Pronounced: silk-STOCK-ing dis-trikt, noun
Notes: You can probably guess the meaning of this phrase, even if you don’t know it
Yesterday’s word
The word pasquinade is
- a lampoon posted in a public place
- satirical writing; satire
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
Background / Comments
Our word has an interesting history: in 1501, a ancient marble statue was unearthed in Rome and was set up near that city’s Piazza Navona. The statue was that of a man and was named “Pasquino” by the Romans (some sources think this may be after a local shopkeeper). It became a tradition to dress up the statue on St Mark’s Day (25 April), and, in its honor, professors and/or students would write Latin verses on it. After a short time, these verses were replaced with satires: the Pasquino statue because a common location to post anonymous and bitingly critical lampoons. When these postings were made known to the English, they were called pasquinades from the Italian pasquinata. Over time, the meaning has become more generalized to mean any satirical writing.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 