Every once in a while, while I am doing my schoolwork I come across a fact that makes me go, "Wow! I never knew that!" Something outside of the ordinary, something you wouldn't expect to learn in school. That happened yesterday while I was studying my vocabulary list in literature.

The word I read was ruth (pronounced rooth, like the name). And I see that it's not even in the dictionary on Bravenet; the spell-checker says it's wrong. It's a medieval word. I guess that's why no one uses it anymore.

Are you ready to hear what it means? Here you go:

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ruth n. Compassion or pity for another; sorrow or misery about one's own misdeeds or flaws

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There is a point to this (and you might have already figured this out). How would you describe someone who has no compassion or pity for others, who is in fact cruel and merciless? How about ruthless?

Sometimes you learn something really interesting in school.

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