I suggest you sign up.   Today’s word solves a little mystery behind a common symbol we lovingly refer to as the “Pound Sign”

 

The Word of the Day for November 9 is:

octothorpe \AHK-tuh-thorp\ noun

     : the symbol #

Example sentence:
     Barry noticed the pound sign on the telephone and remarked about how much the octothorpe resembled a tic-tac-toe grid.

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Did you know?
     Stories abound about who first called the # sign an “octothorpe” (which can also be spelled “octothorp”). Most of those tales link the name to various telephone workers in the 1960s, and all claim the “octo-” part refers to the eight points on the symbol, but the “thorpe” remains a mystery. One story links it to a telephone company employee who happened to burp while talking about the symbol with co-workers. Another relates it to the athlete Jim Thorpe, and a third claims it derives from an Old English word for “village.” If the plethora of theories leaves your head spinning, you might want to take the advice of the wag who asked (poetically), “Can we simply just say, / Ere it spoils your day, / It’s the thorp between seven and nine?”

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

I haven’t actually listened to the Rumble Strips, but I came across this and thought those of you who’ve read Brian’s post might be interested to see them tonight for free. 

So I get the Merriam-Webster word of the day email and below is today’s word of the day.

jerkwater \JERK-waw-ter\ adjective

*1 : remote and unimportant
2 : trivial

Example sentence:
“We’re stranded in some jerkwater town in the middle of nowhere,” said Larry when he called to tell us that the car’s engine had blown.

See a map of “jerkwater” in the Visual Thesaurus.

Did you know?
We owe the colorful Americanism “jerkwater” to the invention of the steam engine — an advancement that significantly accelerated travel by rail but also had its drawbacks. One drawback was that the boilers of the early locomotives needed to be refilled with water frequently, and water tanks were few and far between. As a result, the small trains that ran on rural branch lines often had to stop to take on water from local supplies. Such trains were commonly called “jerkwaters” from the motion of jerking the water up in buckets from the supply to the engine. The derogatory use of “jerkwater” for things unimportant or trivial reflects the fact that these jerkwater trains typically ran on lines connecting small middle-of-nowhere towns.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Sincerely,

Daniel N. Hamrin

To whom it may concern.  I have some very sad news to relay to all of our friends.  One of our favorite Milwaukee watering holes has closed.  I am speaking about Bryant’s Lounge.  Sadly our friends closed their doors this past week.  Please see the artcile below for more details.

http://www.onmilwaukee.com/bars/articles/bryantsclosing.html