Pylimitics

A valedictorian is the person who achieves the highest grade point average in a cohort of students — most often a high school class. Particularly around graduation time, you’re apt to hear the word “valedictorian” here and there. But you probably won’t hear about any “valetudinarians.”  A valetudinarian is someone who’s very concerned with their… Continue reading

Back in the 1400s the word “paradigm” entered English. It’s from the Greek word “paradeiknynal,” which means “to show side by side,” and in English it meant a pattern or example. It was never a particularly popular word, and by the 1600s it had been relegated to the realm of grammar; it was used to… Continue reading

Up until about the 1920s, if you were a well-dressed man (or, sometimes, woman), you’d often wear “spats” over your shoes. Spats were cloth covers for the tops of shoes, extending up to the ankle. In some accounts, King George V of England was partly responsible for changing the style away from spats; in 1926… Continue reading

Advice to writers: don’t be TOO obscure A good candidate for The Most Obscure Word In English is “asynartisia” — it doesn’t appear in most dictionaries (even gigantic ones), and it seems to have been used only three times ever. That’s not counting the times it appears in online discussions about what the heck it… Continue reading

In 1653, Sir Thomas Urquhart translated “The First Book of the Work of Mr. Francis Rabelais.” Urquhart was a Scottish aristocrat who was also a writer, but he is most known for his translations of Rabelais. That, and the way he died, of course. When he heard that Charles II had become the king, Urquhart… Continue reading