by Kevin Burton When I travel to foreign lands such as Mexico or Mississippi, I bring back souvenirs. I’m sure you do too in your travels. Some of the souvenirs we bring back are words and phrases. Today we look at some favorites from the Merriam Webster dictionary. Their list is of words …
Tag Archives: dictionary
Words For Real Life Or For Scrabble
by Kevin Burton “Scrabble” is not a German word meaning “one letter off,” that’s just my little joke. Scrabble also at its essence is not a word game as commonly supposed, but a game of mathematics and strategic placement of little tile soldiers. For the words used in scrabble aren’t words so …
Loud Arguments About Silent Letters
by Kevin Burton When my parents issued me flash cards before kindergarten, I wondered why the work “knife” had a K in it when it didn’t do anything. All these years later I hear from Merriam-Webster that not just e’s and k’s but all the letters of the English alphabet are silent at …
All The Letters Can Be Silent? Shut Up!
by Kevin Burton Silent E is so famous it has a song, we all know about that one. We know how the letter e at the end of man, changes the word to mane, for example. The silent e turns the a from short to long. But did you know all the …
Hey Word Lovers, Have An Awesome Day!
by Kevin Burton Good day you awesome readers! Are you sick yet of the word “awesome”? The term’s overuse is sparking some awesome outrage among speakers of English. Some generational friction emerges when you look into who is cool with “awesome” and who is not. “Awesome” started with the California surfer crowd …
A Few Words For March Madness Fans
by Kevin Burton You hear the word “hoops” what comes to mind? Are you thinking earrings? Are you thinking bureaucracy, extra obstacles you have to jump through? Or are you thinking basketball? No right answer to this, we try to appeal to all types of readers here. But for me, it’s basketball. …
Finding Joy In The Everyday Journey
by Kevin Burton One of my English as a Second Language students once asked me, “Can I say ‘enjoy your joy?’” She and I both laughed. Peeling apart the quirks of somebody else’s language is great fun and can give you some insights into your own first language. I wonder though if …
My ABCs: A Is For Appreciate
by Kevin Burton When I determined to write about appreciation I turned to the dictionary for help, but you wouldn’t have to. Appreciation is like that key spice in your favorite stew. If it’s there it fills everything it touches with a flavor that keeps you coming back for more. If it is …
How About A Little Thanksliving?
by Kevin Burton This may be hard to believe, but once in a great while I can be a little grumpy. I know, I know, but it’s true. You can take my word for it, or ask my wife. But I always see the bright side, 100 percent of the time. In …
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