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One Week of the Newspaper

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April 10, 2006, 07:09
wordcrafter
One Week of the Newspaper
Interesting words need not be so obscure as to be worthless. This week we demonstrate that by reading a single newspaper, you can find an unusual and non-technical word daily.

I chose one of the few national papers in the US, and arbitrarily chose the week in which its publication expanded to six days. There was no difficulty finding a daily word to present. In fact, I rarely had to read more than just the editorial page.

Gresham's Lawfig: a process whereby inferior products drive out superior ones
[OED notes only the literal use, meaning the economic principle that 'bad money drives out good'. When two currencies in use are perceived to have different likelihoods of becoming debased, people tend to hoard and keep the better, thus leaving only the worse currency in circulation. Named after Sir Thomas Gresham, who noted this in a 1558 letter to Queen Elizabeth.]
Note: Apologies for yesterday's error. It's objet d'art, not object d'art

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wordcrafter,
April 11, 2006, 06:37
wordcrafter
alluvial – made of or relating to alluvium; that is, soil deposited by flowing waterSince we've already used a form of this word as our word-a-day, I'll include another one, commenting on the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, which target poverty, hunger and like problems:quantitate – to measure or estimate the quantity of
April 12, 2006, 06:50
wordcrafter
rentier – a person living on income from property or investments
April 13, 2006, 06:42
wordcrafter
Zukunftangst – fear of the future
Today's word does not yet appear in any dictionary I know of. But what a useful word!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wordcrafter,
April 13, 2006, 18:27
Froeschlein
quote:
Originally posted by wordcrafter:
Zukunftangst – fear of the future


Let me begin with a quibble: there's an 's' missing: ZukunftSangst

Having said so, it must be admitted that the the placement/omission of this 's' (the "semi-genitive" is one name for it) is controversial among the German Safires.

Which is not the point here; the point is it reminded that there are a fair number of sesquipedalian German words in English, the main reason for which being that German is a language that not only permits, but outright allows, the fomration of new words; where English has a phrase -- small cattle breeder's association -- German will often have a single (nonce) word -- Kleinviehzuchtverband.

So, we have Weltanschauung (maybe the only EuroWord with 2 u's in a row?), Weltschmerz, Fahrvergnügen (a real word, BTW), Schadenfreude (what a compact way to say: happiness at someone else's expense), Gemütlichkeit ...

D the F
April 14, 2006, 06:38
wordcrafter
fractious1. difficult to control 2. easily irritated; quarrelsomeA quote illustrating the second sense:Bonus word: cosset – to care for over-indulgently
[from a noun meaning "a lamb brought up by hand, as a pet"]

Corrective note: Yesterday's word was Zukunftsangst.
April 15, 2006, 10:56
wordcrafter
perdurable – extremely durable and long-lasting; also, permanent; everlasting
perdure – to continue, endure; to persist; to last forever
April 16, 2006, 07:54
wordcrafter
anthropic – of or belonging to a human being; of a human sort
anthropic principle – the principle that theories of the universe are constrained by the need to allow for man's existence in it as an observer

Today we cite a most interesting article.