spiel

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The Word of the Day for June 9 is:

spiel   \SPEEL\   noun 
     : a voluble line of often extravagant talk : pitch

Example sentence:
     We let the time-share salesman give us his opening spiel, but when he got 
to the high-pressure sales tactics, we cut him short and made it clear that we 
were not interested.

Did you know?
     There?s more than one "spiel." Today's featured noun sense is well-known, 
and many of our readers may also be aware that "spiel" can be used as a verb 
for the act of talking extravagantly. But did you know that the verb can also 
mean "to play music"? That, in fact, was the word's original meaning -- one it 
shares with its German root, "spielen." In Scottish English, "spiel" is also 
sometimes used as a shortened form of "bonspiel," a name for a match or 
tournament of the icy game of curling.





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