LTC
You know that you have the well-being of an older family member on your mind when you see a money-asking e-mail from LTC (Ret.) Alex Vindman in your inbox and the first thing you think is long-term care.
Vet
I finally thought to look up a word that’s long puzzled me: the verb vet. I had anticipated some weirdness in its past — perhaps a Latin phrase about trustworthiness for which it’s a one-syllable stand-in? Alas, the origin is disappointingly obvious, though not so obvious that I would have guessed it.
“Home”
I cringe a little and laugh a little every time I hear a news outlet refer to Mar-a-Lago as the defeated former president’s “home.”
“Trumpery insanity”
A startling phrase in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses: “Trumpery insanity. The phrase, alas, is not political prophecy, and it’s not even of Joyce’s invention.
Dusk, dusk, “Dusk”
It occurred to me last night, around dusk, that dusk is a beautiful word. Where is it from?
Eight to two, four to one
I know precision is necessary. But I’d still be tempted to replace “potential debris impact risk” with “danger.”
OED life
This visit to the OED offices includes “astirbroad,” “burner phone,” and “what the what.”
The ODAAE
Underway, the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, Henry Louis Gates Jr., editor-in-chief.
Squareword
It’s like Wordle times five, or ten.
You and Your Vocabulary
Ted Baxter is increasing his vocabulary.
“Qua”
I can’t decide if it’s a joke on Waiting for Godot. It might just be someone being witty about qua.
One Wordle
I find it tiresome when people post their Wordle result day after day after day. That’s why I’m posting mine just once.
hello wordl
One problem with playing for an eleven-letter word is that you have to think of eleven-letter words.
Garner on Black and white
Bryan Garner explains why it makes sense to capitalize Black but not white.
The Times buys Wordle
“The company said the game would initially remain free to new and existing players.” Uh-oh.
“Fast to my pocket”
“You sewed my dollar bill fast to my pocket.”
Word of the day: bazooka
My friend Stefan Hagemann clued me in to the origin of bazooka, which was the name of a musical instrument of sorts before it became the name of a weapon.
Asking, not asking
All this parsing might have been avoided if Justice Gorsuch had just worn a damn mask.
Spectacular Vernacular
An excellent podcast.
Wordle clones
Now gone and forgotten.
Recently updated
Words of the year, now with insurrection.
Wordle
“Created by a software engineer in Brooklyn for his partner”: The New York Times has the story behind Wordle.
Recently updated
Words of the year, now with one from The Economist.
Word of the day: tragus
Why is this body part likened to a goat?
Zippy’s thesaurus
In today’s Zippy, a prehistoric thesaurus.
Nancy and orbisculate
Nancy is pretending that she’s eating grapefruit. She’s also pretending to orbisculate.
What’s a candy store?
I discovered this morning, only partly to my surprise, that neither Merriam-Webster nor the Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for candy store. I think there should be one, because candy store does not always denote a store that sells only candy.
The Greek alphabet and us
A Washington Post article about the Greek alphabet in our time.
Pronouncing omicron
From The Wall Street Journal : “However You Pronounce ‘Omicron,’ You’re Probably Saying It Wrong.”
Recently updated
Another word of the year: allyship.