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This week we kick off our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online, with two downloads. It's what we're calling an estival festival.
We hear a lot about political candidates these days. But did you ever stop to think about where the word candidate comes from? Martha says it goes back to an ancient Roman fashion statement. She also explains the etymology of the term for what drives so many candidates: ambition.
Listen to the minicast announcement:
Download the MP3 here (1.7MB).
Listen to Martha's shiny, bright explanation of candidate:
[audio:http://feeds.waywordradio.org/~r/awwwpodcast/~5/302935029/080602-AWWW-candidate_minicast.mp3%5D
Download the MP3 here (1.7MB).
My husband and I have always kept dictionaries (large ones) in our car and our dining room as well as in our home offices and of course where we work. Etymology is one of our favorite hobbies. Over the years, we've found some wonderful things (using the American Heritage Dictionary's Indo-European roots, especially). But we never thought to look up "candidate" or "ambition," so the origins of these were new and fascinating to us!
I just wanted to tell you how very much we enjoyed this minicast, and hope you continue with them. You could even incorporate one of these in each of the longer podcasts when you go back to doing those.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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