Eponyms -- AWAD's perennial favorites -- make their appearance once again. If we featured nothing but eponyms every day it would be several years before we'd run out. There's a reason for their popularity: where else can you a find a whole story in just one word? And there's a reason for their abundance: it's often easiest to name something after its inventor.
This week's selection features words named after people -- famous and infamous, real and fictional, well-known and obscure. pinchbeck (PINCH-bek) noun An alloy of zinc and copper, used as imitation gold in jewelry. adjective Counterfeit or spurious. [After watchmaker Christopher Pinchbeck (1670-1732), who invented it. It's ironic that today his name is a synonym for something counterfeit but in his time his fame was worldwide, not only as the inventor of this curious alloy but also as a maker of musical clocks and orreries*. The composition of this gold-like alloy was a closely-guarded secret but it didn't prevent others from passing off articles as if made from this alloy... faking fake gold!] *Orrery: http://wordsmith.org/words/orrery.html Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=pinchbeck -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "Blackpool is more than a tower of lights and a rhinestone mile of slots and seasonal variety acts. It is Lancashire's pinchbeck LA." Adam Edwards; Keeping Up And Away From the Neighbours; Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Jul 24, 2004. Sponsored by: Discover new *super magnetic* Thinking Putty. It's the perfect stocking stuffer! Find out more: http://puttyworld.com?a=awad Learn to think productively and creatively with "Think Better". One of the best creative thinking books ever: http://amazon.com/o/asin/0071494936 Get revenge on Scrabble nerds and their silly short odd words. Play WildWords. Win with long words and creative thinking. See how at: http://www.wildwords.us ........................................................................... Love involves a peculiar, unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding. -Diane Arbus, photographer (1923-1971) Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/pinchbeck.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/pinchbeck.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/pinchbeck.html
