pertinacious (pur-tn-AY-shuhs) adjective

   1. Holding resolutely to a purpose, belief or opinion.

   2. Stubbornly unyielding.

[From Latin pertinac- pertinax, per-, thoroughly + tenax, tenacious
(tenere, to hold).]

   "A man is pertinacious when he defends his folly and trusts too greatly
   in his own wit."
   Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: Explicit Secunda Pars Penitentie:
   Part I, 1387-1400 (Translation: Walter W. Skeat).

Philosopher, mathematician, and writer, Bertrand Russell, once said, "The
whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so
certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." This week's
word describe people falling somewhere in between the spectrum. Can you
identify some of those around you in these words ?                -Anu

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Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was
or what freedom really is. -Margaret Mitchell, novelist (1900-1949)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/pertinacious.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/pertinacious.ram