raconteur

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 30, 2010 is: raconteur • \ra-kahn-TER\  • noun : a person who excels in telling anecdotes Examples: A bona fide raconteur, Turner can turn even mundane experiences into hilariously entertaining stories. "The story is constructed as a light mentor piece in which Henry, a sometime college literature professor, Christmas ball collector and raconteur, takes a boarder into his crummy New York apartment." -- From an article by Dennis King in The Oklahoman, September 10, 2010 Did you know? The story of "raconteur" is a tale of telling and counting. English speakers borrowed the word from French, where it traces back to the Old French verb "raconter," meaning "to tell." "Raconter" in turn was formed from another Old French verb, "aconter" or "acompter," meaning "to tell" or "to count," which is ultimately from Latin "computare," meaning "to count." "Computare" is also the source of our words "count" and "account." "Raconteur" has been part of the English vocabulary since at least 1828. Quick Quiz. What 8-letter relative of "raconteur" can mean "to disregard"? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.