ABSTINENCE From the Persian ab, water, and stein, or tankard.
Hence, water tankard, or "water wagon."

ACCESSION A beheading process by which you may either win or lose
a political job. Old spelling, Axe-session.

ACCIDENT A condition of affairs in which presence of mind is good,
but absence of body better.

ADAMANT From "Adam's Aunt," reputed to be a hard character.
Hence, anything tough, or hard.

ADORE From add, annex, and ore, meaning wealth. Example, foreign
nobles who marry American heiresses adore them.

ADVICE A commodity peddled by your lawyer and given away by your
mother-in-law, but impossible to dispose of yourself. Famous as
the one thing which it is "More blessed to give than receive."
GOOD ADVICE Something old men give young men when they can no
longer give them a bad example.

ADVERSITY A bottomless lake, surrounded by near-sighted friends.

AFFINITY Complimentary term for your husband or your wife.
Sometimes a synonym for "Your finish."

AFTERTHOUGHT A tardy sense of prudence that prompts one to try to
shut his mouth about the time he has put his foot in it.

AGE Something to brag about in your wine-cellar and forget in a