I initially didn’t believe it was a word that wasn’t made up to cover some eccentricity or another. Enjoy the week’s words!

The Words of the Week – Apr. 11

Dictionary lookups from Wall Street, Main Street, and politics

‘Courage’

Lookups for courage were in the top ten on Monday morning, possibly because the word featured heavily in reporting on the “Hands Off” protests held across the country over the weekend.

Several thousand people turned out on an unusually warm April Saturday for a series of rallies across Hampton Roads to protest the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency moves to cut federal spending and roll back protections for minority groups. … “(My fellow service members) didn’t wait for someone else to solve the problem, we ran towards the fire … and now my friends, brothers and sisters in arms, and families who stood with us through it all, it is once again time to act,” Montiero said. “Not with weapons but with courage, not in the field of combat but in the public square.”
—Gavin Stone, The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia), 6 Apr. 2025

The size of the protests was bolstered by strong turnout in more conservative rural areas. Cheryl Campbell, who helped organize a gathering of about 300 in La Grande, said it’s easier to stay silent when the majority of those around you disagree with you. “It takes more courage to speak up here,” Campbell told the crowd on Saturday, “where many of our neighbors voted for Trump.”
—The East Oregonian (Pendleton, Oregon), 6 Apr. 2025

Courage refers to mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. The word entered Middle English from the Anglo-French curage, which in turn comes from quer or coer, meaning “heart.”

(snip: see all the words! Those include: Kafkaesque, facilitate, bear market, and …)

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Thalweg’

Thalweg refers to the middle of the chief navigable channel of a waterway (such as a river) which constitutes the boundary line between states. (snip-more about thalweg on the page. Happy Saturday!)