Pylimitics

When you’re in the process of using some words — or even sometimes just when you’re looking at them — they look misspelled even though they’re not. There’s something about those words that’s just awkward. One good example is “awkward” — a “K” in between two “W”s?? That combination is certainly unusual, apparently there’s only… Continue reading

A “complaint” is a form of the word “complain”, which comes from the Old French word “complaindre”, meaning “to lament”. The word’s roots go all the way back to Proto-Indo-European. Evidently people have been complaining for quite a while.  One of the things they complain about, at least once they reach a certain age, is… Continue reading

A “collocation” is two words joined by “and” or “or.” They’re quite common; you’ll immediately recognize “ladies and gentlemen,” for example. There’s also “night and day,” “bed and breakfast,” “bread and butter,” “salt and pepper,” and so on.  These are all in their common order; you seldom hear “gentlemen and ladies,” and I’m pretty sure… Continue reading

As some people (including you) know, “adroit,” which means adept and agile, is etymologically derived from the French phrase “á droit” (to the right). For some reason the French (I suspect they weren’t alone in this) used to think that being right-handed meant that you were capable of being adept, agile, graceful, and coordinated, and… Continue reading

You can charge forward, charge a battery, charge someone with a responsibility (and then they’re in charge of it), or charge them with a crime (which might lead to them being in charge of nothing at all for a period of time), and if you’re hungry you can charge a meal by using a credit… Continue reading