by Dictionary Scoop Since most board games and card games are composed of rules and repeated actions, it is only natural that certain phrases are repeated throughout the gameplay. The metaphorical potential of some of these phrases has led to them becoming part of our everyday language. Surely you use some of these: 1-Close, …
Category Archives: writing
OK Then, Let’s Get This Word Party Started!
by Kevin Burton I believe it was the great Marty Brennaman, on the Cincinnati Reds radio network, who used to call the first game of a three-game series the “lid-lifter.” Let’s tack that one on, at the very beginning mind you, like the first pitch in the top of the first inning, to …
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Turnabout Not Always Fair Play With Words
by Dictionary Scoop. If “nonverbal” is the opposite of “verbal,” shouldn’t “nonchalant” be the opposite of “chalant”? As it turns out, it’s not so simple. “Unpaired words” are terms we assume should exist, based on standard linguistic rules, but don’t. To test your knowledge and learn more about unpaired words, guess which of …
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The Phrases We Use When Things Are Easy
by Dictionary Scoop Some things in life are so simple and effortless that they deserve their own colorful descriptions. It wasn’t difficult to compile these ten phrases: 1-I can do it in my sleep We all have that one recipe we know by heart—the one we turn to whenever we want to impress …
Regional Speech Patterns Travel With You
by Kevin Burton One fine morning in a restaurant we don’t often go to, in a small town where you better not speed or they’ll fine you for sure (Derby, Kansas), a waitress referred to my wife and I as “yins.” That is a contraction of “you ones” and it’s a regionalism from …
Savoring Food Words From Merriam-Webster
by Kevin Burton After last week’s posts about the Food Network, we set the table once more with words about food from our friends at Merriam-Webster dictionary. I have heard the chefs on TV drop some of these words, but other words on the list sound more like Roman or Jewish names from …
Can’t Forget The Breakfast Club, Simple Minds
by Kevin Burton It’s been 40 years and I haven’t forgotten. But it would appear that my limited affection for Simple Minds begins and ends with Ally Sheedy and The Breakfast Club. Both the band and the Brat Pack were white hot in 1985, 40 years ago this week, when “Don’t You …
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The Grooviest Band You’ve Never Heard Of
by Kevin Burton When you bite the hand that feeds you, chances are you won’t get fed anymore. Or you could say it this way: “no more fun and games.” That’s the story of the Houston-based, late 60s sunshine pop band The Fun And Games, according to published accounts. Not very …
The Weird, Wacky Words Of The Wild West
by Dictionary Scoop Cowboys in the Old West not only tamed the inhospitable land, but they also forged their own language. They created unrefined similes and metaphors, broke the rules of grammar, flooded figures of speech with humor, and made a verb out of anything. In this article, we review 12 expressions we …
Happy 80th Birthday To The Great Bob Seger
by Kevin Burton Bob Seger’s highest charting song is not the song closest to his heart, nor, I’m guessing, is it foremost in the esteem of his true-blue fans. The beloved singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Michigan turns 80 today. So I looked up his chart history to see if he had ever had …
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