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duckboard
Pronounced: DUCK-board, noun Notes: I think I’ve heard the word, but could not define it properly Yesterday’s phrase The phrase Hawthorne effect means “an improvement in workers’ performance attributed to the special attention they received when singled out for a study” First usage Our phrase came into English in the 1950s Background / Comments The…
Hawthorne effect
Pronounced: HAW-thorn ih-FEKT, noun Notes: I had not heard of this word Yesterday’s word The word threnody is “a song of lamentation for the dead; elegy” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I said yesterday that the word stirred a faint memory, but that I couldn’t remember…
threnody
Pronounced: THREH-nuh-dee, noun Notes: This word seems vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it or define it Yesterday’s word The word sough means, as a verb, “to make a moaning, sighing, whistling, murmuring, or rustling sound” As a noun it means First usage Our word came into English a long time ago – before the…
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Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 