DASH IT ALL!
THERE’S A MULTIPLICITY of punctuation marks that look quite similar: -, –, —, and ―. These are, respectively, the hyphen, the en dash, the em dash, and the horizontal bar. … Continue reading
SEVERAL MATHEMATICAL ETYMOLOGIES
WORDS IN MATHEMATICS have precise meanings. No surprise, this. And sometimes their etymologies have good tales to tell. Let’s look at “theorem,” and two of its related terms, “corollary” and … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: SCOUNDREL
TO QUOTE Trumpery of January 14, 2019, the president said that FBI personnel were “known scoundrels.” Were I a second-grader, I might respond, “It takes one to know one.” Given … Continue reading
ON PARTICLES
MRS. GRIMBLY, REST her teacher’s soul, would be disappointed that I’d forgot the meaning of an English language “particle.” Maybe I earn some redemption by recently learning about particles in … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: TO COZEN, A COZENER
GIVEN THAT we may be entering the second half, and perhaps the end game, of Trumpery, it is not inappropriate to discuss classical terms for the personality type, in particular, … Continue reading
PASS THE PASTICHES, PLEASE
THE YEAR 2019, according to Alexandra Alter in The New York Times, December 29, 2018, will be one of “New Life for Old Classics, as Their Copyrights Run Out.” She … Continue reading
GREMLIN TIDBITS PART 1
YESTERDAY AT SimanaitisSays, we talked about Roald Dahl and his dealings with Walt Disney, which culminated with the book The Gremlins. Today and tomorrow, in a continuation of this theme, … Continue reading
COMPLICITY AND COLLUSION—DUAL ETYMOLOGIES
MUCH IN the news these days, the words “complicity” and “collusion” warrant inclusion in my series of Etymology for our Times. It’s most appropriate to compare and contrast these two … Continue reading
SCHADENFREUDE—ETYMOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL VIEWS
“DEAR DR. WORDSMITH, current political goings-on have me experiencing Schadenfreude. Is this okay?” It depends, of course, on how concerned you are about the state of these United States. If, … Continue reading
FOUR ADJECTIVES IN SEARCH OF A TYPOGRAPHER
AS DESCRIBED IN yesterday’s adjectival tidbit, ironic, sardonic, sarcastic, and satirical commentaries are frequently encountered these days. Thus, shouldn’t we have typography to identify their presence? Sort of like “?” … Continue reading
