Category Archives: Wednesday Word

Whose Right Is It, Anyway?

Posted on May 20, 2025 by Kathy

The weeds are my sweet spot, etymologically speaking, and so we’re wading in. The subject is a constitutional principle that came up in the news today. In a Senate hearing, Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland Security in the Trump … Continue reading →

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Arabic Words in the News!

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Kathy

The English word tariff dates from the late sixteenth century. It referred to an arithmetical table or an official list of custom duties and derived from the Italian tariffa, meaning “a price or assessment.” That word came from the Latin … Continue reading →

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Albatross Around Our Neck

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Kathy

Who knew Alcatraz, the former prison in the San Francisco Bay, would be in the news, like so many other improbable and repellent items entering our consciousnesses these days? Alcatraz, at least, has two (nearly) redeeming features: one, the name … Continue reading →

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More about Science

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Kathy

Hydrogen’s chemical symbol is H, and oxygen’s is O. This sensible state of affairs makes Chemistry 101 a little easier (for us English speakers) than it might otherwise be. The periodic table is not always so self-explanatory, however. You probably … Continue reading →

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Damocles in the News

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Kathy

Now and again, classical derivatives and mythological allusions arise in the news cycle. Regarding the case of New York mayor Eric Adams, the sword of Damocles keeps recurring in pundit parlance. First, to review the news story so far, Mayor … Continue reading →

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Fascism 101

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Kathy

The word fascism is newsworthy right now, and its history is fascinating (no relation) and illuminating. A Roman fascis (plural fasces) was a mere bundle of sticks, often with an ax sticking out of the middle. This mere bundle took … Continue reading →

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Is She?

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Kathy

My sisters and I used to laugh when our grandmother would tell us, “She is a cat,” as a reprimand for our using the pronoun she. Whatever was wrong with she? And who was a cat, and why was she … Continue reading →

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IVF

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Kathy

In vitro fertilization is usually defined as taking place outside of the body. That is not what it means, however. In vitro means “in glass.” As in, inside a test tube, assuming the test tube isn’t made of plastic. The … Continue reading →

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The Pits

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Kathy

In his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, Tim Walz described waiting to hear the results of his wife’s IVF treatments like this: “The pit in your stomach when the phone would ring, and the absolute agony when we heard … Continue reading →

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Political Patois

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Kathy

The eye-opening content and transgressive humor of Tim Miller’s Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell (2022) deserve attention, but they will have to wait for another day. Instead, I want to focus on Miller’s … Continue reading →

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