Etc...

New honor for Mrs. Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science and founder of the Monitor, has been recognized posthumously by the Alabama Legislature "for her outstanding professional achievements." In a resolution dated March 30, the lawmakers noted "with the highest commendation and esteem" her contributions to religion and journalism and her 1995 induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Bradley Byrne (R), was adopted in time for the conclusion of Women's History Month.

Words, like fashions, can define a generation or even one year. Consider, for example, "embedded," which the website yourDictionary.com considers last year's top word. It was, says Paul Payack, chairman of the site, "the best word to distill the events of an extraordinary year into eight simple letters." What will make the list in 2004? Perhaps "rover," as in the NASA explorers used in the mission to Mars, or maybe "Wi-Fi," short for "wireless fidelity," the two-way radio technology that promises Internet access over the airwaves. The complete list of "in" 2003 words, with contextual definitions and notes from yourDictionary.com:

1. Embedded: journalists traveling with military units in Iraq
2. Blog: Web log
3. SARS: the illness formally known as severe acute respiratory syndrome
4. Spam: junk e-mail
5. Taikonaut: Chinese astronaut
6. Bushism: the solecisms of President Bush
7. Allision: a crash with an immoveable object (used by investigators of a Staten Island, N.Y., ferry accident)
8. Recall: the reason Gray Davis (D) is out and 'Ahh-nold' Schwarzenegger (R) is in as governor of California
9. Middangeard: Middle English for Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy
10. Celibacy: What scandalizing priests didn't practice