Word of the Week #5

Emigre

This was headlined this morning (Feb. 18) on the lead story of the San Jose Mercury News.

The headline read: Illegal emigres defy the image

Webster's says ...

emigre

n. 1. an emigrant  2. a person forced to flee his or her country for political reasons, as a Royalist during the French revolution

Bon jour, emigre.  OR  The Kosovo-bound emigres fled their former Serbian homes.

Word of the week: "de facto"

Yes, de facto. Sounds funny if you say it enough.

I found this word, or set of words, in a New York Times editorial column. I've heard and read it enough beforehand to have a marginal understanding of its definition, but I like to be sure about things.

"This has remained de facto policy, all the administration lip service to sunlit government notwithstanding."

Webster's says:

1: actual; especially : being such in effect though not formally recognized de facto state of war>2: exercising power as if legally constituted de facto government>3: resulting from economic or social factors rather than from laws or actions of the state <de facto segregation>
And I say:Should such circumstances arise in where the goblin king has become terminally incapacitated, comatose, vegetative, grumpy or stricken with Alzheimer's, the the de facto ruler of the hovel shall be the goblin queen.

De facto!