

Dec 28, 2012 This week's theme

Words from various languages that built the English language



This week's words

behoove

ugsome

abjure

purlieu

cumshaw

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RSS/XML Words from various languages that built the English language A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg



cumshaw PRONUNCIATION: (KUM-shaw)

MEANING: noun: A gift or a tip.

ETYMOLOGY: From Chinese (Amoy/Xiamen dialect), kan (to be grateful) + hsieh (thanks). The term was used by beggars in Chinese ports and picked up by visiting sailors during the 19th century. Earliest documented use: 1839.

USAGE: "All those extra bodies don't necessarily increase the chances for cumshaw, according to some tip recipients."

Sean M. Wood; Tourism Doesn't Fill Their Tip Jar; San Antonio Express-News (Texas); Apr 7, 2006.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the US (1809-1865)





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