It’s easy to see that the way we use language changes over time. Dictionaries are one way to measure this, particularly over the long term. Compare a dictionary from a century ago to a modern version and you can see changes in meanings of words as well as changes in the words that are used… Continue reading

Calling someone a “popinjay” is slightly archaic, but still in use; the guy who was White House Communications Director for about a week a few years back, Anthony Scaramucci, was called a “popinjay” by several commentators. It appears to have been Felix Salmon’s idea, who started it all the way back in 2011, when he… Continue reading

If you find yourself “musing” about something, are you in thrall of the “Muses” of ancient Greece? Is that where “music” comes from, which we can use for “amusement” and which, in some forms, we might find “bemusing”? Well…no. It’s more complicated than that. Although some of those words are related, others aren’t. The key… Continue reading

How come feeling “listless” means you’re lethargic, unwilling to move, or indifferent to just about everything, but on thing it doesn’t mean is  “I lost my list”?  “Listless” has been in use since at least the 1400s, when it was included in something called the Promptorium Parvulorum Sive Clericorum. It’s had the same meaning for… Continue reading

If you’re fond of both language and math, you surely already know that in the phrase “5 minus 3” the number 5 is the minuend and the number 3 is the subtrahend. Since that’s not news, it’s a good thing that 5 less 3 is not really the subject of this bit of trivia. No,… Continue reading

Sometimes words get shorter because people who use them start to leave out sounds or syllables. Take, for example, “pacifist.” Around the turn of the 20th century the word was “pacificist,” as used in the March 4, 1907 edition of the London Times: “Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman’s article…on the limitation of armaments…cannot be said to have… Continue reading

When you’re feeling hopeful or optimistic about something you might say you’re feeling “sanguine” about it. If you’re like most people, you probably wouldn’t, but the point is that you could. “Sanguine” is a reasonably common word, although it doesn’t generally pop up in everyday conversation in most circles. But it has a pretty unusual… Continue reading

An “imp” is a small devil or demon, and in modern usage usually means a small child engaged in some sort of mischief. “Imp” is from Old English, and first appeared in a book from about 900, Pastoral Care: “Sio halige gesomnung Godes folces, ðæt eardað on æppeltunum, ðonne hie wel begað hira plantan &… Continue reading

Ancient myths and legends from many cultures include creatures like the Greek minotaur, which was a man’s body with a bull’s head. There were various Egyptian gods that were similar amalgams; Anubis had the head of a jackal and Bast had a cat’s head. Satyrs are part human and part goat, and so on.  All… Continue reading

If you hear the word “hackney” today it’s nearly always in the context of some idea that’s tired or played out. A “hackneyed expression” is one that’s simply overused; a cliché. You can have a “hackneyed excuse” (your dog ate your homework AGAIN?), hackneyed speeches (“We offer our thoughts and prayers…”), and even people can… Continue reading