by Kevin Burton You may not have heard of some of the words on today’s list from Merriam-Webster, especially the first one. The dictionary is serving up words about insignificance. But the first offering is from my childhood days at the Ohio State School for the Blind. I may have heard this …
Tag Archives: Merriam Webster
Scrabble Words And “Y” As A Proud Vowel
by Kevin Burton Merriam-Webster promised me a list of Scrabble words without vowels, but delivered a bunch of words (with one exception) with the letter Y in them. Y is a vowel, a card-carrying vowel. The fact that it has a part-time job as a consonant does not change that. The venerable dictionary …
Words About Words From Merriam-Webster
by Kevin Burton The second offering from today’s word list from Merriam-Webster strikes me as something Bob Dylan might slip into a song to confuse the matter. The dictionary mentions that “epithet” has a meaning without negative connotations. I say that meaning has been completely swallowed up and that using it in the …
Perfect Word List For A Sleepy Saturday
by Kevin Burton If this starts to sound too much like the glass half empty-half full thing, please let me know. But when someone says, “You look like you’re half asleep” doesn’t that also mean you are half awake? And which is preferable, wakefulness or sleep? And in the literal sense of …
What’s The Big Deal About Small Talk?
by Kevin Burton What is your stance on small talk? I’m not into it. “I’m just making conversation.” Ever hear that one? I say real conversation makes itself. Necessity causes words to come out of my mouth. Information must be shared, I share it, so that action will be taken. “We …
Speaking Of English, Speaking In British
by Kevin Burton Not smashing, not daft, something mid-table I’d say, to use a football analogy. I thought I was ready, so I had a go, with middling results. Every day Merriam-Webster sends me an e-mail to help me watch my language. A few weeks ago they announced “The Great British Vocabulary …
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