Domestic comedy
“Did I ever tell you about the etymology of apple?”
An Old-Fashioned retronym?
Is the name Old-Fashioned a retronym, created after other cocktails came along?
Eponym of the day: satyr
The Greeks have nearly swept A.Word.A.Day’s week of eponyms.
Eponym of the day: hector
“Hector is a brave and dutiful character, but unfortunately his name is now sullied in the language.”
A week of eponyms
From A.Word.A.Day
“They mess you up”
For the first time in a long time, the word “mess” has appeared in a Michiko Kakutani book review.
To v. through
Parking tickets and usage.
Regency-era slang
“Having just typed eh wot? in a comment, I felt compelled to look and learn a little more.”
Word of the day: wirra
Oh, wirra, wirra, wirra.
On retronyms
Bryan Garner: ”When roller skates were invented in the 19th century, it became necessary to refer to the kind used on ice — originally just ‘skates’ — as ‘ice skates.’”
Batshit crazy
Recent developments in American political life have made me curious about the expression “batshit crazy.”
Abby and Austin
Dear Abby and J.L. Austin on promises.
Definitive Jest
Jarett Myskiw’s Definitive Jest: “a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.”
“Rain umbrella”
As opposed to . . . ?
“Evening after evening, weekend after weekend, holiday after holiday”
Writing down pronunciations, for forty-three years.
Word of the day: kudos
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day.
The name of the year
Do you say “twenty-” or ”two thousand”?
Dead give-away
Why a dead give-away?
Recreational and recreative reading
I remember some years ago hearing of a college administrator who characterized English studies as “recreative reading.” It seems appropriate that he chose the needless variant.
Longuyland
Are you from Longuyland?
Review: The Wage Slave’s Glossary
“A grand and saddening tour of language past and present.”
Eleven, eleven, eleven
Is “eleven” one of the “teens”?
-wise-wise
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and the suffix -wise.
Close-reading Herman Cain
“The charge that Herman Cain sexually harassed two women when he headed the National Restaurant Association may indeed be false. But the candidate’s responses merit close reading.”
Word of the day: foo fighter
The Oxford English Dictionary word of the day.
Cambric, chambray
Any relation?
Overheard
“Opinion-wise.”
Three little words
“Outgrow China.”
“My children were raised”
I am happy to learn that the verb “raised” in “Heroes and Villains” is okay by Bryan Garner.
Word of the day: non-trending
That is, “of permanent interest.”