Good evening Netizens…

adjective

The round-table forum brought four distinguished Redbrick professors to face off against four renowned scholars from Oxford and Cambridge.

“As the product of redbrick universities rather than the rarefied spires of Oxbridge, the Goldman Sachs oracle gives the impression of being a slightly hesitant candidate to succeed Sir Mervyn King at the Bank of England.” — From an article by Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail (London), June 21, 2012

Although red brick is a perfectly innocent building material in America, the British usage of “redbrick” is often potentially uncomplimentary. “Redbrick” is a British coinage created to denote the universities which were newer and perhaps less prestigious than Oxford and Cambridge (and sometimes the ancient universities of Scotland). These newer universities tended to be constructed of red brick, rather than the stone used for Oxford and Cambridge, and were most often created in industrial cities such as Liverpool. Sometimes the term is also used to distinguish these universities from those built after World War II. Limited evidence suggests that “redbrick” may be developing an extended meaning of “lower-class” or “working class,” but this is not yet established enough to merit a dictionary entry.

Read more at http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2013/04/04/#lQfjJWgbSGI3ibeU.99

Good evening, Netizens…

noun

Trevor fancies himself something of a boulevardier, and he appears in the newspaper's society pages often enough that the label seems apt.

“Effervescent and boyish, he has a boulevardier's bounce and a performer's panache.” — From an article by Mark Feeney in the New York Times, November 4, 2012

The first boulevardiers got their name from the thoroughfares they frequented: the typically straight and geometrically precise boulevards of Paris. These particular men must have cut an impressive figure because the word “boulevardier” was eventually applied to any worldly and socially active man. Unlike many near-synonyms, “boulevardier” is generally a complimentary term. It differs from “flaneur” in that the latter refers to someone who is idle, and it doesn't imply the same vanity and foolishness that words like “fop,” “dandy,” and “coxcomb” do.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning, Netizens…

adjective

“Jensen, a right-handed athlete, quickly began to teach himself to become ambidextrous.” — From an article by Sam Blum in The Daily Orange (Syracuse, New York), February 20, 2013

“For that ambidextrous creature known as the author-illustrator—or at least for the best among them—story and art, like mind and body, are almost impossible to pull apart.” — from a book review by Meg Wolitzer in the New York Times, November 10, 2011

Latin “dexter” originally meant “related to or situated on the right side,” but since most people do things better with the right hand, “dexter” developed the sense of “skillful” (as demonstrated by our word “dexterous“). In 1646, English physician and author Sir Thomas Browne combined “dexter” with the Latin prefix “ambi-” (meaning “both”) in the first documented use of “ambidextrous”: “Some are … ambidextrous or right-handed on both sides.” The word can now describe the kind of physical or mental agility demonstrated by one with multiple diverse talents.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning Netizens…

noun

Balneology is used at the spa as a means of treating injured muscles.

“Fortunately, our collection contains a large number of items relating to balneology, the science of baths and bathing, including pamphlets from hot spring resorts across the United States from the late 1800s and early 1900s.” — From an article posted February 12, 2013 at nyamcenterforhistory.org

“Sure, the hot water feels good. Sure, the massage is nice. But it goes beyond that, advocates say.” So wrote Ellen Creager in an article published on February 18, 2001 in the Detroit Free Press. The healing powers of mineral baths have long been touted by advocates like those mentioned by Creager. Though we've had the word “balneology” for just over 130 years, this method of treating aching muscles, joint pain, and skin ailments goes back to ancient times. Proponents of the science of bath therapy created the name “balneology” from the Latin word “balneum” (“bath”) and the combining form “-logy” (“science”). Today, some medical institutes in Europe have departments of balneology. Modern “balneologists” impart their knowledge to, or themselves serve as, “balneotherapists,” who apply their “balneotherapy” to clients.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good afternoon Netizens…

verb

Rob checks every ledger entry twice to obviate any problems when it comes time for an audit.

“Some TVs come equipped with … technology that manufacturers incorporated to obviate the need for supplementary cable boxes.” — From an article by Mike Rogoway in The Oregonian, January 13, 2013

“Obviate” derives from Late Latin “obviare” (meaning “to meet or withstand”) and Latin “obviam,” which means “in the way” and is also an ancestor of our adjective “obvious.” “Obviate” has a number of synonyms in English, including “prevent,” “preclude,” and “avert”; all of these words can mean to hinder or stop something. When you prevent or preclude something, you put up an insurmountable obstacle. In addition, “preclude” often implies that a degree of chance was involved in stopping an event. “Obviate” generally suggests the use of intelligence or forethought to ward off trouble. “Avert” always implies that a bad situation has been anticipated and prevented or deflected by the application of immediate and effective means.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning, Netizens…

adjective

Theo's journalism professor encouraged him to eschew fuliginous prose in favor of simple, straightforward language.

“For two weeks he continued his surveying in a fuliginous atmosphere of almost continual fog but then, on 5 August, the mists suddenly cleared, allowing him to make a detailed observation of a solar eclipse (on the appropriately named Eclipse Island, one of the tiny Burgeo Islands).” — From Frank McLynn's 2011 book Captain Cook: Master of the Seas

“Fuliginous” is a word with a dark and dirty past—it derives from “fuligo,” the Latin word for “soot.” In an early sense (now obsolete), “fuliginous” was used to describe noxious bodily vapors once thought to be produced by organic processes. The “sooty” sense, which English speakers have been using since the early 1620s, can be used to describe everything from dense fogs and malevolent clouds to overworked chimney sweeps. “Fuliginous” can also be used to refer to something dark or dusky, as in Henry James' novel The Ambassadors, in which the character Waymarsh is described as having “dark fuliginous eyes.”

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning Netizens…

adjective

Parents, faculty, and members of the community commended the students for their laudable efforts at cleaning up the park and renovating its play structures.

“This revision of the school funding formula would align with and enable those laudable reforms to come to full fruition.” — From an editorial in the Denver Post, February 23, 2013

Both “laudable” and “laudatory” derive ultimately from Latin “laud-” or “laus,” meaning “praise.” “Laudable” and “laudatory” differ in meaning, however, and usage commentators warn against using them interchangeably. “Laudable” means “deserving praise” or “praiseworthy,” as in “laudable efforts to help the disadvantaged.” “Laudatory” means “giving praise” or “expressing praise,” as in “a laudatory book review.” People occasionally use “laudatory” in place of “laudable,” but this use is not considered standard.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening Netizena…

noun

The vet explained to the children that what appeared to be a display of anger in the cat was actually a behavior called flehmen.

“One of the behavioural components of male sexual display in all hoofed stock except the pig is the 'olfactory reflex' known as flehmen. In this reflex, [the] animal fully extends the head and neck, contracts the nares and raises the upper lip while taking shallow respiration.” — From an article by S. Gul in the Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, September 30, 2012

“Flehmen” comes to English by way of German, in which language the word applies to animals and means “to curl the upper lip.” The German source of the English word is a verb, and the English word is also used—albeit rarely—as a verb, as in “the horse flehmened.” More often, though, the verbal form is actually a gerund: “the horse's flehmening.” “Flehmen” is sometimes capitalized in English, as nouns are in German, but more often it is lowercase.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morjnming, Netizens…

noun

The entertainer's new book features the same kind of wry humor that is the hallmark of his radio show.

“His usually sympathetic, sometimes overgenerous interpretation of others' motives has been a hallmark of his character at least since his student days.” — From an article by Hendrik Hertzberg in The New Yorker, February 4, 2013

Centuries ago, King Edward I of England decreed that gold and silver had to be tested and approved by master craftsmen before being sold. Later, London artisans were required to bring finished metal goods to Goldsmith's Hall to be checked, and if those items met the quality standards of the craft-masters there, they would be marked with a special stamp of approval. (The process is much the same today.) At first, people used “hallmark” to name that mark of excellence from Goldsmith's Hall, but over the years the word came to refer to any mark guaranteeing purity or genuineness, and eventually to name any sign of outstanding talent, creativity, or excellence.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning Netizens…,

adjective

Brent began working at the company when it was in its nascent stage, with just a single one-room office and four employees.

“Both Enterprise and Hertz have small car-sharing units. Zipcar is estimated to have the largest share of the nascent industry, which has about $400 million in annual sales among all companies.” — From an article by Jerry Hirsch in the Los Angeles Times, January 3, 2013

“Nascent” comes from “nascens,” the present participle of the Latin verb “nasci,” which means “to be born.” It is a relative newcomer to the collection of English words that derive from that Latin verb. In fact, when the word “nascent” was itself a newborn, in the first quarter of the 17th century, other “nasci” offspring were already respectably mature. “Nation,” “native,” and “nature” had been around since the 1300s; “innate” and “natal,” since the 1400s. More recently, we picked up some French descendants of “nasci”: “née” in the 1700s and “Renaissance” in the 1800s. Our newest “nasci” word? It may well be “perinatology,” which was first used in the late 1960s to name the specialized branch of medicine concerned with childbirth.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning, Netizens…

adjective

A canorous chorus of birdsong filled the morning air.

“The album features fast and brooding melodies … and standout canorous piano and clean guitar moments….” — From a post by Caroline Jensen at Rock Edition, February 6, 2013

In Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), the essayist Thomas de Quincey describes a manservant who, after accidentally letting a loaded trunk fall down a flight of stairs, “sang out a long, loud, and canorous peal of laughter.” “Canorous” typically describes things, such as church choirs or birds in the spring, that are a pleasure to listen to. It derives from the Latin verb “canere” (“to sing”), a root it shares with a number of words that evoke what is sweet to the ear, such as “chant,” “canticle,” “cantor” (a leader of a choir), “carmen” (a song, poem, or incantation) and even “accent.”

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good morning Netizens…

noun

The lifelong friends always greeted each other the same way: John would point out Gary's thinning hair, then Gary would come back with a riposte about John's golf game.

“Modernism, with its strong Gothic influences recalling the glories of medieval Barcelona, was very much a riposte to the conservative architecture that flourished in Madrid at the time.” — From an article by Andrew Allen in The New York Times, February 8, 2013

In the sport of fencing, a riposte is a counterattack made after successfully fending off one's opponent. English speakers borrowed the name for this particular maneuver from French in the early 1700s, but the French had simply modified Italian “risposta,” which literally means “answer.” Ultimately these words come from the Latin verb “respondēre” meaning “to respond.” It seems fitting that “riposte” has since come full circle to now refer to a quick and witty response performed as a form of retaliation.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening, Netizens…

verb

John grifted much of his income by carrying out elaborate cons against unsuspecting tourists.

“Both victims lost substantial amounts of money, with one being grifted out of an astonishing $35,000.…” — From an article in SFist, September 6, 2012

“Grift” was born in the argot of the underworld, a realm in which a “grifter” might be a pickpocket, a crooked gambler, or a confidence man—any criminal who relied on skill and wits rather than physical violence—and to be “on the grift” was to make a living by stings and clever thefts. “Grift” may have evolved from “graft,” a slightly older word meaning “to acquire dishonestly,” but its exact origins are uncertain. We do know that the verb “grift” first finagled its way into print in 1915 in George Bronson-Howard's God's Man: “Grifting ain't what it used to be. Fourteenth Street's got protection down to a system—a regular underworld tariff on larceny.”

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening, Netizens…

adjective

The style of her art work is intentionally demotic, aimed at ordinary people rather than the elite of the art world.

“The demotic dictionary gives researchers definitions, shows word uses and helps with translating texts. But it also serves as a reference guide for reconstructing and understanding ancient Egyptian culture, whether it's the nuances of government, commerce, politics, religion or male-female relationships.” — From an article by Dawn Turner Trice in the Chicago Tribune, October 22, 2012

Good evening, Netizens.,.,

noun

The latest installment in the movie series earned plaudits from critics and fans alike.

“Just a year and a half after graduating from Los Angeles' private Harvard-Westlake School, Platt has … scored the show-stealing 'Mormon' role and won plaudits for offering an interpretation decidedly different from Josh Gad's Tony-nominated performance.” — From a review by Kerry Reid in the Chicago Tribune, January 3, 2013

Give yourself a round of applause if you recognize the similarity between today's featured word and a pair of familiar words. (There's a hint in the first half of the previous sentence, as well as in the first sense of the definition.) “Plaudit” was borrowed into English in the early 17th century from a form of the Latin verb “plaudere,” meaning “to applaud.” “Plaudere” is, of course, also the ancestor of “applaud” and “applause,” as well as of “explode,” “plausible,” and the now archaic “displode” (a synonym of “explode”).

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good afternoon, Netizens…

adjective

Our family traditions may seem silly to outsiders, but to us they are sacrosanct.

“'Is college a lousy investment?' This was the question posed in a Newsweek cover story in the fall, a blunt challenge to America’s long-standing, nearly sacrosanct belief in the value of a college education.” — From an article by Bob King in Business Lexington (Kentucky), February 14, 2013

That which is sacrosanct is doubly sacred: the two Latin components underlying the word, “sacro” and “sanctus,” were combined long ago to form a phrase meaning “hallowed by a sacred rite.” “Sacro” means “by a sacred rite” and comes from “sacrum,” a Latin noun that lives on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae—a shortening of “os sacrum,” which literally means “holy bone.” “Sanctus” means “sacred” and gave us “saint” and obvious words like “sanctimony,” “sanctify,” a

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good afterlnoon, Netizens..,

noun

John keeps his smartphone with him when he goes hiking, but Linda leaves hers at home, preferring to free herself momentarily of the fetters of technology.

“At the moment, legally speaking, Internet cafes operate in Ohio without fetter or review.” — From an editorial by Thomas Suddes in The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, December 2, 2012

While now used as a more general term for something that confines or restrains, “fetter” was originally applied specifically to a chain or shackle for the feet. Not surprisingly, the word's Old English ancestor, “feter,” is etymologically shackled to “fōt,” the Old English ancestor of “foot.” Both words have a long history in the English language, dating back to the early 9th century, and are chained to Sanskrit “pad,” Latin “ped-” and “pes,” Greek “pod-” and “pous,” Gothic “fotus,” Norse “fōtr,” and Old High German “fuoz.”

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening Netizens…

noun

The morning after the wedding, Pamela woke up with a blinding katzenjammer.

“Combating your attack of the katzenjammers with more liquor may seem absurd, but desperate times demand desperate measures.” — From an article by Lissa Townsend Rodgers in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise (Oklahoma), August 16, 2012

Have you ever heard a cat wailing and felt that you could relate? Apparently some hungover German speakers once did. “Katzenjammer” comes from German “Katze” (meaning “cat”) and “Jammer” (meaning “distress”). English speakers borrowed the word for their hangovers (and other distressful inner states) in the 19th century and eventually applied it to outer commotion as well. The word isn't as popular in English today as it was around the mid-20th century, but it's well-known to many because of the “Katzenjammer Kids,” a long-running comic strip featuring the incorrigibly mischievous twins Hans and Fritz.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening, Netizens…

adjective

Fennel is a carminative herb that helps alleviate gas after a spicy meal.

“Cumin seeds contain numerous phyto-chemicals that are known to have antioxidant, carminative and anti-flatulent properties, and are also an excellent source of dietary fibre.” — From an article in Facts For You, May 5, 2012

In times gone by, human personalities were believed to be controlled by four humors: blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and melancholy (black vile). Though this belief was long ago discredited, its influence lingers on in the English language. When “carminative” came into use in the 15th-century medical field, carminative agents were thought to be effective because they influenced the humors. The word comes from Latin “carrere,” meaning “to card,” referring to the act of cleansing or disentangling. This history reflects the theory that certain humors could be “combed out” like knots in wool.

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave

Good evening Netizens…

adjective

Cemal is a voracious reader who whips through three or four books each week.

“Hundreds of Humboldt squid washed up on Santa Cruz County beaches Sunday in a mass stranding that is not uncommon but remains somewhat of a mystery to marine scientists. The even more intriguing question, they say, is why the voracious feeders, also called jumbo flying squid, began venturing up to the Central Coast in 2000 from the Sea of Cortez and other warmer spots—and what their effect is on the ocean environment.” — From an article by Cathy Kelly in Contra Costa Times, December 11, 2012

“Voracious” is one of several English words that derive from the Latin verb “vorare,” which means “to eat greedily” or “to devour.” “Vorare” is also an ancestor of “devour” and of the “-ivorous” words that describe the diets of various animals. These include “carnivorous” (“meat-eating”), “herbivorous” (“plant-eating”), “omnivorous” (“feeding on both animals and plants”), “frugivorous” (“fruit-eating”), “graminivorous” (“feeding on grass”), and “piscivorous” (“fish-eating”).

From Merriam-Webster Online at www.Merriam-Webster.com.

Dave