A.W.A.D. - Finger Exercise Words!

with Anu Garg

A few hundred years ago if you spoke about the importance of exercise, people would laugh at you. They got all the exercise they needed from work, outside or at home. Making a living, raising a family, walking to and from places, gave them enough movement, so they didn't have to worry about exercise.

Today we have fitness centers, gyms, and personal trainers. There are high-tech machines, and even electronic games to help us exercise. Each gadget comes with its own selling points. Some you can strap to your arms and legs and tummy and relax in front of the TV -- they claim its vibrations give you your daily recommended quota of exercise. There are virtual reality exercises, dancercise, elliptical, and who knows what else.

In that spirit, consider this week's words as your complete exercise system for the fingers. This fingercise provides the daily recommended exercise according to federal guidelines. Each of the words featured in this week's A.Word.A.Day, when typed on a standard qwerty keyboard, will exercise all your fingers.

diastrophism
PRONUNCIATION: (dy-AS-truh-fiz-uhm)
MEANING: noun: The process of deformation of the earth's crust that produces continents, mountains, ocean basins, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek dia- (across) + strophe (turning). Ultimately from the Indo-European root streb(h)- (to wind or turn) that also gave us catastrophe (literally, an overturning) and apostrophe (literally, turning away, referring to the omission of a letter), and boustrophedon.

USAGE: "There is even a mosque across the street from the hotel, but most people here believe it was spirits, not volcanic diastrophism, that sent deadly vapors roiling up from Lake Nios, killing the villagers who lived over the hills." Jonathan Broder; Spirits in Lake, Bottle Haunt Cameroon; The Chicago Tribune; Sep 2, 1986.

"But facing impending disaster is the cost of living in a place blessed by geography and climate, but cursed by the immutable process called diastrophism that lifts mountains, carves coastlines, and moves continents." Still on Shaky Ground -- 10 Years After Loma Prieta; The San Francisco Chronicle; Oct 17, 1999.

micropsia
PRONUNCIATION: (my-KROP-see-uh)
MEANING: noun: A defect of vision in which objects appear smaller than normal

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek micro- (small) + -opia (vision)

NOTES: Micropsia is often associated with migraines. It's also known as micropia. The opposite, where objects appear larger than their actual size, is called macropsia (also known as macropia, megalopsia, and megalopia). These distortions in perception are also called Alice in Wonderland syndrome after the little girl in Lewis Carroll's books who enters a hallucinogenic world. Also see diplopia.

USAGE: "Seated on the chill concrete, I felt a recurrence of my childhood micropsia, a night terror I thought I'd left behind at age eleven or twelve, in my bedroom on Dean Street: the sensation that my body was reduced to speck size." Jonathan Lethem; The Fortress of Solitude; Doubleday; 2003.

supplicatory
PRONUNCIATION: (SUH-pli-kuh-tor-ee)
MEANING: adjective: Humbly pleading

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin supplicare (to kneel). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to be flat) that's also the source of fluke, flake, flaw, plead, please, and supple.

USAGE: "The supplicatory attitude that some Taiwanese politicians have shown to China to win its favor must stop." Bill Chang; Warnings on China Also Meant For Taiwan; The Taipei Times (Taiwan); Jun 11, 2005.

adiaphorism
PRONUNCIATION: (ad-ee-AF-uh-riz-uhm)
MEANING: noun: Tolerance or indifference, especially in the matters of religion.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek adiaphoros (indifferent), from a- (not) + diaphoros (different), from dia- (across) + -phoros (bearing). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bher- (to carry, to bear children) that gave birth to words such as basket, suffer, fertile, burden, bring, bear, offer, prefer, birth, and phosphorus (literally, bringing light).

NOTES: Adiaphorism is the idea that things not specifically prohibited by the Scriptures may be treated with indifference (i.e. they are permissible). Also known as latitudinarianism (but not platitudinarianism).

USAGE: "Adiaphorism is probably the fastest growing theological position in the country. A cheerful adiaphorist can take whatever pleases them from the collection of customs and rituals of Christmas without a moment's worry." Sara Maitland; Do We Do Christmas Right?; Independent (London, UK); Dec 24, 1996.

simpatico
PRONUNCIATION: (sim-PAH-ti-ko, -PAT-i-)
MEANING: adjective:

1. Like-minded; compatible
2. Congenial; likable

ETYMOLOGY: Via Italian or Spanish from Latin sympathia (sympathy), from Greek sympatheia, from sym- (together with) + pathos (emotion, suffering).

USAGE: "Basil and tomatoes are simpatico in so many ways. One major trait they share is that neither should ever be refrigerated unless they have been chopped." Bill Ward; Warm, Flavorful, Fresh Summer Food; The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson); Jul 29, 2009.