You can be overwhelmed, and since the 1950s you can also be underwhelmed. But it’s been quite a long time since you — or anything else — has been simply whelmed. Although in fact, people haven’t been whelmed all that often.  “Whelm” used to be a common word; it was used in medieval England to Continue reading

A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards. Some examples are the words “repaper” and “aibohphobia” (which is the fear of palindromes). There are also the phrases “madam, I’m Adam,” “a man, a plan, a canal: Panama,” and “was it a car or a cat I saw?” There’s another Continue reading

Somebody who enjoys having a privilege has some sort of special right or favor; an advantage in some area, whether they deserve it or not. “Privileges” are generally associated with the society you live in, and the idea goes way, way back to some pretty ancient societies. So does the word — but its history Continue reading

Christmas is just recently past, and who the dickens do we think of at Christmas? Fast as the dickens, Charles Dickens comes to mind! The various “dickens” phrases, though, have nothing to do with Charles himself; they predate him by quite a lot. Shakespeare used one in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”: “I cannot tell Continue reading

You can find the most obscure words in dictionaries. Well, obviously, you can find them because that’s where they are defined — but what I mean this time is that when you’re reading a definition of a perfectly common word, sometimes that’s where you run into some pretty unusual ones. For example, take this definition Continue reading

Dislike a journalist, website, or publication because of their political commentary? If you write a review, try to beat this: “His Journal, then, is a depository for every species of political sophistry and personal calumny. There is no abuse or corruption that does not there find a Jesuitical palliation or a bare-faced vindication. There we Continue reading

The Polychronicon is a book written by Ranulf Higden around 1342 or so. Higden was a monk in a monastery in Chester, England, and thanks to that book, he’s pretty famous as a medieval historian. The Polychronicon isn’t just about history; it also touches on geography (he knew in a very general way where India Continue reading

Here’s an interesting thought experiment: using only words, how would you describe turning something “clockwise” to someone who’s never seen an analog clock? You could possibly refer to the movement of the sun in the sky, but you’d have to know whether you’re standing in the northern or southern hemisphere. As a particularly irritating extension Continue reading

Trendy diets tend to have names, like keto or south beach. And some of them, like the Atkins diet, are named after the person who popularized them, usually by writing a book. One of the trendiest recommendations of recent diets is avoidance of carbohydrates. All this — low carbs, fashionable diets promoted by books, diets Continue reading

The English word “flamboyant” is taken directly from French. That is, in French the word is the same, but the meaning differs. And the meaning in French has changed in interesting ways since the 1500s, and also since the 1800s, which is when it started to appear in English. The French word is probably older Continue reading