The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.

Word Nerd Wednesday – Quixotic

Welcome Word Nerds! Last week, in one of the book launch teams I’m on, we were given the task of describing ourselves using three letters—QRF—and one of the team members described herself as quixotic. That led to the inevitable question, “What does quixotic mean?”—and to my associated thought: “What a great idea for a Word Nerd post!” Before we get into that, however, there’s the little matter of pronunciation. The term quixotic is derived from the character Don Quixote (pronounced don key-OH-tay) created by Miguel de Cervantes in his early 17th Century novel El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Nobleman Mister Quixote

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11 October 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – Cacoethes

Wednesday is here again, Word Nerds! It’s been several weeks since we’ve played What Do You Think It Means, so I thought it must be about time for another round this week. And the word I have for you today is cacoethes (kak-oh-EE-theez). So, here are your definition choices: A)  An urge to do something inadvisable. B)  A state of complete relaxation. C)  The ability to project one’s voice. D)  A food coma. So, tell me. What do you think it means? And if you’re feeling extra creative, give me a sentence to go with it. As always, the answer will be in next

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4 October 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – Full stop or period?

Welcome to the middle of the week, Word Nerds! I started out today on an innocent quest to discover why American-English has named that little dot at the end of a sentence a period, while British- (and Australian-) English prefers the term full stop. Turns out I should have packed a lunch! One thing led to another, and before I knew it I was knee-deep in the history of punctuation itself. Talk about a grammarian’s heaven! There’s far too much for me to share here, but if you’re interested, the BBC article The Mysterious Origins of Punctuation is a great place to

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20 September 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – Wherefore

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” If you’ve always thought this line was uttered by a forlorn maiden looking for her love, you aren’t alone. And it’s a logical conclusion to draw, right? I mean, it has ‘where’ right there in the word. Some of you, like me, may have had that mistaken assumption corrected years ago, and know that wherefore actually means ‘why?’ or ‘for what reason?’  Juliet is actually lamenting the fact that Romeo is a Montague, the sworn enemy of the Capulets—that age old rhetorical ‘why?!’ we utter when we feel we’ve been dealt a cruel hand. Knowing

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13 September 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – The Vagaries of the English Language

  Welcome Word Nerds! Nothing highlights the inconsistencies of the English language like teaching your kids spelling or helping them learn to read. As a homeschool mum I’m currently doing both at multiple levels, and I can tell you I’m so very grateful for the fantastic spelling program we use. (All About Spelling for those who are interested). But have you ever stopped to wonder why the English language is the way it is?

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16 August 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – Green With Envy

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

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9 August 2017

Word Nerd Wednesday – Flummadiddle

Happy Wednesday, word nerds! I have another round of ‘What Do You Think It Means?’ for you today, featuring the word flummadiddle. Don’t you love the way that one rolls off the tongue? So, here are four definitions for you to choose from. Which one do you think is the correct definition?

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19 July 2017