Word of the Day
andragogy
noun
the methods or techniques used to teach adults: Many educators believe that the principles of andragogy, as advanced by Malcolm Knowles, have great relevance to adult education; others are not so certain.
More about andragogy
English andragogy is modeled upon pedagogy, which ultimately comes from Greek paidagōgía “the function of a paidagōgós,” by extension “education.” A paidagōgós, literally “child guide,” was a slave who walked a child to and from school. Paidagōgós is a compound formed from paid-, inflectional stem of paîs ”child,” and agōgós “guide,” a derivative of the verb ágein “to lead, take away, carry.” The combining form andr- of andragogy is one of the stems of the Greek noun anḗr (aner-, andr-) “man” (as opposed to a woman or child). Greek anḗr comes from Proto-Indo-European ner-, ǝner-, source of Sanskrit nár “man, human,” and the Latin proper name Nerō. According to Roman grammarians, nero among the Sabines, a rural people that lived northeast of Rome, meant fortis ac strenuus “brave and energetic.” In Celtic (Welsh) Proto-Indo-European ner- becomes ner “hero.” Andragogy entered English in the 20th century.
how is andragogy used?
… in the technology of andragogy there is decreasing emphasis on the transmittal techniques of traditional teaching and increasing emphasis on experimental techniques which tap the experience of the learners and involve them in analyzing their experience.
We focus on adults and so prefer to use the term “andragogy.” We’ve found that adults have their own specific challenges in the learning journey, and we’ve specifically set up to address them.
dreamboat
noun
Slang. a highly attractive or desirable person.
More about dreamboat
If you associate dreamboat, a.k.a. heartthrob, with the movies that Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney made in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, you are correct on the date of origin and datedness of the word. Guy Lombardo, the Canadian-American bandleader (1902-1977), popularized dreamboat in his song When My Dream Boat Comes Home (1936).
how is dreamboat used?
Hunter was a studio player at Warner Brothers: a blond, blue-eyed dreamboat, whom the studio was selling—quite successfully—as the quintessential boy next door.
A tall dreamboat of a pilot in a grey uniform was chatting with a group of four people.
embosk
verb
to hide or conceal (something, oneself, etc.) with or as if with foliage, greenery, or the like: to embosk oneself within a grape arbor.
More about embosk
The verb embosk “to hide in bushes” doesn’t look quite as bogus as embiggen, but it’s not far off. The prefix em-, a form of en- used before labial consonants (p, b, m) as in embalm, embankment, and embark, is familiar enough. Bosk is the funny word. It first appears as a singular noun boske (and plural boskes) in the late 13th century, meaning bush, bushes, and is last recorded about 1400 in Cleanness (or Purity), a poem by an unknown author known as the Gawain Poet. Bosk survives in British dialect but reentered standard English in the 19th century through the poetry of Sir Walter Scott and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. As rare as bosk is, its derivative embosk is even rarer. Embosk entered English in the late 20th century.
how is embosk used?
… they seek the dark, the bushy, the tangled forest; they would embosk.