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The Word of the Day for January 15 is:

clochard   \kloh-SHAR\   (noun)
     : tramp, vagrant

Example sentence:
     "He lives on the Pont Neuf, the oldest and most beautiful
bridge in Paris, which has become a secret home to clochards
. . . while closed for extensive repairs." (Vincent Canby,
_The New York Times_, October 6, 1992)

Did you know?
     Why such a fancy French word for a bum? The truth of the
matter is, nine times out of ten, you will find "clochard" used
for not just any bum, but a French bum -- even more particularly,
a Parisian bum. And, sometimes, it's even a certain type of
Parisian bum -- a type that has been romanticized in literature
and is part of the local color. Nevertheless, as "francais" as
this word (which comes from the French verb "clocher," meaning
"to limp") may seem, its regular appearance in English sources
since 1937 makes it an English word, too.

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