Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton At one of my newspaper stops I was introduced to readers as speaking “fluent Spanish” That wasn’t, and isn’t, quite true. But I do speak some Spanish and it has done me some good over the years. How much Spanish do I speak? I once described it as “enough …
Continue reading “Now The Dictionary Is Speaking My Language”
by Kevin Burton “Do you want to see a movie?” my wife Jeannette will ask me, thinking of a fun diversion. “What’s playing?” I will ask. “I don’t know,” she will say, exasperated. “If I don’t know what’s playing, how do I know if I want to go?” I will say, as …
Continue reading “What’s Playing At The Movies This Weekend?”
by Kevin Burton Autumn is the time of year when the greenery explodes into myriad colors. It’s a feast for the eyes, an art show by God, defying description. Meriam-Webster is in the business of descriptions, so the dictionary is going to have its say. Yesterday we went with them, beginning a list …
Continue reading “Autumn Begins Monday, Bring On The Colors!”
by Kevin Burton I have at times, felt sorry for those Americans who live in places that do not have four discernable seasons. Spring, summer, fall and winter. I have lived in the Midwest most of my life and have experienced times when those four seasons all came within the same week. …
Continue reading “Fall Colors Are Part Of What I Want To See”
by Kevin Burton If you start talking about the fauna and flora of a certain environment, people are going to be weirded out. Why? Well, we usually say flora and fauna, not the other way around. Is there a good reason for this? Maybe not, but don’t buck the trend, unless weirdness is …
by Dictionary Scoop. Most nations in history have taken great pride in the strength and honor of their military. So it seems logical that something as valuable for any society has a profound and direct impact on the way we communicate with each other. We have selected a few words we use every day that have military …
Continue reading “These Ten Words Emerged From the Military”
by Dictionary Scoop A lot of slang terms and everyday words have surprisingly rich backstories tied to real historical events and practices. These expressions once described literal experiences before turning into figures of speech. What was their first, literal meaning? 1-Run-of-the-mill “Run-of-the-mill” these days means something ordinary or unremarkable, like in the sentence: The …
by Dictionary Scoop English is full of beautiful terms that we use every day, but it also holds many other gorgeous words that, unfortunately, we have stopped using over time. Here are ten 10 beautiful English words that we don’t use much anymore -but definitely should. 1-Murmuration “Murmuration” is a beautiful word in our language that …
by Kevin Burton Fear not, dear reader. Easy does it. This won’t hurt a bit. For your attention today we bring terms and definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for elements of mathematics. But there will be no test. Or, if you consider it a test, you are auditing this one. Take from …
by Kevin Burton The first time I encountered “charity” in the King James Bible, it made me scratch my head. It didn’t seem to fit just right. Given time, words will do that to you. “Charity” in the King James most commonly means “love.” Here are more specifics on the Biblical definition …
Continue reading ““Charity” And Words That Changed Meanings”
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