Saturday, July 4, 2009

Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls

Boy oh boy, things are bad when you can't count on Merriam-Webster, but here is their "word of the day" for July 4, followed by its pronunciation:
Merriam-Webster’s
Word of the Day
July 4
invigilate
\miss-kun-STROO\ Audio Pronunciation
It's right here if you want to see it "live."

Although... there might be a certain comic value in pronouncing "invigilate" that way. Lest anyone misconstrue your intended meaning. We must invigilate against any such confusion!

And speaking of definitions, I was just listening to a jazz station and heard a song, followed by an unspeakably soft-spoken laid back deejay talking about the musicians. It once again occurred to me that jazz could be defined - at least to my unschooled ear - as "five or six people playing instruments to four different tunes, beginning and ending at roughly the same time."

That's why we have Freedom of Choice! Happy Independence Day!

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