ETYMOLOGY: CAITIFF, VARLET PART 2
YESTERDAY WAS CAITIFF’S day; today, varlet exhibits the same sort of linguistic switcheroo: What originally had an innocent meaning evolved into a word rather less complimentary. Varlet. Varlet’s original meaning … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: CAITIFF, VARLET PART 1
CAITIFFS! VARLETS! WHAT rare but appropriate words describing too many politicians these days. Merriam-Webster lists “caitiff” as an adjective meaning “cowardly, despicable.” It defines the noun ”varlet” as “attendant, menial; … Continue reading
COMMUNICATION CADENCE
EACH LANGUAGE has a cadence. English, for example, has its noble example of classic iambic pentameter—five beats to a line, unstressed syllables followed by stressed ones. Consider Marlowe’s line from … Continue reading
WITH JOE MILLER, THE JOKE’S ON MOTTLEY
JOE MILLER, 18th-Century English Theatre tragedian, is remembered today. John Mottley, a contemporary of Miller, ends up as a false etymological hint. My inspiration for these tidbits arose from “The … Continue reading
SMALL LATIN, LESS GREEK… BUT CHURCHILL HAD A POINT TOO
Hi ENGLISH PLAYWRIGHT Ben Jonson wrote that his late colleague William Shakespeare had “smalle Latine, and lesse Greeke.” Well, come to think of it, me too. I was never encouraged … Continue reading
WELCOMING NEW (AND OLD) WORDS TO THE OED
I MUST confess that our family Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1971, is appearing smaller and smaller each month. The OED’s official website has cited “New Words in … Continue reading
WHAT’S THAT IN OLD ENGLISH? PART 2
YESTERDAY IN “What’s That in Old English Part 1,” we concluded with edhwierfe!, the Old English verb “to return” in its imperative singular case. Given that you have returned, today … Continue reading
WHAT’S THAT IN OLD ENGLISH? PART 1
HERE ARE some tidbits about Old English, OE, for short, gleaned from a recent exhibition at the British Museum, a BBC article reviewing this exhibition, and my usual Internet sleuthing. … Continue reading
STYLISH WRITING PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, several sources were cited as references here at SimanaitisSays: Merriam-Webster, Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the … Continue reading
STYLISH WRITING PART 1
THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of authorities on writing style, some of them even worth emulating. Readers of SimanaitisSays may already sense my trust in two sources, Merriam-Webster and The Compact Edition … Continue reading
