Re: kakistocracy: M-W's Word of the Day

Very good.

An erroneous, but more colorful, kind of folk etymology might involve the
sounds that some people teach to their very young children to describe
their solid waste.

This would mean that "kakistrocacy" would be govenment by the most "shi--y!"

Works either way.


At 12:18 PM 10/26/02 -0500, you wrote:
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>>The Word of the Day for October 26 is:
>>
>>kakistocracy   \kak-uh-STAH-kruh-see\   (noun)
>>      : government by the worst people
>>
>>Example sentence:
>>      The free election won't guarantee an end to kakistocracy,
>>because none of the candidates have any more integrity than the
>>corrupt dictator currently in power.
>>
>>Did you know?
>>      A reader of _Time_ magazine was once so surprised to find
>>this rare and unusual word in the pages of that publication
>>that he decided the occasion warranted a letter to the editor.
>>"Where in the name of Semanticus, did your writer come up with
>>that word 'kakistocracy,'" he wrote in a letter dated February
>>6, 1956. "Is it a government of parrots?" (A "kaka" is a New
>>Zealand parrot.) Good guess, but "kakistocracy" actually
>>originated as a combination of the Greek "kakistos" (superlative
>>of "kakos," which means "bad") and the English suffix "-cracy,"
>>meaning "form of government."
>>
>>NOTE:
>>Today's Word of the Day is taken from _Webster's Third New
>>International Dictionary, Unabridged_. You can find this word
>>and many other uncommon words on our new site. Merriam-Webster
>>Unabridged: http://www.Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com
>>Sign up now for your 14-day free trial!
>>
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