AWADmail Issue 66
                        February 3, 2002

       A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
         and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages

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From: Anu Garg (anu@wordsmith.org)
Subject: Linguaphiles cross half-million mark

Last week the number of wordlovers on AWAD list reached 500,000.
Thanks to all of you for making this the world's largest and most
enjoyable community of wordlovers. You can share it with others by
sending a gift subscription: http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html

You can see the distribution of addresses by countries with their
flags at: http://wordsmith.org/awad/stats.html (it's a large document).

The latest edition of AWADnews is available at:
http://wordsmith.org/awad/awadnews.html

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From: Wordsmith Sponsor (sponsor@wordsmith.org)
Subject: Sponsor of this AWADmail issue: Robert J. Thieblot

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From: Hendrika Vande Kemp, Ph.D. (hendrika@earthlink.net)
Subject: Regarding the word ethology
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/ethology.html

I forwarded today's word to a list of historians of psychology, who
all want you to know that there was an earlier, 19th century version
of ethology:

   In his 1843 SYSTEM OF LOGIC, J.S. Mill proposed the  development of a
   new science he also called "ethology," whose purpose would be the
   explanation of individual and national differences in character, on the
   basis of associationistic psychology.  Needless to say, the French sense
   of the term has prevailed.
   -Raymond E. Fancher
   Editor, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
   Professor of Psychology
   York University

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From: Helen Ferrara (hferrara@aol.com)
Subject: Re:  Enronomics
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/esemplastic.html

In regard to your comments about Enron and "enronomics" to describe their
method of economics and accounting, I believe that before long the idea
of "going enron" will be used to describe other such unfortunate failures.

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From: Thomas Shunk (tshunk@bakerlaw.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ultramontane
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/ultramontane.html

Your commentary relating to 'ultramontane' include a reminiscence of your
days in Cleveland, which you remember as being located on the "North Shore."
While there might be some Clevelanders who mistakenly use this phrase, the
much more common Cleveland expression is that we live on the "North Coast,"
which is accurate, even from the point of view of our Canadian neighbors.
A brief check of the Cleveland White Pages shows 23 entries for "North Shore
etc." businesses, but roughly five times that number of entries for "North
Coast etc." businesses, from "North Coast Abrasives, Inc." to "North Coast
Wood Products."

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From: Richard Rosen (rdrosen49@yahoo.com)
Subject: a small correction
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/psychobabble.html

I was delighted to see my coinage "psychobabble" as word of the day--thank
you--but would like to correct one small error. My book Psychobabble was
published in 1977 (Atheneum), not 1997.

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From: Sharon Streeter (diomo1@msn.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--opsimath
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/opsimath.html

At 58 I'm learning the cello. "Opsimath" inspired a poem. Thanks!

Opsimath

She plucked the open D-string on her cello,
Felt of its vibration, followed fading tremor
As it rose, expanded, filled the room, and then,
Evaporated. She, the aging opsimath, eager
To explore the strings of steel, membranous
Polished woods, the hollow core
And all its possibilities, placed index finger
Carefully and plucked again. D, clear and pure.

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From: Jeffrey Carpenter <jcfish57@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--hangdog
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/hangdog.html

Re: "hangdog"  No doubt that the delinquent canines would be given the
ultimate penalty---wasn't it Salem or another community caught up in witch
fever that executed several dogs along with the humans? And the 18th century
Brits, who would hang petty thieves (read _The Fatal Shore_) would probably
include the thieves' best friends as accomplices. I associate the word
with the sentiment expressed by the public who gathered at such executions,
those who stay "until the last dog is hanged," whether sea-dog pirate,
highwayman, Fagin, or starving pilferer, all of whom hadn't a dog's chance
in the courtroom.

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From: Raymond McGrath (rmcgrath@pacbell.net)
Subject: Oblique Sports reference
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/sticky_wicket.html

Here's an oblique sports reference culled from an old music review:

"The X Symphony played Brahms last night. Brahms lost."

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From: Eric Shackle (eshackle@ozemail.com.au)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--cruciverbalist
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/cruciverbalist.html

Cruciverbalists may like to read about the world's first crossword; others
may prefer The President's Pretzel Problem. Both stories are in the February
edition of my e-book http://bdb.co.za/shackle/ebook.htm .

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From: Wordsmith Sponsor (sponsor@wordsmith.org)
Subject: Sponsor of this AWADmail issue: Zeus Systems

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............................................................................
High is our calling, Friend! Creative Art
(Whether the instrument of words she use,
Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues,
Demands the service of a mind and heart.
-William Wordsworth, poet (1770-1850)

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