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Podunk: msg#00025

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Subject: Podunk

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The Word of the Day for November 27 is:

Podunk \POH-dunk\ noun
: a small, unimportant, and isolated town

Example sentence:
After living in a Podunk for most of her life, it took a long time for
Hannah to adjust to life in the big city.

Did you know?
"I hear you ask, 'Where in the world is Podunk?'" A correspondent asked
that question of the editors of the Buffalo, New York, _Daily National Pilot_
in 1846, then answered himself: "It is in the world, sir; and more than that,
is a little world of itself." That writer may have introduced America to the
concept of Podunk as an insignificant Anywhere, U.S.A., town, but the place
isn't just imaginary; towns with that name have actually existed in
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Iowa (and probably elsewhere) over
the years. The exact origin of the name is murky, but it appears that "Podunk"
comes from an Algonquian word, either the name of a tribe that inhabited an
area near Hartford, Connecticut, or a more generic term meaning "swampy place."






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