Category: Misc
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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…
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One Word: Pangram
You all know I love anagrams â those wonderful phrases created by rearranging the letters of one thing to spell something else. Like when I scramble the letters of âGary Leland Matthewsâ to spell âsadly elegant warmthâ (and lots of other things â most of them unflattering but hilarious). Until a few days ago, however,…
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One Word: Beggar
Hereâs a word I (sometimes) like and (sometimes) use: âbeggarâ. Depending on its meaning. Mostly the word strikes me unremarkable, even depressing. A beggar can be someone who survives by begging. That definition doesnât inspire me. As a verb, something that âbeggarsâ you reduces you to poverty. Donât care for that one, either! Nowadays we…
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One Word: Ourself
My recent article on the âsingular theyâ prompted an insightful question from reader Mahin Pouryaghma. Just to provide context: Dr. Pouryaghma is a licensed professional counselor whose practice emphasizes self-honesty. You can read her background here on the Psychology Today website. She writes: âWhen I am talking to more than one person and am saying…
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One Word: Strengths
âStrengthsâ first caught my attention for being the longest English word with only one vowel. Longest, that is, in number of letters. There are other ways of measuring lengths. Nowadays, if we ask such a question on any Internet forum like Quora, while forgetting to specify letter-count, thereâs no shortage of people to remind us…
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One Word: Brevity
âBrevityâ is one of those words that exemplifies itself. Seven letters long, itâs the noun form of âbriefâ, which means short. âBriefâ and âshortâ also are words constituting examples of themselves. Words that rhyme with brevity include âlevityâ and âlongevityâ. (This article is part of my series on words that are #worth1000pictures.)