Throughout the entire history of humanity, it’s been possible in many places around the world to locate water by simply digging a deep enough hole. Getting the water up out of that hole, though, there’s the problem. But it was a problem that began to be solved at least 4,000 years ago when the “shadoof” Continue reading

At present we shall present, as a present, the puzzling past and present of “present.”  The origin of the word “present” is not presently known for sure. It might have come from French, or it might have been formed all on its own in English. There was an Old French word “present,” but there was Continue reading

It’s perfectly acceptable today to use contractions. In fact, throughout the history of English it’s usually been fine. But there was a time… Contractions go back at least as far as Old English, which included “nis” (ne is, meaning “is not”), naes (ne waes, meaning “was not”), nat (ne wat, meaning “does not know”), and Continue reading

If you attend a classical music concert performed on “period instruments,” which are the types that were in use when the music was composed, you might see and hear a “clavichord.” It resembles a piano, which is a more recent version of the same thing; an instrument in which strings are played via keys. The Continue reading

We can read English, which means that we can also read Middle English, although it takes quite a bit of getting used to. Reading Old English, though, can be just about impossible without a bunch of studying. For one thing, it’s “inflected,” which is what you call a language where the words change depending on Continue reading

If you want to make sure you don’t have a smear of grease across your nose after working on your car, or check to see that your meticulously-applied clown makeup is in good shape just before the Halloween party, you might use a pocket mirror. Sometimes the folding versions of these are called “compacts.” But Continue reading

Remember that time I said English wasn’t one of those languages with a different word for every specific thing? And then remember the times I’ve pointed out that there really aren’t any rules governing English? Good, because even though English uses noun phrases instead of minting new words…it also works exactly the opposite. English speakers Continue reading

Usually when an English word appears only in local dialects for part of its history, that’s the earlier part of its story. But sometimes a widely-used word disappears from general use only to survive locally. That’s the case with “ken,” which had quite a list of meanings back in the day, but since the beginning Continue reading

Quite frankly, it’s not immediately clear why “frankly” should mean open and honest. It has nothing to do with a truthy guy named Frank, after all.  The word arrived in Middle English somewhere near 1300 from the French “franc,” which at the time did not yet have to do with monetary currency. Instead, in both Continue reading

You may have seen a brand of wine called “Inglenook.” You may have heard of Inglenook, California — which, by the way, is not where Inglenook Wine is produced. You may have heard of Inglenook, Pennsylvania, which also doesn’t produce any wine. There’s even a logic puzzle called “inglenook sidings;” the puzzle is to shuffle Continue reading