Pylimitics

Most people, at least in western cultures, have something in common with super heroes. No, it’s not the obvious thing you’re thinking (you immediately focused on your ability to deliver a wry quip while vanquishing a super villain, I assume). It’s all in your name. In the English tradition — or I suppose the tradition… Continue reading

How are church buildings and governments like boats? Because of the words, of course!  Not all the words. But there are some unexpected crossovers. For example, take “nave.” It’s the main part of a church, where all the pews are (if there are pews, of course). It’s from the Latin “navis,” which means ship, and… Continue reading

In 1895 George Bernard Shaw wrote an article for the Saturday Review in which he talked about a play entitled Fedora. That play, by the way, is where the “fedora hat” got its name. Shaw was not very impressed by the play. In fact, he hated it, even though it starred the then-famous actress Sarah… Continue reading

Etiquette is a set of rules for general politeness. As was put down in 1998: “Blowing one’s nose..is..set within a taken-for-granted set of social procedures and etiquette.” As you can probably tell from the spelling, “etiquette” entered English from French, and not that long ago as words go — probably in the early 1700s. But the… Continue reading

You can live in a neighborhood. Part of life is childhood. You can utter a falsehood. You can wear a hood. You can open the hood of your car (or, if you’re driving a convertible in England, you can put the hood up or down). If your childhood goes badly in a bad neighborhood and… Continue reading

Word of the day: egging Something that happens on Halloween is “egging” — pelting a car or house with eggs in order to create a mess and play a prank. It can also happen in a theater, or at least it used to; when a performer was particularly bad, the audience might throw eggs. Rotten… Continue reading