New Words

I went to a management seminar a few weeks ago and learned a lot. The lessen was about improving yourself because once you improve yourself, you can improve the relationships with those around you thus improving their commitment to you.

Granted, there were some stretches to the whole discussion, but it was a worthwhile discussion.

One of the ideas for self improvement was to learn a new word every day. That was an easy one and I decided to pursue that avenue. (Please note... it was necessary... as I have already used the word improve at least 6 times up to this point.) Several places were suggested, but I decided that an email subscription was the way to go.

I contacted muh wife to find out the services that she subscribes to as she is the most lovely person I know AND she is also the biggest grammar geek I know -- I think Karen A. is in a close second.

I subscribed to Dr. Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. Both services send me a word a day and I love getting them. Actually... I love getting them when I already know the word. It makes me feel that much smarter.

I figured that once in awhile, I would share these words with you. I recently got this word from M/W's Word of the Day.

The Word of the Day is:
mountebank \MOUNT-ih-bank\ noun 1: a person who sells quack medicines from a platform *2: a boastful unscrupulous pretender : charlatan Example sentence:
In his newspaper column, Gavin criticized the talk-radio host as "a mountebank whose 'expert' opinions and advice are complete hooey."Did you know?
"Mountebank" derives from the Italian "montimbanco," which was formed by combining the verb "montare" ("to mount"), the preposition "in" (converted to "im," meaning "in" or "on") and the noun "banco" ("bench"). Put these components together and you can deduce the literal origins of "mountebank" as someone mounted on a bench — the "bench" being the platform on which charlatans from the 16th and 17th centuries would stand to sell their phony medicines. Mountebanks often included various forms of light entertainment on stage in order to attract customers. Later, extended uses of "mountebank" referred to someone who falsely claims to have knowledge about a particular subject or a person who simply pretends to be something he or she is not in order to gain attention.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.




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