Lost Words, Economic Regions In Wisconsin, Dolphins

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• Author Explores World Of Lost Words

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  Language is a work in progress. Words enter and exit like actors on a stage, taking their moment in the limelight and then bowing out.

  Language-lover, proofreader and journalist Mark Forsyth has made it his mission to track down the lost and forgotten words of the English language. Some of the words that Forsyth highlights in his new book “Horologicon: A Day’s Journey Through the Lost Words of the English Language” are particular.

  For example, take “rhubarbing,” which is the word actors used to refer to the general sounds of hubub made in a crowd scene. Other words, like “antigentacular,” could be efficient and useful everyday to refer to something that’s done before breakfast.

  Then, there are words that Forsyth said have utility and aesthetic value at the same.

  “‘Sprezzatura’ is a beautiful word for a beautiful thing,” said Forsyth. “It means achieving an awful lot whilst appearing to not to do anything.”

  Back in the Renaissance, there were lot of books about how to live life, Forsyth said. One book in particular, by Baldassare Castiglione, advised courtiers on the art of sprezzatura, or the desired effect of making things appear effortless.

  Other useful words include “zwodder,” which is “a beautiful old word meaning a sort of drowsy, dreamy state when you’re half awake and half asleep. It just fits with how you feel when you pronounce things in that state of zwodder.”

  While these words might appear unfamiliar to many English speakers, he said many are easy to discern their meaning.

  “Sometimes, a word tells you what it is just by the way it sounds,” said Forsyth. An example? ‘Brizzled,’ which means burned to a crisp.

  Forsyth’s lost words might have fallen out out of fashion, but they’ve gone on to live a second life in Forsyth’s new book.

• Lost Words of the English Language

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  Our guest language-lover gives us a tour of some of the most extraordinary lost words of the English language.

• Report: Wisconsin's Economic Regions Moving Up And Down

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  The author of a new report discusses Wisconsin’s six economic regions, and the different speeds they’re moving in.

• Dolphins, Humans, And How We Get Along

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  Do dolphins and humans share a special bond? A dolphin researcher explains what happens when humans and dolphins encounter each other, for better or worse–and tries to bust some myths, too.