Category: Language
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One Word: Your Relationship to the Parents of Your Childâs Spouse
There is no such word! In English, that is. In some other languages, yes. But not English. This word fascinates me despite the fact that it doesnât exist. Or, perhaps more aptly, because it doesnât exist. Either way, it speaks volumes about our English-speaking society, the relationships we value â and those we do not.…
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One Word: Pert Near
A recent article of mine uses the compound word âpert nearâ. Whatâs the deal there? It was my article on whistling (I canât whistle) in which I asked whether thereâs âanything you canât do ⌠even though pert near everyone else you know canâ. Of course, âpert nearâ is a slang expression meaning âpretty nearlyâ…
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One Word: Tier
âTierâ is my kind of word. Itâs short. It has a neat sound. Itâs familiar without being overused. Best of all, itâs useful. Physically, a tier is one of a series of stacked rows or levels. Rungs of a ladder, for instance, or the third row of seats in a stadium. Figuratively, a tier is…
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One Word: This Here
Always-inquisitive reader Mahin Pouryaghma asks about the compound construction “this here”. It’s one she sometimes encounters in her home stomping ground of rural Georgia. Thanks, Mahin, for affording me a chance to reflect on this and similar expressions. I’m treating this one as a single word for reasons I explained in the article on “compound”.…
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The Most Romantic Valentine City
Happy Valentine’s Day from America’s Most Consistently Romantic City — Knoxville, Tennessee, home of “Notes from Stonehaven”. Â Okay, so I had to weasel-word that (with “consistently”) in order to justify the “most” boast. Technically, Knoxville was bumped this year from first to third place by the new champ, Alexandria, Virginia. Congratulations, Alexandria. Don’t get used…
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One Word: Lucid
I had a lucid dream Wednesday night (February 10-11, 2016). My second one ever. At least that I woke up remembering. This started me thinking about the word “lucid” and how much I love it. It means clear and easily understood. Before discussing that, though, here’s the scoop on lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is…
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One Word: Translate
To translate is to restate a thing in different words. It’s a simple concept with vast depths. The English word comes from Latin, where “trans” means “across”, and “latus” means to carry. Hence, to carry across. Typically we carry ideas across from one language to another — French to English, or German to Spanish. Being…
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The Book You Want to Read
“Write the book you want to read.” Not sure where I first heard that advice. Not even sure whether I ever actually heard it before. Either way, it feels familiar because it’s advice I’ve followed â perhaps instinctively. And whatever success I’ve had as a writer, I owe to that advice. Cheri and I heard…
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One Word: Flammable / Inflammable
What is the difference between âflammableâ and âinflammableâ? Nothing. Nothing at all! For all intents and purposes, they are the same word. In my previous article on the word âconnoteâ, I questioned whether there any two English words that carry both the same meaning and the same connotation. I was inclined to believe there wasnât.…
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Jonah Miller’s “Shrill, Empathic Joys”
You do know Iâm a science geek, right? The only problem being, I know very little about actual science! Itâs a field â or rather, a collection of fields â for which I have no formal training, no math foundation, no research experience. What I do instead is read obsessively â books, magazines, blogs, and…
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One Word: Vex
Iâm fond of the word âvexâ. My recent report on pangrams reminded me of this fondness. Youâll recall that a pangram is any sentence (shorter the better) that contains every letter of the alphabet at least once. Since working âvâ and âxâ into the same sentence can be a vexing challenge, itâs no wonder pangram…
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One Word: Connote
Every word denotes something, and connotes something more. Its âdenotationâ is what it denotes â that is, what it means in its most straightforward, minimal dictionary definition. Its âconnotationâ is what it connotes. Thatâs where things get interesting. The connotation of a word is its flavor, its feeling, its emotional texture. Itâs what the word…