Hoopla - plus, take a break & play a game!

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [February 21, 2019](#none) hoopla [Audio pronunciation]( noun | HOO-plah Definition 1 : excited commotion : [to-do]( 2 : exaggerated or sensational promotion or publicity : [ballyhoo]( Scroll down for more about hoopla TRENDING NOW: [crosshair]( [feckless]( [emergency]( [national emergency]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING # ['Obsequious' — Video Word of the Day 2/20/2019]( # ['Broadcast' or 'Broadcasted'?]( # ['Emote' — Video Word of the Day 2/19/2019]( # ['Prestigious' — Video Word of the Day 2/18/2019]( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [What did you just call me?! A Quiz]( Never be caught off guard [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? In French, the interjection houp-là is used roughly the same way as English's [upsy-daisy]( or [whoops-a-daisy](, as one might say when picking up a child. (This usage can be found in English, too, in such works as Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons and James Joyce's Ulysses.) When the word was borrowed into American English, however, it was to refer to a kind of bustling commotion, and later, as a term for sensationalist hype. In the early 20th century, another hoopla was in use as well. Playing on the syllable [hoop](, that word gave its name to a ring-toss game played at carnivals. Examples of HOOPLA "Ideas change as data accumulate. If future evidence causes me to change my mind again, that's okay. That's how the scientific method works, always revising what we thought we knew, eventually casting aside the emotional hoopla, and ultimately granting us not a measure of truth so much as a better approximation of reality." — Eric J. Chaisson, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2018 "My wife and I were watching all this [government] shutdown hoopla on television. My wife then said, 'Why don't you serve them meals?' So we decided to extend it out to all of the Coast Guard members stationed here…." — James Gubata, quoted in The Providence Journal, 15 Jan. 2019 Test Your Vocabulary What tuber's name joins ring to form a word for a ring or hoop of ceramic or metal that is placed under dishes of hot food? [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( WORD OF THE YEAR 2018 Justice + 10 more Read why justice is our Word of the Year, plus lodestar, epiphany, pansexual, and 7 more top words! [SEE THE FULL LIST [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](