quidnunc

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 20, 2007 is: quidnunc • \KWID-nunk\ • noun : a person who seeks to know all the latest news or gossip : busybody Examples: Those who criticize Joanne for being a quidnunc are usually the first to go to her when they want to know the latest gossip. Did you know? "What's new?" That's a question every busybody wants answered. Latin-speaking Nosey Parkers might have used some version of the expression "quid nunc," literally "what now," to ask the same question. Appropriately, the earliest documented English use of "quidnunc" to refer to a gossiper appeared in 1709 in Sir Richard Steele's famous periodical, The Tatler. Steele is far from the only writer to ply "quidnunc" in his prose, however. You also can find the word among the pages of works by such writers as Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But don't think the term is old news -- it sees some use in current publications, too. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.