If you’ve read Jane Austen’s Emma, you may have noticed an odd little detail. Just a single word, in fact. You have to have read the right edition to have seen this, because some modern editions have changed the word in the mistaken belief that Austen herself made a mistake. But she didn’t. The word… Continue reading

In 1863, the Lady’s Newspaper of London printed a letter that’s gone down in the annals of insulting texts as a classic. It was from somebody called “J. Hooker,” and although it’s not really known who that might have been, there’s some speculation that it was Joseph Dalton Hooker, who was a well-known biologist of… Continue reading

If you find yourself on a desert island without a boat, what you are is “stranded.” On the face of it, that seems like an unusual term to use for that situation; why not “trapped” or something? By the way, if your pirate crew got tired of always having to let you win at Scrabble… Continue reading

Here’s a sentence you’d be unlikely to encounter nowadays. “It was noscible in the village that the oporopolist’s stall was often closed because of his fondness for riviation.” You’d be unlikely to encounter it because “noscible,” “oporopolist,” and “riviation” are all words that were once in general use in English, but haven’t been heard from… Continue reading

To ”ferment” something means to institute a biochemical process where carbon dioxide and alcohol are synthesized. Fermentation is a step in the creation of wine, vodka, whiskey, and the like. On the other hand, to ”foment” has to do with people; you might ”foment a dispute” or even ”foment rebellion” — that latter phrase is… Continue reading

It’s not in very common use nowadays, but at one time it was pretty common to see or hear phrases like “he’ll be at the race track on Thursday, as is his wont.” That doesn’t mean he “wants” to visit the race track. Even though obviously he does want to, “wont” and “want” are completely… Continue reading

To “finagle” is to “use dishonest or devious means to bring something about”. It’s still in use, and although many people believe that it’s a regional expression common only to the northeast US, the Dictionary of American Regional English points out that the word is used throughout the US. Its spelling varies though; sometimes it’s… Continue reading

In 1903, J.M.Barrie (author of Peter Pan) wrote “The Little White Bird”, which contains this line “Whom did I see but the whilom nursery governess sitting on a chair in one of these gardens.” “Whilom,” which has pretty much vanished from use in the past century, is — or was — the past version of… Continue reading