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emote: msg#00003

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: emote

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Happy New Edition! Ring in the New Year with
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
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The Word of the Day for January 4 is:

emote \ih-MOHT\ verb
: to give expression to emotion especially in acting

Example sentence:
The actor in the movie's lead role seemed to be trying too
hard to emote, and as a result his character was not very
believable.

Did you know?
"Emote" is an example of what linguists call a back-
formation -- that is, a word formed by trimming down an
existing word (in this case, "emotion"). From the time "emote"
was coined in the early 20th century, its use has tended to be
less than entirely serious. It most often appears in humorous
or deprecating descriptions of the work of actors. It is
similarly used to describe theatrical behavior by nonactors, as
in this passage by Russell Baker: "Remember, this is politics;
it doesn't have to make sense so long as you emote instead of
asking questions." (_The New York Times_, May 8, 1976)






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