More Words You Can’t Quite Count On

by Kevin Burton    Yesterday we brought clarity to numerical words and phrases which are indefinite, in some cases  to the point of mystification.    And you have come back for more. Thanks! And here is a bonus number-word definition: If I say “thanks a bunch” or “Thanks a million” it’s all the same.    …

Helpful Hints For Tricky Words And Phrases

by Kevin Burton    I can still hear Rosa, one of my English as a Second Language students trying out a new  word, “seldom.”    I was a reasonably good teacher without having had any training. She was a very good student, having had better teachers in the earlier levels of English study.    “Seldom.” …

Kev’s Fantasy Football And Stupid Draft Tricks

by Kevin Burton    I just broke the all-time record for fastest to drop a player off a fantasy football roster.    If you know fantasy, you know this is not a happy occasion.    Footballs have not even begun to fly yet. That comes tomorrow when the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs host Detroit. …

Coast To Coast: Billy Joel’s “Stop In Nevada”

by Kevin Burton    On the Billy Joel portion of our rock and roll road trip you could have reasonably expected “New York State of Mind” or even “Allentown.” Instead we swing west to look at “Stop In Nevada.”     This song fits very well into our road-trip theme.    Today’s tale includes one of …

What I Couldn’t Remember, I Now Can’t Forget

by Kevin Burton       The Scrabble words deployed against you that get you beat; those are the ones you remember the best.    Something kind of similar happened with my Bible memory verses recently.    I’ve written previously about my memory verses, typed on paper, taped onto index cards of various colors.  I am up …

Producers Of Braille Are Touching Lives

by Kevin Burton    Today we touch on two stories about braille being produced from unexpected sources.    NBC Connecticut ran a story about female inmates at York Correctional Facility becoming certified as Braille transcriptionists.    Five inmates completed the program Aug. 24. I wish NBC had quoited some of them. But here is part …

Do You Still Write Personal Letters?

by Kevin Burton    Here’s a shoutout to Angie in Michigan, Linda in England and to hundreds of others who made this post possible.    It’s World Letter Writing Day according to the National Day Calendar. I am still a practitioner of the art. Back in the day, I was an extreme practitioner.    A …

The Answer My Friend, Is In The Dictionary

by Kevin Burton    I don’t know that Merriam-Webster consults Bob Dylan or vice versa, but the two are tied in today’s word list.     “Blowin’ in the Wind” is among Dylan’s best and best-known works. So as not to be long-winded, let’s go directly to the dictionary’s list of words about the wind: Sirocco …

Tell A Stranger About Philadelphia Freedom

by Kevin Burton    Trying to wrestle down he lighter-than-air 70s anthem “Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John is like trying to tell a stranger ‘bout rock and roll.    You kind of can’t.    You can parse the words if you like, look into its origins, the elements that went into it. But in the end …

The Apostle Paul’s Four Trustworthy Sayings

by Kevin Burton    In this life of deceit and disappointments, we pray for something solid we can hold on to, something that is true.    We long for something we can trust.    Trust according to Merriam-Webster is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something.”    On the …