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Word of the Day
LEGERDEMAIN (Noun, English) Skilled, dexterous use of the hands when performing magical tricks. Has also taken on a pejorative meaning of deceit or trickery. Note: Cited originally in English during the 16th century. From the French phrase 'léger de main' (light of hand).
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Author Archives: achouston
We’re All Verbs Now
Maybe, maybe not. Are there any English speakers today who don’t accept text as a verb? It was an easy move to permit text as a verb, follownig the paradigm of other communication channel noun-verb pairs in English — the … Continue reading
Posted in language change, Word Formation, Word Usage
Tagged acronyms, English verbs, language change, word formation
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Linguistic Asymmetries
Have you ever noticed that, while some words which take a prefix seem to form nice pairings with opposite meaning polarity (tie/untie, compliance/noncompliance, tasteful/distasteful), other pairs don’t work this way? For example, there is nonplussed, but not plussed, insipid, but … Continue reading
Posted in etymology, language change, Semantics, Word Formation, Word Usage
Tagged back-formation, language change, recombobulation area, semantic pairs
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Blind Tasting: the Audiobook Edition
Blind Tasting is now available as an audiobook. You can listen to sample chapters for free and you can also buy the entire, unabridged novel as a digital download. Producing this edition in a recording studio — working with a … Continue reading
Posted in audiobooks, ebooks, fiction, storytelling
Tagged audiobook, blind tasting, ebook
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Journey in Northern Light
Just a quick add-on to yesterday’s mention of the summer solstice. Check out this beautiful time-lapse sequence of The Arctic Light by TSO Photography. ‘The Arctic Light’ is the name given by the photographer to the time period about 2-4 weeks … Continue reading
Happy Summer Solstice, NoHem!
Today is the summer solstice for the northern hemisphere — a consequence of the geometry of the sphere-with-a-tilted-axis that we call home in our solar system. Today the sun will reach its highest point in the sky at (solar) noon, … Continue reading
Reading the Signs
If you examine the wording on cautionary road signs, you’ll realize they aren’t wholly consistent. Yet as native speakers of English (or with working fluency of English) we usually have no trouble interpreting the intended meaning. The basic semantic task … Continue reading
Posted in Semantics, social context of language, symbols
Tagged ambiguity, linguistic context, meaning, road signs, symbols
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What are you searching for?
There’s a lot of talk these days about the limits of current search technology, of the fact that people don’t want to scan pages of blue links anymore. The new goal, as evidenced by the work of legions of energetic … Continue reading
Nutty Nomenclature
Have you ever wondered why walnuts have surfaces with ridges and grooves whereas almost all other nuts are smooth? Pecans have rows of ridges, but hazel nuts, cashews, brazil nuts, almonds, macademia nuts and pistachios are all smooth, even though … Continue reading
Posted in etymology, history of language, names, Word Usage
Tagged etymology, filbert, hazelnut, name origins, nuts, walnut
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Word Jumbles #10
POLLOLIP SLITNEC THIPRUM CORTAPI ULECTIC Solutions posted tomorrow on Answers
Word Travels 