Category Archives: Language

Danny and Andy and I happened to discuss the word “canvas” over lunch a month ago. Danny did a quick phone-peek and announced that the word was derived from “cannabis.” So of course it went onto the list of language … Continue reading →

I like word puzzles. From an early age I enjoyed crosswords and codes, in college I began unscrambling letters and solving acrostics and diagramless varieties, and I have engaged, chronically I see, at backwards reading and mirror writing. I have … Continue reading →

I remember my surprise about that word. I was probably in 7th grade, and it made no sense to me. We say “pronounce.” Why not “pronounciation?” It was a mystery similar to how a flute was played by a flautist instead … Continue reading →

I eavesdropped on flight attendant talk a year or so ago, and heard something I can’t forget. I was on the way to Europe, so the attendants were multi-lingual. I had an aisle seat, and the two women were stalled … Continue reading →

Katie and I were conversing awhile ago about words that have taken on a pejorative tone even though they shouldn’t. “Critical” has come to suggest finding fault in something, and “judgment” is so tainted that exercising the ability, about other … Continue reading →

I wondered awhile ago from where we got the word belief, and before I looked it up I added some rhymes to it: lief and relief. I started with “lief.” My sources indicate it’s been used since before the 12th … Continue reading →

… is one. Really. Oxys is from the Greek for “sharp,” and moros is the same Greek “foolish, dull” that brought us moron. Oxymoron means sharp-dull. The dictionary says the word is a figure of speech in which opposite or … Continue reading →

I wondered a few days ago if the words decadence and decade were related, which made me first consider how decadence differs from hedonism, and later look the words up. No relation. Decadence comes to us from the Latin decadere … Continue reading →