Monthly Archives: August 2010

Word Jumbles #6

Posted on August 27, 2010 by achouston

MEBRIT ANTLORIA GOTUNE OLDMAN TANGAME Solutions posted on Answers tomorrow.

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Awesome

Posted on August 25, 2010 by achouston

The word awesome is extending its usage to function as a noun, not just an adjective, although the nominal usage isn’t showing up in dictionaries. Yet. Here are two recent real-life examples of awesome I have witnessed where awesome is … Continue reading →

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Ontology for Words of the Day

Posted on August 24, 2010 by achouston

If you go to the Word Archive page, there is a new graphic showing the archived Words of the Day organized into a hierarchy of basic semantic categories, an ontology. I’ll continue to add words of the day to this … Continue reading →

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The Internet B.G. (before Google)

Posted on August 23, 2010 by achouston

The line at the bottom says it all — “Achieve 100% pure surfing pleasure”  Can anyone imagine today in 2010 surfing the Internet from a printed book? I mean, you go to a page in a book, find the url … Continue reading →

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Word Jumbles #5

Posted on August 20, 2010 by achouston

RECTEAR AMELODEN GENNOPAT RAINECTS TANROOD Solutions posted tomorrow on Answers. Enjoy your weekend,  everyone!

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Meaning in Motion

Posted on August 17, 2010 by achouston

The word ‘post’ as a vertical pole appears in a number of standard expressions in English:  lamp post, fence post, hitching post, goal post. Hitching posts for horses are pretty rare nowadays, but at one time they were quite common. … Continue reading →

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Recombinant Semantics

Posted on August 14, 2010 by achouston

Playing with words and sentences is good exercise for the mind. Besides, it’s fun. Recently BBear (a Jumbles enthusiast) explained his version of a semantic game: take a passage (any passage you choose) and, using only the inventory of the … Continue reading →

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Word Jumbles #4

Posted on August 13, 2010 by achouston

KINTCOGS FACTRY ALLSTER ESLAWE PEDELVORE Solutions posted tomorrow under Answers.

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Parts

Posted on August 12, 2010 by achouston

There’s a commonly deployed linguistic device with a fancy Greek name — metonymy.  Metonymy is using an attribute or a part of something to refer to the thing itself. Here are some examples: All hands are to report to the … Continue reading →

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Sportaholics and Sexavores

Posted on August 10, 2010 by achouston

Just back from travels, so a short post today. There is a nice case of a newly productive suffix in English worth noting: –vore.  In the past there was a limited set that includes the well-known carnivore, herbivore, omnivore.  Recently … Continue reading →

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