palaver

****************************************************************
Put the whole realm of human knowledge on Dad's desktop
with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia. 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?collency.htm&9
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for June 20 is: 

palaver   \puh-LAV-er\   noun
     1 a : a long parley usually between persons of different cultures or 
levels of sophistication  b : conference, discussion
     2 *a : idle talk  b : misleading or beguiling speech

Example sentence:
     "Ask folks involved why they opted to make [the movie], and you're not 
going to get a lot of palaver about high art and noble intentions." (Joshua 
Rich, _Entertainment Weekly_, May 19, 2006)

Did you know?
     During the 18th century, Portuguese and English sailors often met during 
trading trips along the West African coast. This contact prompted the English 
to borrow the Portuguese "palavra," which usually means "speech" or "word" but 
was used by Portuguese traders with the specific meaning "discussions with 
natives." The Portuguese word traces back to the Late Latin "parabola," a noun 
meaning "speech" or "parable," which in turn comes from the Greek "parabole," 
meaning "juxtaposition" or "comparison."





You Are Subscribed As: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 062006 GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
leave-mw-text-979910Y@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx