quidnunc

****************************************************************
Attention word gurus:  try WORD SWEEP!, the first board game to feature 
Merriam-Webster definitions! Available at Borders Bookstores.
http://www.wordsweep.com
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for September 20 is: 

quidnunc   \KWID-nunk\   noun
          : a person who seeks to know all the latest news or gossip : busybody 
 

Example sentence:
          Those who criticize Joanne for being a quidnunc are usually the first 
to go to her when they want to know the latest gossip.
 

Did you know?
          "What's new?" That's a question every busybody wants answered. 
Latin-speaking Nosey Parkers might have used some version of the expression 
“quid nunc,” literally "what now," to ask the same question. Appropriately, the 
earliest documented English use of "quidnunc" to refer to a gossiper appeared 
in 1709 in Sir Richard Steele's famous periodical, _The Tatler_. Steele is far 
from the only writer to ply "quidnunc" in his prose, however. You also can find 
the word among the pages of works by such writers as Washington Irving and 
Nathaniel Hawthorne. But don't think the term is old news -- it sees some use 
in current publications, too.





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe, please click here:
http://www.drhinternet.net/mw/u/966408/568f14b4ab4f050b/N76L6

To 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://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

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