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cloud-cuckoo-land: msg#00021

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: cloud-cuckoo-land

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The Word of the Day for April 23 is:

cloud-cuckoo-land \klowd-KOO-koo-land\ noun
: a realm of fantasy or of whimsical or foolish behavior

Example sentence:
If the boss really thinks he can up productivity and
increase profit after the company is downsized, he is living in
cloud-cuckoo-land.

Did you know?
In Aristophanes' 5th century B.C. comedy Birds,
Peisthetaerus (a human) convinces the king of the birds and his
followers to help him build an ideal city juxtaposed between
heaven and earth. They plan to intercept all of the sacrifices
rising from the earth to the gods on Olympus, thereby starving
the gods into cooperating with them. The newly built city is
dubbed "Nephelokokkygia," (from "nephos," meaning "cloud,"
and "kokkyx," the native European cuckoo). By the late 19th
century, English speakers had translated the town's name
as "Cloud-Cuckoo-Land" and had begun using it as a general term
for any similarly unreal or whimsical place or situation.





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