etymology
It will come as a surprise to exactly no one who reads this that I am a huge fan of names. From my own Son of the Right Hand and God is God to my delightful Warrior Princess, Beautiful Gracious Friend, and Heavenly Light, I derive much pleasure from the
etymology
though through tough thorough thought it can be thoroughly thought through, english is a difficult and oft-times unhelpful language. consider this unwritten rule: “…adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But
etymology
Some of you may recall this scene from Leslie Nielsen’s ‘Airplane’ in which three airline pilots dance around the words/names clearance+clarence, vector+victor, and roger+roger. it’s Leslie Nielsen… its funny… Ever thought about that one word pair there that is, in fact, the same word?
etymology
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham, father of modern Utilitarianism and sage to John Stuart Mill, devised an algorithm called the Felicific Calculus. Himself being an ethical hedonist, it is perhaps likely that his starting point and end goal differ from mine. I’ll admit, however, that my chief interest in this entire
biology
given the recent interest in collective names for animals, i’ve compiled a set of what i find to be the funniest and most interesting names for groups of animals. i’ve also included a column pertaining to the family role names for the same animals (male; female; offspring). not
etymology
who doesn’t love exploring the lovely and haunting sounds of an echo? whether you’re hiking and come across an awesome cave or you’re singing 16th century polyphony in a squash court, you can’t help but notice the lingering sustain of sound. if we consider waves, as
etymology
ossify OS-uh-fahy | Latin: os = bone to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc.; to convert into or cause to harden like bone “Continue to read, young one, lest your mind ossify” raconteuse rak-uhn-TOOZ | French: raconteur from raconter = to tell a woman skilled at interestingly relating stories and anecdotes
etymology
trivia etymology tri-vium (Latin | ‘three’ ‘road/way’) | the place where three roads meet; a split/fork in a road; a commonplace why is there an ‘r’ in ‘mrs’? master -> mr -> mister mistress -> mrs -> missus why ‘won’t’ instead of ‘willn’t’? in
etymology
belwether a person or thing which identifies a trend or leads in a direction | origin: a castrated male sheep, called a wether, given a small bell to wear, used to be used to help lead a flock of sheep gardyloo a warning cry, not unlike ‘heads up’ | origin: scotland; used
etymology
this week’s topic: etymological fun! chevron originally used to refer to rafters in a building because they looked like the hind legs of a goat (une chevre) happy same root as ‘happenstance’, ‘happen’, and ‘hapless’; means ‘lucky’ avocado yummy super-fruit; comes from aztec ‘ahuacatl’ which, of course, means ‘testicle’