The Word for Today is

Draconian!

As in, the service cuts to MARTA are going to be Draconian unless someone gives them some money.  Those smarty-pants always say Draconian, but I am no smarty-pants, therefore, I don't know what Draconian means.

But I do now!  I learned it, just so I could teach you!

Dictionary.com tells us that Draconian is an adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Draco or his code of laws.

Uh huh.  Thanks for that one.  Draco?  Wasn't that the annoying rich kid with white hair in Harry Potter?  The bad one?

Definition 2. rigorous, unusually severe or cruel.

So, yea, sounds like that kid from Harry Potter.

Draco was a Greek statesman who, in something like 621 BC, introduced such harsh laws that debtors were forced into slavery and capitol punishment for minor crimes.  He died by way of suffocation because, in a Greek show of approval, so many hats, shirts, and cloaks were thrown on to him that it killed him.  If you ask me, they didn't really like him.

When we say that the cuts to MARTA will be Draconian, what we mean is that they will be cruel, harsh, and severe.

So basically, if MARTA doesn't get money, the nasty kid from Harry Potter will come and kill MARTA, or make it a slave, or something.  Do I have this right?