Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton Now flowers come from seeds. But flower etymologies come from every linguistic corner under heaven, ubiquitous as the flowers themselves it seems. On a beautiful Spring day, imagine an average couple driving the highways and byways of the heartland in a beautiful 2012 Toyota. And the wife might say, “Do …
Continue reading “Flowers Can Wait, They’ll Be Here Tomorrow”
by Kevin Burton Every industry has its insider jargon and our friends at Dictionary Scoop have released a list of journalism phrases. And I’ll get to it, gladly. But first, one bone to pick. So the way I was trained in journalism was, get to the point, now. Put the most important …
by Dictionary Scoop In honor of summer solstice tomorrow we have cherry-picked 10 expressions related to plants and flowers that will make you want to go outside and smell the roses! 1-Beat around the bush Some people are direct and cut to the chase, and others take their time to say what they have to say. When …
by Dictionary Scoop The word “phobia” does not merely mean “fear of” as some believe. There is more to it. A phobia is an irrational fear, “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Here are ten uncommon fears and …
by Interesting Facts With the right combination of words and expressions, we can communicate anything our hearts desire. That’s the power of language. But what about those times when you’re looking for a single word rather than an entire sentence to sum up a thought or feeling? For that, we can look to …
by Kevin Burton Merriam-Webster dictionary took to social media to ask readers to identify some of their favorite underrated words. Yesterday we posted some of these words and today we finish their list. This may be the weirdest list I’ve ever posted. Some of these words don’t strike me as particularly useful. Others …
Continue reading “Words For Cats’ Eyes, Bad Hair, Plenty More”
by Kevin Burton I missed it and didn’t get to participate, but Merriam-Webster had a notice on social media inviting readers to vote for their favorite underused words. The dictionary published the results under the headline “12 Underrated Words That Deserve More Love.” I don’t agree with all the choices, but there was …
Continue reading “Panning For Gold In The Discount Word Bin”
by Kevin Burton People from Wichita, the nearest large city to me, are called Wichitans. That’s straightforward enough. People from Puebla, Mexico, a city very near to my heart, are called Poblanos. Why not Pueblanos? Not sure, good question. Wichitan and Poblano are demonyms. The word demonym is “Rooted in the Greek …
by Dictionary Scoop Coming from the Indo-European language family, Danish has some funny idiomatic expressions. Some will leave you scratching your head. For example, “reading a horse.” What’s that all about? Continue reading to learn nine Danish expressions and their meaning translated. 1-Mind the cows When life gets a bit hard, we all need …
Continue reading “When In Denmark, Speak As The Danish Speak”
by Kevin Burton Come and get it kids, quibble and bits, short takes, follow-ups from recent posts, bits of news….. A day or two after I wrote about the letter Z and its two pronunciations (zed and zee), Meriam-Webster made “zeitgeist” its word of the day. The dictionary says zeitgeist is “the …
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