by Kevin Burton The friends you make later in life might be surprised to learn what you were like as a youth. You’re older, we hope wiser, different is many ways for sure. Some of the words we use go through a similar metamorphosis. Just as you might not be able to …
Tag Archives: Words
More Words About Deep Thinking
by Kevin Burton Last Friday I presented some of the words about thinking compiled by Merriam-Webster. Today I bring you the rest of their list. Call this overthinking if you like. It wouldn’t be my first visit to that particular boulevard. Whereas all the words I included Friday are useful, most of …
Thinking Deeply With Merriam-Webster
by Kevin Burton My friend and co-worker on my college newspaper Tim, once suggested that thinking become a new sport. That’s something that should really be pursued. In this thinksport, there should be a penalty for speaking without thinking. Maybe I’ll continue this thought later. For now, I want to share …
A Language That Goes Beyond Words
by Kevin Burton Surely you’ve heard this old joke: What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call a person who speaks only one language? American. A wicked, sweeping generalization that. Not entirely fair. But …
Oh My Word! Scrabble Goes Crazy
by Kevin Burton If you read this column often you know I’m a Scrabble player. Guess I’ve become an old Scrabble player. I used to laugh at my mom because she objected to some of the new words in the Scrabble Players’ Dictionary. I’m not laughing anymore. I have the sixth edition …
Words Borrowed From Foreign Languages
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 …
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 …
My Bilingual Doubletalk In Mexico
by Kevin Burton My career as an English as a Second Language teacher came to an abrupt early end one night under the streetlights outside a small taco shop in Puebla. To tell you how and why that happened, I first turn to BBC writer Nicole Chang, who recently wrote about what speaking …
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 …
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