Category Archives: Language

I wondered while walking, a few weeks ago, about the origins of our words dream and nightmare. It appears that dream is one of those elemental words, that means itself. You know: the succession of images that pass through your … Continue reading →

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 →