Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton Here’s what we know about the female character from “December 1963 (Oh What a Night,” the Four Seasons’ fifth and last number one hit: She had the ability to walk. She walked into a room. That’s all we get. No eyes of blue, no golden hair, no perfume in …
Continue reading “December 1963, Oh What A Song, For The Guy”
by Merriam-Webster Dictionary Cinderella is arguably the most iconic of fairy tales, an archetype of what is known as the rags-to-riches story. You know how it goes: living under the oppression of her evil stepmother, she finds her chance at happiness and fortune only after a fairy godmother makes her over for the …
Continue reading “How Sports Underdogs Became ‘Cinderellas’”
by Kevin Burton Have I been snickering up my sleeve a bit as Merriam-Webster slings names at various miscreants? Well, what goes around, comes around. This is the third and final post looking at “A Handy Guide to Ruffians, Rapscallions, Cads and More, 22 Charming Words for Nasty People” published by the …
by Kevin Burton My assigned task was to write past-due notices to customers. Dry enough, but I had some fun with it. I was working as an office assistant at a photo lab in Columbus, Ohio. We were in the not-so-busy season, taking care of things that didn’t get done during the busy …
by Dictionary Scoop We toss around old sayings without giving them a second thought. However, many of them once meant something entirely different than what we are trying to say. Over time, words drift, idioms evolve, and what started as a literal warning becomes a cultural cliche. Let’s rewind the dictionary and see how these …
Continue reading “These Sayings Don’t Mean What They Used To”
by Kevin Burton With its march to number one, inexorable as the steamrolling force of the trucks it portrayed, “Convoy” by C.W. McCall ruled the radio road 50 years ago today. Ruled both lanes, the pop lane and the country lane – double number one. But make no mistake, Convoy is a …
Continue reading “Ain’t She A Beautiful Sight? ‘Convoy’ Turns 50”
by Dictionary Scoop A number of words that are used regularly started in the fields. Terms tied to crops, livestock, and tools found their way into everyday language and stuck around. Take a look at the following 12 examples. You might be surprised how many common expressions have their roots in the soil! …
Continue reading “City Folks Adopted These Agricultural Terms”
by Dictionary Scoop When a new year arrives, we focus on time. And because time plays such a central role in our lives, it’s no surprise that it’s also a key part of our everyday language. Today we’re exploring the origins and meanings of ten time-related idioms you’ve probably never stopped to think about. 1-A …
by Kevin Burton Getting these word-list e-mails from Dictionary Scoop is a little like it was to open a new pack of baseball cards in the old days. You might get Gary Sutherland, you might get Johnny Bench. In fact you always got a mixture of stars and scrubs. Today’s list of …
by Kevin Burton What I see 20 feet away, you can see 200 feet away. By definition therefore, I am legally blind. So you would think, all other things being equal, my career as a jaywalker could/should be painfully short, or maybe even disastrously shortened. I was very nearly run over by …
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