A US-based story or Hollywood film about crime or criminals set in the first two-thirds of the 20th century is pretty likely to include somebody talking about “going on the lam.” What they mean is going on the run from the law; evading arrest. They might also say something like “beat it, the cops are Continue reading

If something is fine, valid, or acceptable, there are plenty of English words available to communicate that judgement. One of them is “cromulent,” as in “…it’s a perfectly cromulent word.” You don’t hear “cromulent” as much as some of its synonyms, but you might run across it here and there. David X. Cohen, a scholar Continue reading

Most people know that an “acronym” is a word created from the first letters of a group of different words, like “NASA” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The “-nym” part of “acronym” is from the Greek word “onoma,” which means name. The “acro-“ part is also from Greek: “akros” means the top of something.  You Continue reading

Keeping your nose to the grindstone means continuing to work; paying attention. It actually comes from old grist mills, which had big turning stones for grinding grain into flour. The stones, which were several feet across and weighed tons, had to be adjusted precisely so they ground the grain, but didn’t grind against each other. Continue reading

Keeping your nose to the grindstone means continuing to work; paying attention. It actually comes from old grist mills, which had big turning stones for grinding grain into flour. The stones, which were several feet across and weighed tons, had to be adjusted precisely so they ground the grain, but didn’t grind against each other. Continue reading

Like “-mancy” or “-logy”, another English suffix that indicates something important about a set of words is “-aster”. That suffix is from Latin, and indicates “lower status” or “incompleteness”. In Latin it was used pejoratively. The English words that end in “-aster” have passed out of everyday usage, but a century or more ago they Continue reading

If you happened to read the Daily Telegraph, back in June 1999, you might have run across this: “The Balkans conflict is at a watershed between a diplomatic settlement and the prospect of a ground war.” If you’re an English speaker from North America, you probably would have wondered, at least for a moment, what Continue reading

Sometimes when a machine breaks, but real replacement parts aren’t available, you have to jury-rig a repair. This has nothing to do with trial juries, rigged or not. Originally this version of “jury” was a term sailors used for any makeshift repair they substituted for the original, usually in an emergency. You know, like when Continue reading

Even if you’re feeling perfectly healthy, it might not take much to render you rigwelted. I mean, one simple case of the flu and you could be reduced to lying in bed. Rigwelted! (like I said the first time).  “Rigwelted” comes from the early 1800s, and originally meant lying helplessly on your back. But only Continue reading