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Sep 16, 2010
This week's themeFabled lands
This week's words
camelot
hades
never-never land
ivory tower
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with Anu Gargivory tower
PRONUNCIATION:
(EYE-vuh-ree TOU-uhr) 
MEANING:
noun: A place or state of privileged seclusion, disconnected with practical matters and harsh realities of life. ETYMOLOGY:
Translation of French tour d'ivoire, from tour (tower) + de (of) + ivoire (ivory). The term was first used in the figurative sense in 1837 by literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869). NOTES:
The term is often applied to academia for its supposed preoccupation with lofty intellectual pursuits. While the term in its figurative sense is first attributed to the French critic Sainte-Beuve, it is found in the Song of Solomon 7:4 in a literal sense: "Your neck is like an ivory tower." USAGE:
"In a democratic system, the true leaders have to remain constantly in touch with, and reach out to, the people and not remain like a king in an ivory tower."C L Manoj; The Agony of the Hereditary Turks; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Aug 9, 2010.
Explore "ivory tower" in the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. -Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (1803-1857) Sponsors' messages:
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