New word today .. April 19th, 2010

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg
When my daughter was little and scraped a knee, what brought the swiftest diversion wasn't candies or toys, but stories. Stories soothe us, teach us, take us to other worlds. Even when we grow up, our hunger for stories remains.

Each of this week's five words is a story in itself. From mythology, fiction, and poetry, they contain tales that are hundreds or thousands of years old. Through the allusions and metaphors in them we'll visit lands afar.

vanity fair

PRONUNCIATION:

(VAN-i-tee fair)

MEANING:

noun: A place characterized by frivolity and ostentation.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Vanity Fair, a fair that lasted all year long in the town of Vanity, in the novel Pilgrim's Progress by writer and preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688). In the fair were traded houses, honors, titles, kingdoms, pleasures, and much more -- sounds like an early version of eBay.

USAGE:

"[The Millionaire Fair] was a vanity fair of thin beautiful women sporting mink fur coats and low necklines decorated with glittering jewelry and dark-suited, elegant men shadowed by beefy bodyguards."
Maria Danilova; In Moscow, A Nouveau Riche Showcase; The Associated Press; Nov 3, 2006.

"In one corner was Karl Rove, presidential adviser and global-warming denier. In the opposite corner was the An Inconvenient Truth tag team of singer Sheryl Crow and documentary producer Laurie David. Their encounter took place Saturday night in Washington at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, a vanity fair for journalists, politicos, and celebrities."
The Lightning Round; The Philadelphia Inquirer; Apr 24, 2007.
Explore "vanity fair" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience. -George Sand [pen name of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin], novelist (1804-1876)

TSYT-gyst

PRONUNCIATION:

(TSYT-gyst)

MEANING:

noun: The defining spirit of a particular period: the general cultural, political, intellectual, and moral climate of an era.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German Zeitgeist (spirit of the time), from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit).

USAGE:

"Once again Lionel Shriver has stomped into the middle of a pressing national debate with a great ordeal of a novel So Much For That that's impossible to ignore. ... If Jodi Picoult has her finger on the zeitgeist, Shriver has her hands around its throat."
Ron Charles; So Much For That; The Washington Post; Mar 17, 2010.
Explore "zeitgeist" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, "I'm in favor of privatization," or, "I'm deeply in favor of public ownership." I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case. -John Kenneth Galbraith, economist (1908-2006)

weltanschauung… ( new word)

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

weltanschauung

PRONUNCIATION:

(VELT-ahn-shou-oong)

MEANING:

noun: World view; philosophy of life; a framework through which to interpret the world.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German Weltanschauung (world view), from Welt (world) + Anschauung (perception).

NOTES:

When we bring in a word from another language, sometimes we borrow it and at other times make a loan translation. The word weltanschauung appears so useful that English has borrowed the original form and also made a loan translation: world view.

USAGE:

"Gwyneth Paltrow summed up her weltanschauung thus: 'My life is good because I am not passive about it.'"
Richard Dorment; Gwyneth Paltrow Feels Good -- And So Can You; Esquire (New York); Sep 16, 2009.
Explore "weltanschauung" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)