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Word a Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English
Word a Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English | Anu Garg
28 posts | 3 to read
Anu Garg's many readers await their A Word A Day rations hungrily. Now at last here's a feast for them and other verbivores. Eat up!-Barbara WallraffSenior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of Word Court Praise for A Word a Day ""AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories. The people who use them have curious stories to tell too, and this collection incorporates some of the correspondence received by the editors at the AWAD site, from advice on how to outsmart your opponent in a duel (or even a truel) to a cluster of your favorite mondegreens.""-John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary ""A banquet of words! Feast and be nourished!""-Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of Language Written by the founder of the wildly popular A Word A Day Web site (www.wordsmith.org), this collection of unusual, obscure, and exotic English words will delight writers, scholars, crossword puzzlers, and word buffs of every ilk. The words are grouped in intriguing categories that range from ""Portmanteaux"" to ""Words That Make the Spell-Checker Ineffective."" each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example-and many feature fascinating and hilarious commentaries by A Word A Day subscribers and the authors.
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keithmalek
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Texreader 😂 2y
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This is all very interesting, but I have to ask: how do North America and South America begin and end with the same letter?

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This is funny. It took me a minute before I got it, but read the "Latin" slowly.

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SW-T
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Knowledge is power, especially when playing Scrabble or other word building games 😇

#trivia #words #wordoftheday

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Clare-Dragonfly
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This isn‘t really book-related but today‘s A Word A Day made me think of @monalyisha 🤷🏻‍♀️

monalyisha Ohhhh! The only definition I‘ve really ever read for my name is “pure.” Which is kinda gross. 🤮 I like this much better & am going to pretend that‘s where it comes from. 💁‍♀️💖 Thanks for thinking of me! (edited) 5y
tournevis Oh, it's a deformation of the French alléchant, which literally means that which makes you want to lick. Really. 5y
Clare-Dragonfly @tournevis EVEN BETTER. @monalyisha Did you see her addition? 😂 5y
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tournevis But Alishia (amd various spellings) is arabic. 5y
tournevis Unless it's Alicia, which comes from Alice. Not related to something you'd lick. 5y
tournevis Alice comes from the Old German Adalhaid, of the root Adal, which means noble. 5y
monalyisha Ha! I love all of this. Thanks @Clare-Dragonfly & @tournevis! 5y
tournevis @monalyisha Maybe I should not have spread all this apl over your fun post, but I study genealogist. I can't be helped. 5y
monalyisha @tournevis No way! It only enhanced the conversation. 😉 5y
Clare-Dragonfly Awesome! I love etymology—thanks, @tournevis! 5y
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SandyW
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OK Littens, I haven't been around in a bit... Family obligations, traveling, and the holidays. I'm not reading much (ack!) and I'm not able to do much tech stuff, but I knew you all needed this word on your vocabulary so here I am for a few minutes...

Tsundoku ... I know you can all relate! 😜

Soubhiville Oh yes. I have a few of those ☺️ 5y
36 likes1 comment
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JoRead
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I've been called lots of things and just found out another beautiful word to be called 😂😁

TheSpineView That is what my husband calls me. 6y
CoverToCoverGirl 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️ 6y
Slajaunie 🤚🏼 6y
34 likes3 comments
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TheWordJar
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Congratulations on your milestone, @Linsy!

I do adore words. And “tsundoku” is one of my favorites. According to Wikipedia (provider of the above definition), it‘s a Japanese word basically meaning “book hoarder.” And we can all relate to that, amirite??

A close runner-up for favorite word is “oeuvre” (the lifework of an artist). Look at all those delicious vowels!

#LinsyLovesLitsy

monkeygirlsmama Fun word and one that truly applies to me. Haha 6y
Linsy So many delicious vowels! I definitely relate to the book hoarder thing, but I like this way of saying it a lot more. 💕 6y
50 likes2 comments
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Marchpane
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#wordoftheday #LitsyLexicon

This word was new to me, I think it will come in handy sometime 🤓

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Great one! Definitely useful to us bookaholics. 6y
tournevis I did not know one could use it in English. That will be useful. 6y
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Marchpane I challenge @shawnmooney to use this word in a video! 6y
Izai.Amorim It rhymes with peur, “J‘ai peur ces‘t un langueur!” Which I‘d hope would be “I‘m afraid it‘s a langueur” but it‘s probably wrong. 😂 6y
AlaMich That is a necessary word!! 6y
BarbaraBB 😂 6y
Tamra Terrific word! 6y
merelybookish 👍👍 6y
LeahBergen Oh, yes. 👍🏻 6y
julesG Good one! I should write it down. 6y
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Clwojick
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I'd be lying if I said this wasn't my biggest pet peeve ever. If I'm not 15 mins early, than I consider myself late. Are you a tidsoptimist?

Darth_Kaders My boyfriend is definitely this way, and I'm like you!!! It sends my anxiety through the roof!!! 7y
stargazerblue49 I am definitely this way. Trying to be better! 7y
ephemeralwaltz Guilty :( 7y
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Chasing_Pages I'm guilty! I always tell myself not to wait until the last minute to get ready to leave but....that doesn't always happen. Most of the time it's because I think I can read just one more chapter, we all know how that turns out! 😂 7y
minkyb Never 7y
Caroline2 This is defo my husband! He makes me late all the time and now I just lie to him and say appointments are 10mins earlier than they are and now we arrive on time!!! 😆😳 7y
Clwojick @Caroline2 😂😂 I tell my best friend we need to be somewhere 1.5hours earlier than we actually have to be because she ALWAYS misses he bus 7y
AmyG Ha...my husband is this. Drives me nuts, too....especially going to the airport. Alas...we always make our flight. But...makes me very anxious. 7y
58 likes8 comments
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Clwojick
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#wordoftheday This would definitely be the library for me. I love to sneak away into the shelves and be surrounded by books. 💕

Meeko93 7y
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