passel

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The Word of the Day for December 21 is:=20

passel   \PASS-ul\   noun
          : a large number or amount=20
=20

Example sentence:
          Knowing that there will be a passel of phone and e-mail messag=
es to deal with, Rob is dreading going back to work after his two-week v=
acation.

Did you know?
          Loss of the sound of "r" after a vowel and before another cons=
onant in the middle of a word is common in spoken English. This linguist=
ic idiosyncrasy has given our language a few new words, including "cuss"=
 from "curse," "bust" from "burst," and our featured word "passel" from =
"parcel." The spelling "passel" originated in the 15th century, but the =
word's use as a collective noun for an indefinite number is a 19th-centu=
ry Americanism. It was common primarily in local-color writing before ge=
tting a boost in the 1940s, when it began appearing in popular weekly ma=
gazines such as _Time_, _Newsweek_, and the _Saturday Review_.





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