritable, stubborn,
combative, etc. An alteration of the
word ordinary, from Latin ordo (order, rank).
In the beginning the word ornery was just a dialect pronunciation of the
word ordinary and meant the same. Over
time it acquired negative senses, from commonplace to lazy to mean to
cantankerous. Earliest documented
use: 1692.
passel (PAS-uhl)
noun A large group or a large
number. Alteration of parcel, from
Anglo-French parcele, from Latin particella, diminutive of particula (small
part), diminutive of pars (part).
Earliest documented use: 1325.
sassy (SAS-ee)
adjective Impudent; bold;
outspoken; lively; feisty; stylish.
Alteration of saucy, from sauce, from Latin salsa, from sallere (to
salt), from sal (salt). Ultimately from
the Indo-European root sal- (salt), which is also the source of silt, sausage,
salad, salami, salary, and salmagundi. Earliest documented use: 1833.
raiment (RAY-muhnt)
noun Clothing. Alteration of arrayment, from array, from Old
French arrayer (to array). Ultimately
from the Indo-European root reidh- (to ride), which also gave us ride, raid,
road, and ready. Earliest documented
use: 1425.
Feedback to A.Word.a.Day
From: Susan
Bues
Subject: ornery I humbly object to your use of a Persian cat
to illustrate the word ornery. Having
been the staff person to six Persians (dogs have owners; cats have staff) over
the last thirty-five years, I consider myself an expert . . .
From: Tom Lund Subject:
ornery One of my favorite
Christmas songs, “I Wonder as I Wander”, was written by John Jacob Niles, based
on an Appalachian song. I have always
been puzzled why the line, “For poor on’ry people like you and like I,” would
cast us all as curmudgeons.
Quotes from Shadow of a Doubt, #1 in the Charley Sloan series, by William J.
Coughlin "Put a camera on lawyers and we all become Olivier." "The psychiatrists say the child within us never dies and
the ethics and standards pounded into us
in our very early years, no matter how stern or inappropriate, are never
completely forgotten, but
exist like reproachful ghosts in the dark recesses of our minds." See list of books by William J. Couglin and
link to books under his pseudonym Sean A. Key at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/745086.William_J_Coughlin William Jeremiah Coughlin (1929-1992),
former defense attorney and judge in Detroit for twenty years, lived in Grosse
Pointe Woods, Michigan with his wife, Ruth, an author and book critic.
Shadow jury refers to a group of mock jurors
paid to observe a trial and report their reactions to a jury consultant hired
by one of the litigants. The shadow
jurors provide counsel with information about the jury’s possible reaction to
the trial. Shadow jury acts as a surrogate
for the real jury. Shadow jurors will be
present in the courtroom with the real jury, hear and observe the same evidence
and argument. However, unlike the real
jury, the shadow jury agrees to be interviewed about their perceptions,
understanding of the case, and beliefs regarding how the case must turn out at
regular intervals. Shadow jury is also
known as phantom jury. http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/shadow-jury/
Baron Munchausen is a fictional German nobleman created
by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in
his 1785 book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels
and Campaigns in Russia.
The character is loosely based on a real baron,
Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen (1720–17970. Born in Bodenwerder, Electorate
of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the real-life Münchhausen fought for the Russian Empire in
the Russo-Turkish
War of 1735–1739. On retiring
in 1760, he became a minor celebrity within German aristocratic circles for
telling outrageous tall tales based on his military career. After hearing some of Münchhausen's stories,
Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as ephemeral
magazine pieces and then in English as the 1785 book, which was first published
in Oxford by a bookseller named Smith. The book was soon translated into other European
languages, including a German version expanded by the poet Gottfried August
Bürger. The real-life
Münchhausen was deeply upset at the development of a fictional character
bearing his name, and threatened legal proceedings against the book's
publisher. Perhaps fearing a libel suit, Raspe never acknowledged his
authorship of the work, which was only established posthumously. Versions of the fictional Baron have appeared
on stage, screen, radio, and television, as well as in other literary
works. The character has inspired
numerous memorials and museums, and several medical conditions and other
concepts are named after him, including Munchausen syndrome,
the Münchhausen trilemma,
and Munchausen numbers. Read extensive article and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Munchausen
Aggressive behavior can cause physical or emotional harm to others. It may range from verbal abuse to physical
abuse. It can also involve harming
personal property. http://www.healthline.com/health/aggressive-behavior
Displaced aggression has been redirected from
its original target, usually a source of frustration, on to a substitute
target. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095721974
Passive-aggressive
behavior is the indirect expression of hostility, such as through procrastination, stubbornness,
sullen behavior, or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish requested
tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive-aggressive_behavior
How Grown-Ups Deal With 'Microaggressions' by Megan
McArdle Whenever I first heard the
word "microaggression," sometime in the last five years, I'm sure I
was unaware how big "micro" could get. The accusation of a microaggression was about
to become a pervasive feature of the Internet, and particularly social
media. An offense most of us didn't
even know existed, suddenly we were all afraid of being accused of. We used to call this "rudeness,"
"slights" or "ignorant remarks." Mostly, people ignored them. The elevation of microaggressions into a
social phenomenon with a specific name and increasingly public redress marks a
dramatic social change, and two sociologists, Bradley Campbell and Jason
Manning, have a fascinating
paper
exploring what this shift
looks like, and what it means. Western
society, they argue, has shifted from an honor culture--in which slights are
taken very seriously, and avenged by the one slighted--to a dignity culture, in
which personal revenge is discouraged, and justice is outsourced to third
parties, primarily the law. The law
being a cumbersome beast, people in dignity cultures are encouraged to ignore
slights, or negotiate them privately by talking with the offender, rather than
seeking some more punitive sanction. Microagressions
mark a transition to a third sort of culture:
a victim culture, in which people are once again encouraged to take
notice of slights. This sounds a lot
like honor culture, doesn't it? Yes,
with two important differences. The
first is that while victimhood is shameful in an honor culture--and indeed, the
purpose of taking vengeance is frequently to avoid this shame--victim status is
actively sought in the new culture, because victimhood is a prerequisite for
getting redress. The second is that
victim culture encourages people to seek help from third parties, either
authorities or the public, rather than seeking satisfaction themselves. Read more at
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-09-11/how-grown-ups-deal-with-microaggressions-
The Library of Congress on November 29, 2016 signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) with the Digital Public Library of America to become a
“content hub partner” and will ultimately share a significant portion of its
rich digital resources with DPLA’s database of digital content records. The first batch of records will include 5,000
items from three major Library of Congress maps collections—the Revolutionary
War (loc.gov/collections/american-revolutionary-war-maps/about-this-collection/),
Civil War (loc.gov/collections/civil-war-maps/about-this-collection/)
and panoramic maps collections (loc.gov/collections/panoramic-maps/about-this-collection/). The Digital Public Library of America is a
portal—effectively, a searchable catalog—that aggregates existing digitized
content from major sources such as libraries, archives, museums and cultural
institutions. It provides users with
links back to the original content-provider site where the material can be
viewed, read or, in some cases, downloaded.
https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-16-207/
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1558
December 2, 2016 On this date in
1409, the University of Leipzig opened. On this date in 1930, in a State of the Union message, U.S. President Herbert
Hoover proposed a $150 million public works program to help
generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
Word of the Day houndstooth
noun 1. A two-colour fabric pattern of
broken checks. 2. Fabric
with a houndstooth pattern; an item of clothing made
with such fabric.
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