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From:wsmith@wordsmith.org
To:linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject:A.Word.A.Day--uriah heep
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Date:Sun, 17 Mar 2002 21:01:34 -0800 (PST)

Uriah Heep (ur-AYAH heep) noun

A hypocritical person.

[After Uria Heep, a character in Charles Dickens' David Copperfield.]

You can read David Copperfield online at:
http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/copperfield/

"This affair shows the accounting profession all too often to be in bed
with the oldest profession. Accounting standards have been frequently
prostituted by the new Uriah Heeps: these are executives in ever-merging
firms afraid to challenge their clients' phony numbers and secret
self-dealing because they might lose fees in the lucrative consulting
business they run on the side."
William Safire, Where's Scandal in Enron? The New York Times,
Jan 14, 2002.

There are thousands and thousands of them. In medicine, botany, chemistry,
athletics, and other walks (and runs) of life. We use them all the time
without even realizing it. They come with a whole story about themselves.
They are words derived from people, real and fictional, from history and
from mythology. They are known as eponyms and this week's we'll meet five
of these people and the words they gave us after their names. -Anu

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............................................................................
A brother is a friend given by nature. -Gabriel Legouve, writer (1807-1903)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/uriah_heep.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/uriah_heep.ram