The Latin word “villa” moved into Italian, and more recently into English, unchanged. In Latin it meant a farmhouse or country house, and still does, even in English. But coming from outside the city isn’t always regarded as a good thing. Just as the middle of the US is sometimes called “flyover country,” good only… Continue reading

English is a constantly changing mess of new words being borrowed and invented and existing words falling into disuse and obsolescence. With that going on for so long, it’s no wonder that some pretty good words have fallen out of use.  One word that hasn’t been seen in centuries, and might be a good candidate… Continue reading

Just about everybody remembers the name “Albus Dumbledore;” Harry Potter’s headmaster in magic school. You’ll find his name in all of the Harry Potter books. But you’ll also find “dumbledore” in the dictionary.  Maybe J. K. Rowling chose the name “Dumbledore” because she thought the word deserved more notice. Back in 1799 John Robberds certainly… Continue reading

“This is a lipogram – a book, paragraph or similar thing in writing that lacks a symbol, particularly (but not always) that symbol fifth in rank out of our 26 script-signs (found amidst ‘d’ and ‘f’), which stands for a sound such as that in ‘kiwi’. I won’t bring it up right now, to avoid… Continue reading

According to some people, if you travel to the midwestern US, point to a bell pepper, and ask a local resident what it is, they’re likely to tell you that it’s a “mango.” Then if you point to a mango, the same resident will call it… a “mango.” This odd situation, which is evidently true,… Continue reading

In English we already know that the initial three items in a sequence: first, second, and “third, are identified in a different way than then next however-many (fourth, fifth, and so on). But what about the other end of a sequence? Other than last, next to last, second from last, and the rest, can English… Continue reading

“Slang” is nonstandard language. In some circles slang is considered worse than just nonstandard; the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “A species of cannon; a serpentine or culverin.” Oops, no, that’s what “slang” meant in the 1500s. I should have used this: “A long narrow strip of land.” Oh, drat; not that one either.… Continue reading

If you found yourself composing, say, a morning’s Harkening of the Day back in the late 1600s, you might want to mention Robin Hood. After all, the legend was alive in those days too, and (hard as it is to believe) it was a popular story even before the man himself was played by a… Continue reading

“Alphonse had, over the years, amassed a lovely collection of samples of jade and oriental jade carvings, but by the time he came across the carved dragon, he was so jaded he hardly glanced at it twice.”  There are not two, but three different “jades” in that sentence! The first thing to know about jade… Continue reading

When there’s a term that could be interpreted as troubling or offensive, we often employ a “euphemism” in its place. When you don’t want to come right out and say “Bonzo is the stupidest person I’ve ever met”, you can use a euphemism like “Bonzo is not the sharpest tool in the shed.” Euphemisms are… Continue reading