I got this in my inbox today:
This week's theme: eponyms.Simon Legree (SY-muhn li-GREE) noun
A harsh taskmaster.
[After Simon Legree, a brutal slave dealer in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896).]Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=simon+legree
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
"In Brutal Bosses and Their Prey (1996, Riverhead Books), Harvey Hornstein
identifies six variations on Simon Legree."
Sal Marino; Brutal Bosses From Hell; Industry Week; Jun 22, 1998.Public service message:
Please donate to these organizations to help with the relief work in Myanmar:
Doctors Without Borders: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
Unicef: http://unicef.org/
I've been a subscriber of A Word A Day since... sheesh... pretty soon after it got started, I think.
As for the word itself, well, Marvin Zindler thought it was cute to give that to me as a nickname.
I looked it up, read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and pretty much agreed that I had a vicious streak on vendors and idiot whiny coworkers that obliterated any good I could do for them.
But then, so did he.
As for donating to the relief work in Burma, I'll do the usual contribution to Maagen David Adom.
If they refuse the aid from Israel, fuck 'em all.