Interesting Words
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Obscurity? Where?
Sometimes you run across a word that’s so obscure, obsolete, or forgotten that it doesn’t even appear in the best dictionaries. Adoxography is one example; it’s pretty difficult to find a definition, and you have to go back to the early 20th century to find any examples of it. Nevertheless, “adoxography” — the method of… Continue reading
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Boondoggles
A “boondoggle” is something you expect to hear about in connection with some wasteful, politically motivated project touted by some senator or representative in Washington, DC. It’s usually intended to provide public funds to the politician’s state or district, but doesn’t provide much benefit beyond that. One recent boondoggle — that in this case didn’t… Continue reading
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Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Remember the movie The Big Lebowski from over 25 years ago? It’s a strange film — a comedy that seems to be about a kidnapping, but is also about a case of mistaken identity, as well as being about bowling and…well, some other stuff. The movie was written, directed, and produced by Joel and Ethan… Continue reading
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A limited menagerie
Thanks to the absurd overemphasis in the news of even the most insignificant fluctuations in “the stock market” (there’s not really “the stock market;” there are lots and lots of them), most people have heard about both a “bull market” and a “bear market.” Sometimes the terms are about the traders themselves, and whether they’re… Continue reading
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A feather in your cap
Different eras have different conceptions of social class. Nowadays it’s mostly about money, although there are some subtle variations based on how you obtained your money, what you spend it on, and whether you hang out with celebrities — and if you do, just what sort of celebrities they are; movie stars, musical performers, business… Continue reading
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Jerkwater
If you watch cowboy movies, and sometimes other genres as well, you might hear about a “jerkwater town.” Such a town was a small, provincial, inconsequential village that nobody (who wasn’t, for example, hiding out after robbing the stagecoach) would ever want to visit. The term “jerkwater” is still in occasional use, and it’s applied… Continue reading
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The terrifying territory of terrior
In France, the characteristics of the regional environment where a food or wine is produced has a word: “terrior.” It’s not just the region, climate, soil, and topography, but the flavor and related characteristics of the food as well. The word “terroir” comes from the Latin word “territorium,” which is also the source of ‘territory.’ … Continue reading
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It’s 5 o’clock somewhere
From the roaring twenties to at least the 1960s, a common trope in the US was to declare “cocktail hour,” which was usually about five pm. It was also pretty common for the average home to include some of the gadgets and accessories for making “cocktails:” pitchers, shakers, various measuring cups, stirrers, and the like.… Continue reading
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A semi-serious topic
The message for to-day (which is the way “today” used to be written) is about hyphens. Using hyphens is a bit of a black art in English, and people have written many e-mails to publications criticizing this or that bit of hyphenation. There aren’t any rules. Or, really, there are rules, but they’re often contradictory.… Continue reading
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Back in 1914
1914 was a remarkable year. Although World War I began then, which is notable but really can’t be considered a credit to its time, 1914 also saw the introduction of the first commercial airplane passenger service in the world — between Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida. That doesn’t sound like much today, particularly since those… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.