Here are four words that are closely related: “leiotrichous,” “ulotricious,” “cymotrichous,” and “lissotricious.” They were all coined by the same guy: Baron Jean Baptise Geneviéve Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent. He was born in France in 1778, and was an amateur scientist — which, in those days, was the same as “scientist.” He was a geographer Continue reading

Horatio Nelson, the famous British admiral, served in the Mediterranean Sea in the late 1700s, before the French Revolution. From 1799 to 1801 his flagship was the HMS Foudroyant. British warships are often named for admirable qualities, like the “HMS Resolute” or “HMS Victory,” and the Foudroyant was no different, even though few people would Continue reading

“Gerrymandering” is a political scheme (in the US) so named because of a person: Gerry Mander. Another US political scheme is the “filibuster.” It, too, sounds like it might be named after a person like “Governor Filibuster of Maryland” — but it’s not! “Filibustering” is a peculiar tactic used in the US Senate to delay Continue reading

If English had any consistency at all, we could talk about the relative merits of three options as being “good,” “gooder,” and “goodest.” Another consistent option might be “bett,” “better,” and“best.” But instead, as you’re well aware, what we have is “good,” “better,” and “best.” The word “good” has, in fact, the same root as Continue reading

That thing that some people (even the late Queen Elizabeth) carry…is it a handbag, bag, purse, pouch, clutch, or something else? In fact it’s any of those, depending somewhat on where you live.  “Pocketbook” originated in the 1600s, and at first actually meant a book you could fit in your pocket. It didn’t take long Continue reading

When a craftsperson, artist, musician, or writer manages to fit a set of components together to make a congruous, harmonious whole, there used to be a word for it. Well, of course, there still are words for it — after all, I just used “congruous” and “harmonious.” And “consistency” and “elegance” could be added as Continue reading

A dulcarnon used to mean a difficult or impossible puzzle. But where that came from is quite a story. Chaucer wrote more than just The Canterbury Tales, and some of his other works are nearly as famous. He wrote “Troilus and Criseyde” around 1385 or so, for example. It’s a long poem that retells the Continue reading

It’s common to almost everyone that they figure out what they see, coming up with an explanation that seems reasonable, at least given what they know at the time. Before things like germs, viruses, and some of the actual processes operating in your body were discovered, people dreamed up any number of explanations for why Continue reading

English is probably the worst of all modern languages in terms of inconsistent spelling. In many languages words are simply written the way they sound. In Italian and Spanish it’s considered so simple there isn’t even a word for “spelling.” But in English, a sound can be represented all sorts of ways. The vowel sound Continue reading

When you’re just waking up, you’re often in a unique mental state. You’re still half asleep, and whatever nutty thing you were just dreaming about is starting to slip away, but for a little while it still makes a kind of sense.  There’s also a mental state you might enter as you fall asleep; you’re Continue reading