centre of the universe: the dreaming








10/20/2004: "A Delightful Word of the Day" I am *so* glad this word is still used. At least in the word of the day mailings. This is one of those pseudo-onomatopoeic words...at least to me. It conjures up images of vociferous crows and cats like Fat Tau who have nothing to say, but who say it quite a lot.
Word of the Day for Wednesday October 20, 2004

popinjay \POP-in-jay\, noun:
A vain and talkative person.

One popinjay shrieking from the left and another from the
right about last week's headlines is not the whole of
Washington's political dramas. Occasionally, American
politics is more complicated and more momentous.
--R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., "Feds Go Drug Crazy," American
Spectator, May 26, 2000

A writer who appreciates the seriousness of writing so
little that he is anxious to make people see he is formally
educated, cultured or well-bred is merely a popinjay.
--Ernest Hemingway, [1]Death in the Afternoon

The dignified, high density of personality of [Clark Gable
and Humphrey Bogart] is completely missing from our
popinjay contemporary actors.
--Camille Paglia, [2]Salon, March 1998
_

Popinjay is from Middle English papejay, popingay, meaning
"parrot," from Old French papegai, deriving ultimately from
Arabic babagha.

"It's decided"       "Tuesday that feels like a Wednesday"



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