Past words of the day:

jingoism:
\`jin-(,)go-,i-zem\ n :extreme chauvenism or nationalism

A wave of jingoism washed over the nation as millions of people, obeyed the call of the national press, rushed into the streets carrying flags and banners.

In 1878, supporters if England's decision to oppose Russian provocations were singing a new music-hall song, who's chorus line ran:"We don't want to fight, yet by Jingo! if we do,/We've got the ships, we've got the men, and the money too." These patriots were soon nicknamed the Jingoes, and soon the word jingoism had emerged as well. Like gee, jeepers, and jeez, jingo arose as a euphemism for Jesus, but unlike them it dates back to the 17th century.

September 31, 1998

pestiferous:
\pes-`ti-f(e-)res\adj 1:carrying or propagating infection 2:troublesome, annoying

To evade his pestiferous seatmate's efforts to strike up a conversation, Ned finally resorted to the quiet snoring that had proven so effective in the past.

The root of pestiferous is Latin pestis, meaning "plague". In the 16th century, England adapted the french peste and used it to refer to any lethal epidemic. But even before that, the longer pestiferous had come to be used to mean "dangerous to society" (like the infamous plagues of Egypt in Exodus); only later did it come to mean specificially "infectious" and then simply "annoying."

August 1, 1998

claque:
\`klak\n 1: a group hired to applaud at a performance 2:a group of sycophants

The once-idealistic senator now surrounded himself with a claque of fawning sycophants.

Though this French word (from claquer, "to clap") wonly entered English in 1864, claques date back to antiquity, when Greek playwrights used them to promote their works. The practice became highly organized in 18th-century France. Still today at the international opera houses, a discreet payment will enlist a loud cadre of claqueurs on behaf of a new singer's career. And echos of the practice still survive in "canned" laughter of TV sitcoms.

August 2, 1998

variegated:
\`ver-e-,ga-ted\adj 1: having markings of different colors : dappled 2: varied, diverse

The brochure boast that a culturally diverse student body ensures a variegated learning expierence, both inside and outside the classroom.

The Romans called anything multicolored variegatus (the word derives from varius, "of contrasting colors, varied"), and the English variegated has never ost the flavor of its ancestor-even when describing the multifaceted wisdom of God, as in one of its early uses in the 17th century. The "dappled" sence often appears in the names of colorful plants and animal species, such as variegated grass or variegated spider monkey

August 3, 1998

improvident:
\(,)im-`pr�-ve-dent\ adj : not forseeing and providing for the future

Blackwell was as improvident as he was extravagant, spending so freely on his vintage wines and first editions that he seldom could pay the electric bill on time.

Formed from pro-, "foreward," and videre "to see," Latin providere origionally meant "to see ahead" and later took on the related sence "to make preparation." It Generated the adjetive providens, "forseeing," and its antonym improvident in the 1500s. Improvident initially meant simply "unforseeing," but soon it was being used to suggest a failure to prepare.