Page 12 - BoomerTimes_Jan_2021_

News From The World Of Words

By Richard Lederer
Merriam-Webster has announced that pandemic is its 2020 Word of
the Year.
“Sometimes a single word defines an era, and it’s fitting that in this
exceptionally difficult year, a single word came immediately to the fore
as we examined the data that determines what our Word of the Year will
be,” the publishing company said.
The word epidemic originated with the Greek epidemia, constructed
from epi, “among,” and demos, “people,” as in democracy. The pan in
pandemic means “all,” as in Pan American, panorama and panacea.
Following the analogy of pantheon, the poet John Milton, in his epic
poem Paradise Lost, welded together pan, “all,” and demon, “devil,”
to forge pandemonium, which literally means “a place of all demons.”
Because Satan and his company were noisy and mischief-making, the
meaning of pandemonium has broadened to mean “uproar or tumult.”
We’ll soon witness the inauguration
of our 46 president, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
th
Other pandemic words and compounds that spiked in 2020 include
COVID-19, quarantine, asymptomatic, social distancing (I prefer physical
distancing), super-spreader, P.P.E., contact tracing, essential / frontline
workers, virtual learning and Zoom. Look for BoomerTimes & SeniorLife inserted monthly in
COVID-19 was first sighted in February, and Merriam-Webster put up The Miami Herald*
a dictionary definition 34 days later, the fastest journey from conception
to formal recognition in the company’s nearly 200-year history. (N. Miami-Dade and in Broward County)
We’ll soon witness the inauguration of our 46 president, Joseph R. January 2021 issue inserted January 20
th
Biden, Jr. __________________
The story behind the word inaugurate is an intriguing one. It literally February 2021 issue inserted February 17
means “to take omens from the flight of birds.” In ancient Rome, augurs
would predict the outcome of an enterprise by the way the birds were (Subscriptions are also available—srlife@gate.net)
flying. These soothsayer-magicians would tell a general whether or not *A complimentary copy is randomly inserted in home delivery in
to march or to do battle by the formations of the birds on the wing. They the following zip codes:
might even catch one and cut it open to observe its entrails for omens.
Nowadays, presidential candidates use their inauguration speeches to 33004 Dania 33179 North Miami Beach
take flight on an updraft of words, rather than birds—and they often spill 33009 Hallandale 33180 Aventura,
their guts for all to see. 33019 Hollywood N. Miami Beach
The numbers that designate this Inauguration Day—1/21/21—read 33020 Hollywood 33308 Ft. Lauderdale
the same forward and backward. When words do that, they form what 33021 Hollywood 33312 Ft. Lauderdale, Dania
we call a palindrome. When dates do that, I call them calindromes. 33023 Miramar, 33313 Beach, Hollywood

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How many punctuation marks do we use in English? 33024 Hollywood, 33315 Ft. Lauderdale
The answer is 14: period (.), question mark (?), exclamation point (!), Pembroke Pines 33316 Ft. Lauderdale
comma (,), semicolon (;), colon (:), dash (—), hyphen (–), parentheses 33025 Miramar, 33317 Plantation
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Wow! The sentence above is likely the most Cooper City 33321 Tamarac
punctuated sentence I have ever typed and, I opine, 33027 Miramar, 33322 Sunrise
you’ve ever read. Pembroke Pines 33323 Sunrise, Sawgrass
33028 Pembroke Pines 33324 Plantation, Davie
Dr. Richard Lederer is the author of more than 50 33029 Miramar, 33325 Davie, Sawgrass
books about language, history and humor, including
his newest books, “A Treasury of Halloween Humor” Pembroke Pines 33326 Weston
and “A Treasury of Christmas Humor.” To order signed 33060 Pompano Beach 33327 Weston
copies, explore his website, verbivore.com or write him 33062 Hillsboro Beach, 33330 Davie, Cooper City,
Richard Lederer at richardhlederer@gmail.com. Pompano Beach Southwest Ranches
33063 Margate, 33331 Davie, Weston,
MINT CONDITION 33064 Coconut Creek 33332 Southwest Ranches
Davie, Weston
Lighthouse Point,
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Coconut Creek
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some hair, many new parts, including hip, knee, 33068 N. Lauderdale, 33351 Sunrise, Tamarac
cornea, valves. Isn’t in running condition but walks 33076 Margate 33441 Deerfield Beach
Coral Springs,
Deerfield Beach
33442
well. — Florida retirement complex ad Parkland
(From THIS OLD BODY...AND 99 OTHER REASONS 33160 Aventura, Golden Beach, N. Miami Beach,

Sunny Isles Beach
TO LAUGH AT LIFE by Barbara Greenleaf)
12 / BoomerTimes & SeniorLife BoomerTimesFL.com JANUARY 2021