It's the Word of the Day podcast for January 17th.

Today's word is Notorious, spelled N-O-T-O-R-I-U-S. Notorious is an adjective.

It describes people and things that are well-known or famous,

especially for something bad or unfavorable. Here's the word used. In a sentence from Newsday by

Peter Gill, given Long Island's cul-de-sac geography and notorious traffic, proposed bridges and

tunnels to Connecticut, are bound to get attention

on the island. For those who don't give a fig about a bad reputation, being notorious for

unpopular behavior is no biggie. Being notorious for topping the billboard charts, now there's

a biggie. Although notorious, which comes from the Latin

Nusgare, meaning to come to know, can be a synonym of the word famous, it's more often

a synonym of infamous, having long ago developed the additional implication of someone or

something disreputable. The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 includes one of the first known uses of the unfavorable meaning in print,

referring to notorious sinners.

You know what they say.

More notorious sinners, more problems.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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