Capricious: A Word of Whimsy and WhirlwindsDiscover the fascinating evolution of the word’s roots — wild goats and hedgehogs — and original sense of “playful change” into a more…Mar 30Mar 30
Reflections on the Fable of the Woodcutter and the TreesHow Aesop’s timeless fables and related proverbs teach us valuable lessons about how misplaced trust and small concessions can be exploited…Mar 26Mar 26
Books as Portals to Another Time and PlaceA touching inscription in a book transports us to a relationship, nearly a century ago, characterized by admiration, respect, and…Mar 122Mar 122
Words of the Year for 2024What a year — a vertible tsunami of neologisms, like brainrot, slop, enshittification, rawdogging, looksmaxxing, and delulu.Jan 7Jan 7
The Legacy of Cab Calloway: Swing Music and the Slang of JazzLearn how a famous American singer influenced swing music and popularized jazz slang. Can you dig it?Nov 21, 2024Nov 21, 2024
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 31, 20241Oct 31, 20241
Exploring the Beautiful Archaic Words in Winter’s TaleLearn and add some fascinating archaic and obsolete words to your vocabularyOct 5, 2024Oct 5, 2024
One Quirky Man’s Quest to Preserve the English LanguageThe fascinating story and enduring legacy of Samuel Johnson’s English DictionaryMay 3, 2024May 3, 2024
The Fascinating Origin of “Clothes Make the Man”Unraveling the proverbial thread that leads from Twain to Erasmus to Quintilian to HomerMar 22, 2024Mar 22, 2024
Why Do We Say Something Has All the “Bells and Whistles”?The fascinating origin and evolution of a common idiomJan 25, 2024Jan 25, 2024
