

Nov 1, 2013 This week's theme

Eponyms



This week's words

pecksniffian

smellfungus

falstaffian

milquetoast

bumbledom



Mr. Bumble Art: Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke), 1889

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AWADmail 592



Next week's theme

Words borrowed from Yiddish Eponyms A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg



bumbledom PRONUNCIATION: (BUHM-buhl-duhm)

MEANING: noun: Behavior characteristic of a pompous and self-important petty official.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mr. Bumble in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist. Bumble was a fussy, self-important beadle (a minor parish officer) of the workhouse where Oliver Twist was born. Earliest documented use: 1856.

USAGE: "We regret to record the death of Albury-Wodonga with a hyphen. ... Bumbledom in the two councils has decreed the hyphen must go from stationery and signs."

Howard Jones; Political Doublespeak is Sad Legacy for Border Folk; The Border Mail (Wodonga, Australia); Aug 23, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all. -Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564)





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