Browsing on the web today I came across an interested website that lists hundreds of weird words from the English language. Here are some that caught my attention: Alexipharmic – Having the quality or nature of an antidote to poison. Astrobleme – An eroded meteor impact crater. Bloviate – To speak pompously. Bromopnea – Bad … Read more
Andro- derives from the Greek andros (man) and denotes anything that’s male or masculine (and you thought that was testosterone 🙂 ) It’s given us several words, many of them scientific or biological: andranatomy – the dissection or structure of the male body androcentric – regarding men as being primary or central androcephalic – having … Read more
This collection of book words is not for bibliophobes (book haters), but if you love books, then these are great words for you to use in writing and conversation. They all derive from the Greek biblion, which means book. If you’ve ever researched an essay, then you probably had to provide a bibliography – a … Read more
Reduplicatives never travel alone. In fact, they always come in pairs and sometimes sound rather silly. These are the words formed through reduplication, when you repeat a word to form a new one, or slightly change the vowel or consonant. These are inventive and musical words and there are hundreds of them in English. Also … Read more
Some confusion appears to exist regarding the use of pour and pore. Charlie complains that he has to pour through stacks of badly-written letters to the editor every day. In this context the word should be pore. The usual idiom is “to pore over.” Apparently the preposition “through” has entered into use, as in the … Read more
Mari, one of our readers, writes: Perhaps…you could address a problem that seems to have reached epidemic proportions: the difference between pique, peek and peak. Recently I have been inundated with people giving ‘sneak peaks’ and having their curiosity ‘peeked’. I pointed out the “peak” for “peek” spelling myself in an earlier article. It’s an … Read more
I just heard James Oberstar (D-Minn.) chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee spokesman accuse the Federal Aviation Agency of both misfeasance and malfeasance. Here’s the comment as reported in the Los Angeles Times: “The FAA would have us believe this was an isolated incident and that the damage is contained, that it was … Read more
The Oxford Dictionary of Etymology tells an interesting story of the origin of the word knickerbockers. In 1809 Washington Irving, who is famous for the short stories Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, published a book called History of New York. The book was published under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. Pictures … Read more
Medium originates from the Latin meaning middle, midst or means and this sense has carried through its various meanings. The 16th century meaning of intervening substance gave rise to the 19th century meaning of enveloping substance, a term often used in scientific experiments. Since the 18th century, medium has also meant intermediate agency (which no … Read more
Onomatopoeia (on-O-mat-O-P-ya) is a word that’s hard to spell but easy to understand. Derived from the Greek words for name and making, onomatopoeia refers to the literary device of making words that imitate sounds. It’s a way to emphasize the sounds and it’s a technique we use often. In fact, many of us may not … Read more
Reader Elaine Peters wonders if the word “Good” in “Good Friday” has anything to do with the word “God,” pointing out that the English “good-bye” is a shortened version of the once common expression “God be with ye.” The word “goodbye” is the result of running words together until they’ve dwindled into a compressed version … Read more
You may be pleased to hear that rhinotillexis is on the downturn, at least in public places. This lovely term means “picking one’s nose with one’s fingers.” In an article by Jim Shahin in the February 15, 2008 issue of American Way, I learned that a Harvard study reveals that rhinotillexis is down 70% from … Read more