Feb
3, 2012
This week's theme
Dickensian characters that became words
This week's words
wellerism
fagin
gamp
scrooge
gradgrind
Thomas Gradgrind catching his children at the circus
Wood
engraving: Harry French, 1870s
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
gradgrind
PRONUNCIATION:
(GRAD-grynd)
MEANING:
noun: Someone who is solely interested in cold, hard facts.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian mill-owner in Charles
Dickens's
novel Hard Times. Gradgrind runs a school with the idea
that hard facts
and rules are more important than love, emotions, and feelings.
Earliest
documented use: 1855.
USAGE:
"In truth, Colleen McCullough is very much a Gradgrind when it
comes to
facts: They are all that is needful, presented, it must be said,
without
color or animation to detract from their merit."
Katherine A. Powers; Ancient Evenings; The Washington Post; Dec
15, 2002.
Explore "
gradgrind" in
the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have
teenagers of their own. -Doug Larson, columnist (b. 1926)
Books by Anu Garg
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