New Word Wednesday

So I've given up "regular" features - in that I can't keep up with scheduled stuff every week - but I'll still drop the post title when appropriate.

Anyway, today it's Apothegm (I was SURE that was a typo when I first read it - who puts g and m together in a word?)


ap·o·thegm

   [ap-uh-them]  Show IPA
–noun
a short, pithy, instructive saying; a terse remark or aphorism.
Also, apophthegm.

Origin: 
1545–55;  earlier apothegma  < Gk apóphthegma,  equiv. toapophtheg-  (var. s. of apophthéngesthai  to speak out; apo- apo- + phthéngesthai  to speak) + -ma  n. suffix

—Related forms
ap·o·theg·mat·ic  [ap-uh-theg-mat-ik]  Show IPA, ap·o·theg·mat·i·cal, adjective
ap·o·theg·mat·i·cal·ly, adverb

—Can be confused:  adage, aphorism, apothegm, axiom, maxim,proverb.
Dictionary.com Unabridged 
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye, Farewell

Image
Last Sunday, Larry Norman died. He was 60 years old. Larry is often considered the Father of Christian Rock - or somesuch... He was a pioneer, no doubt about that. There was a lot of controversy that surrounded him - maybe he was hard to work with, I don't know. I've heard that some in the "CCM Industry" who would laud him publicly (and, you know, record his songs and stuff) would criticize him privately. He made some pretty wild accusations, no doubt about that (apparently Larry wrote a song called The Tune that somehow he says Bill Gaither ripped off in the song "God Gave the Song" - okay, maybe he took the CONCEPT, but, really, listen to "The Tune" above, and then listen to this - Bill Gaither talking about "God Gave the Song" - which sounds like, if something was done it was done by Ron Huff...but I digress. I mean, yeah, it's got a lot in common - but...well, I don't know... Larry says that it was Gaither's biggest hit...
Read more

Back from Innovate 2007 Inspired

Image
Spent a big chunk of last week at the Innovate 2007 conference at Granger Community Church in Granger Indiana. First off, I was pleased to discover that GCC is a United Methodist church. I was not surprised to find that they don't make the denomination a part of their name. We're in an age where Community is much more likely to engage someone and "United Methodist" is much more likely to disengage someone within their target demographic . Understand, they don't want (or need, for that matter) me to come to their church (though I want to, I really do). Their target on Sunday mornings is, you guessed it, the Seeker (tm) ** (see note below) either has never gone to church or who has become disenfranchised by organized religion. Okay, fair enough. I came to a realization that every church has a target demographic. We have a very formal and traditional service at 11:00 here at First. We should not be surprised that we tend to attract folks who like formal and traditio...
Read more

When (the Trivially) Wrong Is Right...

I broke the rules, but I didn't do anything wrong. So, why do I feel kinda guilty? Here's the thing. We have this municipal parking lot where you get a ticket when you go in and then when you leave you stop at a little booth to pay your fee. The first half hour is free and then it goes up in quarter increments (okay, this isn't the biggest town in Western PA, okay?). So, I'm only in there like 20 minutes but when I stop at the little booth, it's locked up. Now what do I do with my little ticket? The RULES say I have to turn it in...but, I don't owe anything...um... So, it was a really little moment in my otherwise fascinating and exciting life - but as I was pulling away clutching the ticket I felt...weird. You know, I didn't do anything wrong...but I broke the rules... And I wonder if Jesus ever felt that way when he healed on the Sabbath. Okay, maybe that's a bad example because Jesus is...well...GOD. So, how about Peter and John. Do you think those gu...
Read more