What’s this? A Word Nerd Wednesday post? I know, I know. It’s been aaaages, but I’ve been so busy and it’s been a while since a word leaped out at me like vertiginous did this week. It was actually the sole bright…
Welcome, word nerds! I have a quick one for you today that follows on from last week’s post on the word stereotype. As a brief recap for those who missed last week’s post (and are too lazy to click on the link 😉 ), we learned last week that stereotype was originally a printing term. Back in the days when movable type was used to create a form (a completed page ready for printing), printers began to use stereotypes as a way of making printing more efficient. Rather than using the form for printing, they created an impression of the form in papier-mâché, which was then used
Today’s Word Nerd Wednesday post begins with a joke: Q: Why did the coffee go to the police station? A: He needed to report a mugging. Did I get a groan out of you?
Happy Wednesday, word nerds! Don’t you think idiosyncrasy is a cool word? I’ve been reminded of it thanks to my current read, which I can’t say anything about at present (how’s that for getting all mysterious on you!) The word has come up a few times in relation to some of the characters, and it struck me as a good word to investigate etymologically. Because that just happens to be one of my idiosyncrasies!
Greetings Word Nerds! Last night as I was saying goodnight to my children, my nine-year-old son piped up with the question, “Mum, what is a mare?” One of my other children replied by saying it was a female horse, which prompted the further question, “Then, why do we call bad dreams nightmares?” Cue silence. Have you ever noticed that children become mini philosophers at bedtime, pondering the meaning of life, the universe, and everything—including the English language? Mine certainly do. Anyway, I had to confess I didn’t know and that we would look it up in the morning. And so here
Hello fellow Word Nerds. Sorry about missing a few Word Nerd posts, but things have been going off script around here, first with extended illness making its rounds in the family (mostly flu), and now with my husband’s back putting him completely out of commission. God is sustaining us through it all, but blogging hasn’t exactly been my top priority of late! I haven’t forgotten that I still need to reveal the definition of flummadiddle—that will be at the end of this post—but with CFRR (Christian Fiction Reader’s Retreat) starting in Cincinnati on 12th August, and me stuck way over here
Wednesday has rolled around again Word Nerds! Today I’m looking at the word dystopia in anticipation of a fantastic novel that releases this Friday (28 April): The Uncloaked by J. Rodes (who will be more familiar to readers as Jennifer Rodewald).
Welcome, Word Nerds! I hope you had a blessed Easter! In fact, we’re going to talk about the word Easter in just a moment, but first, last week’s word: Widdershins. Widdershins – in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction; counterclockwise Congratulations to kathyscottage, who used it in a sentence to mean counterclockwise! You get a gold star! Now, what better word to feature this week than the word Easter?! If you’ve ever looked into the origin of this word (or have atheist friends who love to argue that Easter is actually a pagan festival that the Christians appropriated for their own purposes), you may have