retronym

****************************************************************
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 December 8 is:

retronym   \REH-troh-nim\   noun 
     : a term consisting of a noun and a modifier which specifies the original meaning of the noun 

Example sentence:
     When Bob asked Donna what a retronym was, she looked around the room for an example and said "rotary phone."  

Did you know?
     If you?re planning to buy a TV anytime soon, be sure to do plenty of research. Nowadays, there are so many options using state-of-the-art technology -- from projection sets to LCD and plasma ones -- that the box television with the convex screen you might be replacing with a flat-screen television is... well, retro. And if you still have a console television set, a trip to a big-box store might be in your very near future. The names of such out-of-date technology, like "console television set," are examples of retronyms. The oldest print usage that we know of for the word "retronym" itself is from William Safire's column "On Language" in a 1980 issue of _The New York Times_. There, he discusses how then-president of National Public Radio, Frank Mankiewicz, collects what he calls "retronyms."






You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]
To unsubscribe, 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://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

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