Word of the Day: June 24, 2023

sashay

play
verb | sa-SHAY

What It Means

To sashay is to proudly walk in a slow, confident way that is meant to attract attention. Sashay can also mean simply "to walk, glide, or go," or "to proceed or move in a diagonal or sideways manner." In contexts involving dance, sashay means "to make a

Examples

"I was surrounded by warm wood paneling, soft lighting, piano music playing at the exact right volume, white tablecloths, and servers who didn’t walk so much as they sashayed from the kitchen to the dining room and back again. This was one of the most confident restaurants I’d ever entered, and the next hour of my life would prove why." — Drew Magary, SFGate.com, 18 Mar. 2023


Did You Know?

Sashay slid into English as an alteration of the French borrowing , which refers to a dance step in which a slide on one foot is followed closely by a slide on the other foot. (It comes from the French verb chasser, meaning "to chase.") Authors such as Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, and John Updike have all put their names on the word’s proverbial dance card, enjoying the liveliness sashay adds to prose. More recently, it has been strutting its stuff as a refrain on since 2009: a queen does not skulk when voted out of the race, but proudly sashays offstage. From classic literature to the runway, sashay continues to dance its way through English with attitude. Now, sashay away.


Larger Vocabulary = More $$

Not enough people realize that it is our ability to use our language that will determine our place on the social pyramid–and that will also control, to a great extent, the amount of money we will earn during our lives. Research has shown over and over that a person’s vocabulary level is the best single predictor of occupational success (more info). Ready to reach the top? Subscribe and receive a new word daily via TXT!


More Words of the Day



Home | Blog | Privacy Policy | TOS | Contact
X

Facts & Statistics

"A person may dress in the latest fashion and present a very attractive appearance. So far, so good. But the minute he opens his mouth and begins to speak, he proclaims to the world his level on our social pyramid...Our use of our language is the one thing we can't hide."

Earl Nightingale (one of the greatest self-improvement authors of all time) conducted of a 20-year study of college graduates. "Without a single exception, those who had scored highest on the vocabulary test given in college, were in the top income group, while those who had scored the lowest were in the bottom income group."

Another study by scientist Johnson O'Connor, who gave vocabulary tests to executive and supervisory personnel in 39 large manufacturing companies:

Presidents and VPs

236 out of 272

Managers averaged

168 out of a 272

Superintendents averaged

140 out of 272

Foremen averaged

114 out of 272

Floor bosses averaged

86 out of 272

In virtually every case, vocabulary correlated with executive level and income.

In a "Reader's Digest" article titled "Words Can Work Wonders for You", author Blake Clark told a fascinating story of a salesman in his 50s who scored in the bottom 5% of a standardized vocabulary test. He worked himself into the top 45% and became a vice president of the company.

You can reach the top! We may not all be brilliant enough to be the top in our fields, but we can certainly be in the top 5%–including you.

"Let's face it, from the earliest times, the favored class of people has always been the educated class. They can make themselves recognized instantly, anywhere, by the simple expedient of speaking a few words. Our language, more than anything else, determines the extent of our knowledge.

Step out, and make something more of yourself!