canard

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The Word of the Day for June 6 is:

canard   \kuh-NARD\   noun
    1 a : a false or unfounded report or story; especially : a fabricated 
report *b : a groundless rumor or belief
     2 : an airplane with horizontal stabilizing and control surfaces in front 
of supporting surfaces; also : a small airfoil in front of the wing of an 
aircraft that increases the aircraft's stability 

Example sentence:
     "Last week's storm," Chet declared, "showed us that the claim that 
lightning cannot strike the same place twice is nothing more than a canard."

Did you know?
     In 16th-century France "vendre des canards a moitie" was a colorful way of 
saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to 
half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the 
proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the 
details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of 
"canard," the French word for "duck," with the meaning "a hoax" or "a 
fabrication." English speakers adopted this "canard" in the mid-1800s. The 
aeronautical sense of "canard," used from the early days of flying, comes from 
the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft. 





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