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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.)
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One Word: Solitude
Some words I love because of the way they sound. The way they feel when I write them. Their playful ambiguities. Their spelling quirks. Others I love mostly on account of what they mean to me. âSolitudeâ is a word I love for many reasons â but mostly for its meaning. I love to be…
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One Word: The Singular They
Glad tidings! English now has a third-person pronoun that is both singular and gender-neutral. Best of all, itâs grammatically correct, according to all the best authorities we need to heed. Itâs a pronoun weâve always had â and used. For centuries it was universally accepted. For a while it fell out of favor in formal…
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One Word: Orthotomeo
Guest post today from Joel Smith, responding to my article about the word “epistemology” (how we know stuff). Joel writes: “The Apostle Paul, writing about correctly interpreting his letters, said that they need to be ‘rightly divided’ (2 Timothy 2:15). The term rightly divided is translated from the Greek word ORTHOTOMEO. “Ortho = correctly. Tomeo…
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Phyllis Ring’s The Munich Girl
Cheri and I are thrilled to be reading the newly released novel from our friend Phyllis Edgerly Ring. Itâs called The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War. Not yet too far along, but already loving it. (Iâll post an update here when Iâm finished.) Normally I donât mention new books â…
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Fabiola Gianotti’s Baffling Anagrams
CERN, the worldâs top particle physics facility, has a new director-general, the fabulous Fabiola Gianotti. She took the reins this month, having been democratically chosen by colleagues. The soft-spoken, hard-driving, serenely brilliant Italian scientist will need every atom of her legendary stamina for the coming ordeal. Thatâs not only because sheâs the first woman to…
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Two Words: Compound
This series is about single words that are each, individually, worth a thousand pictures. Seems a simple enough premise. Except when it isnât. What about âwordsâ that consist of two or more words? Increasingly Iâm feeling the need to write about expressions such as âlame duckâ, âice creamâ, or âson of a gunâ. No, wait…