WORD OF THE WEEK: Panacea

Summary: In this post, I take this opportunity to share what I've recently learned with you. With whom will you share your new knowledge?

Last week, I attended a roundtable discussion for local small business owners. The moderator of the event did an excellent job of keeping us all on-track as a group and making sure that, as individuals, we had ample opportunity to share our thoughts and questions.

She also caught my attention immediately. And if you've ever read this blog (or met me) before, you won't be surprised when I tell you how: Her first words were, "How many of you are familiar with the word panacea?" I sat up at attention. Until her lesson, I was only generally familiar with the word. I mispronounced it (even there in front of my peers) and I had its definition wrong! In my mind, I put the accent on the second syllable. Even now, I must confess, it's going to be hard to remember not to do that. And I knew it had something to do with--well, everything--but I didn't know exactly what.

In actuality, this is the definition and pronunciation:

Panacea (PAN - uh - SEE - uh) - (n.) a cure-all. From two Greek words, pan (all) and akos (remedy), this Latin word earned its English usage around 1548. Conjugating this word follows basic grammar guidelines, such as panacean as the adjective form.

Just for fun, I Googled the word using the news option to seek out its most popular current uses. Here are some examples that I found:

"... to suggest that more Republicans on Capitol Hill will be some kind of panacea for the economy and the stock market is simply delusional." - Michael K. Farr, CNBC contributor

"(Retail Distribution Review) clearly presents a huge opportunity for the investment trust industry, but it is not going to be of itself a panacea or a reason for investment trusts to surge ahead." - Richard Pavry, Director of Investment Trusts, Jupiter Asset Management

"... science's many groundbreaking and and life-changing discoveries led some people to think science was a 'panacea' and that science might be able to 'answer all of the questions of man's existence, and even his aspirations' ...." - Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service writer, quoting Pope Benedict XVI

"Understand that whomever you decide to vote for in this election, the winner will not be panacea to everything that is wrong with the economy." - Lynn (Massachusetts) Journal staff writers

"With data capping labeled undesirable by consumers and unlimited data plans financially unsustainable for carriers, load balancing with Wi-Fi is at least a partial panacea." - Dave Fraser, contributor to Converge! Network Digest

This last quote is probably my favorite, simply because of its oxymoronic nature. ... And, yes, it's okay to ask what that means or to simply look it up! Don't stay in the dark like I apparently did.

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