Playing Chess with Pigeons: The Struggle Against Dogma and IgnoranceLearn how the vivid metaphor of “playing chess with pigeons” perfectly highlights the futility of engaging with those unwilling to accept…Oct 31Oct 31
Exploring the Beautiful Archaic Words in Winter’s TaleLearn and add some fascinating archaic and obsolete words to your vocabularyOct 5Oct 5
One Quirky Man’s Quest to Preserve the English LanguageThe fascinating story and enduring legacy of Samuel Johnson’s English DictionaryMay 3May 3
The Fascinating Origin of “Clothes Make the Man”Unraveling the proverbial thread that leads from Twain to Erasmus to Quintilian to HomerMar 22Mar 22
Why Do We Say Something Has All the “Bells and Whistles”?The fascinating origin and evolution of a common idiomJan 25Jan 25
The Heckler That Changed the Course of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” SpeechLearn how a friendly heckler, a famous singer, inspired MLK to improvise and deliver one of the most famous speeches in American historyJan 16Jan 16
Published inCellar Door52 Words That Sound Dirty But Aren’tThese are all extremely innocent, family-friendly dictionary words. You may need to wash your mouth out with soap anywayOct 18, 202313Oct 18, 202313
Julius Caesar and Winston Churchill and Their Love of the HypozeuxisLearn how two famous speeches, centuries apart, are linked by a common rhetorical deviceSep 27, 20237Sep 27, 20237
From Goo-Goo Eyes to the OeilladeThe fascinating history of the archaic word for a flirting glanceAug 27, 2023Aug 27, 2023
Published inCellar Door“Don’t Have a Pot to Piss In”: An Origin StoryThe earliest appearance of a uniquely American idiomJul 17, 202324Jul 17, 202324
