Word discovery: bourse

Citation: Hard copy: “How to Seize the Initiative,” Time magazine, April 3, 2006, p. 47. Online: How to Seize the Initiative online (may require registration or purchase of the article).

Usage: “For now, U.S. firms that want to trade emissions must join the Chicago Climate Exchange, a voluntary but legally binding bourse whose members, according to founder Richard Sandor, account for 8% of the greenhouse emissions from stationary sources in the U.S.”

Meaning: an exchange or trade, usually meant in terms of a European stock exchange. See Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Examples: U.S. power plants may purchase credits through a bourse from other power plants that meet their pollution-reduction targets.

Comments: I don’t see much need to use bourse when “exchange” is so much clearer.

The joke's on you

Are you an admirer of April Fools jokes? Many people love observing the year's only sanctioned day of the practical joke, but most prefer to play the joke rather than receive it.

April Fools Day (sometimes spelled Fool's and sometimes Fools') is celebrated in many countries, including the United States and Great Britain (where it's also called All Fools' Day).

If you're short on ideas for celebrating in your neck of the woods, consider some all time greats from "The Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of All Time." There's also a website for the joke-wary among us, "April Fool's Day Attrocities" or "The Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes Ever."

And if you're really into the so called "holiday," there is this page on "The Origin of April Fool's Day." Like the others links in this article, the material comes from The Museum of Hoaxes.

Finally, if someone near you can't get enough of the holiday and plays April Fools beyond April 1, there's this retort: April Fools' is gone and past and you're the greatest fool at last!

Enjoy the day!