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Friday February 19, 2010

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quagmire [KWAG-myr; KWOG-]

noun

1. Soft, wet, miry land that shakes or yields under the feet.
2. A difficult or precarious position; a predicament.

• "I think Facebook is the most valuable Internet commodity in existence, more so than Google, because they are positioning themselves to be our online identity via Facebook connect," Ravasio said. "It's your real name, it's your real friends, and assuming they manage to navigate the privacy quagmire, they're poised to become your universal login.
  Dan Whitcomb, "Facebook becoming a 'lock'", The Ottawa Citizen, Feb 2, 2010
• White House officials said they have no illusion that the president will receive a post-address "bounce," and instead hope to keep moving attention toward the economy. Obama has set aside health care as the focus of his agenda since losing a Senate seat in Massachusetts to Republicans last week, leaving that quagmire to Democratic leaders in Congress while he turns to issues that many Americans say are more important to them.
  Anne E Kornblut, "Always a fighter, Obama asserts; President cites populist campaign as he pushes new emphasis on jobs", The Washington Post, Jan 29, 2010
• After that day and night, the prospect grew less repellent. A gradually matured conviction that New Orleans would not be found standing on stilts in the quagmire enabled the eye to become educated to a better appreciation of the solemn landscape.
  George Washington Cable (1844 - 1925) An American novelist. The Grandissimes (1899)

Origin of the Word

Quagmire, approximately 1579, derives from obsolete quag , Middle English quabbe, "bog, marsh" + mire from Old Norse myrr, "bog, swamp".