Sunday, May 11, 2008

365 New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing 6/4/7: quirk

quirk v : to curve, twist
The DYK says that "[t]he 'peculiarity' sense of the noun quirk is commonly known, but quirk has long worn other hats in English. It has been used as both a noun and a verb since the 16th century. The noun quirk, which essentially means 'curve, turn, or twist', has named everything from curving pen marks on paper (i.e., flourishes), to witty turns of phrase, to the vagaries or twists of fate. In contemporary English, the verb quirk is most often used in reference to facial expressions, especially those that involved crooked smiles or furrowed eyebrows." Rating 10/10 furry arches
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"