Pylimitics

In about the middle of the 1700s in England, two architectural styles became very popular. One was gothic, and the other could be best described as sort of fake Chinese. That is, buildings, bridges, and the like were designed to look like they were from China, to people who had never been to China. In Continue reading

Any number of words and phrases have entered English from various sports, from being “on deck” meaning the next in line (that’s from baseball) to loads of others. But other words have stayed within the confines of their respective games. In some cases this is probably a good thing.  Take, for example, the words “jobanowl,” Continue reading

In William Caxton’s 1490 translation of the “Aeneid” (specifically in the prologue), there is this line: “Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges, or eyren? Certaynly it is hard to playse every man, by-cause of dyversite and chaunge of langage.” The line illustrates a controversy of the time: which word was going to Continue reading

Most obscure words are sesquipedalian — that is, they’re long, multisyllabic constructions that might just be obscure because most people can’t remember them. Surely there can’t be very many extremely short words — say, just three letters — that most people haven’t heard of? Well…let’s have a look.  Some short words have to do with Continue reading

It’s not unusual to see the phrase “flotsam and jetsam” used just like it was in 1884: “A mania for buying all sorts of flotsam and jetsam.” That’s always the phrase, in that order. “Jetsam and flotsam” just wouldn’t sound the same. And you hardly ever see “flotsam” without “jetsam,” even though they’re really not the same Continue reading

English has a problem with vowels; there aren’t enough of them. That’s one reason why English spelling is so ridiculous; you’ve got to cope with “long” vowel sounds like the “a” in “fame” or the “i” in “ice”, as well as “short” vowel sounds like the “a” in “father” or the “i” in “trick”. But Continue reading

“Old fogey”is indeed pretty old. Nowadays, of course, it means somebody well up in years whose attitudes and opinions tend to be outdated — sometimes to the extent of being funny. If some old codger is heard complaining about “the kids today,” that’s a sure sign of an old fogey.  In the 1700s, a “fogey” Continue reading