Category Archives: Wednesday Word

A Scottish Play on Words

Posted on January 17, 2024 by Kathy

As the credits rolled, I leaned toward my companion. “Is the Maltese falcon a MacGuffin?” I asked. “Um,” he replied, “I always sort of forget what a MacGuffin is.” That evening, referring the question to Mr. Wikipedia, we learned that … Continue reading →

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Thrown a Curve

Posted on January 10, 2024 by Kathy

Lots of delightful reading the past few weeks, and some interesting turns of phrase therein. The Uncommon Reader (2007), an entertaining novel by Alan Bennett, is veddy, veddy English, concerning, as it does, the Queen herself. An expression struck me … Continue reading →

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Combo (Words and Music)

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Kathy

My friend Leanne sent me an article about frisson as the word applies to musical enjoyment. In French, it means “shiver,” and its Latin root, frigere, means “to become cold,” as in the food in your Frigidaire. Every now and … Continue reading →

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Kiss on Our List

Posted on November 15, 2023 by Kathy

Some mysterious algorithm recently offered me a post about inosculation (in-ahs-cue-lay-shun), a naturally occurring grafting of trees. One tree seeming reaches out to another, and they grow into each other. They become conjoined organisms sharing nutrients and circulation. All very … Continue reading →

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A Daily Word, Not Just for Wednesdays

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Kathy

Bloggers’ and YouTubers’ apologies for not recently posting are unnecessary and boring, in my opinion, so I’ll skip the regrets and excuses. Speaking of social media, however, here’s a word you may be noticing as much as I am: journey. … Continue reading →

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Stochastic Meandering

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Kathy

Learning a word’s history at the same time as its meaning helps reinforce our understanding of the word and remember it more effectively. If you know, for example, that volition comes from the Latin word volo, meaning “wish,” you’re likely … Continue reading →

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Lessons in Etymology

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Kathy

Before I began reading my next book group book, a novel called Lessons in Chemistry, I glanced at author Bonnie Garmus’s bio inside the back cover, where I saw that her dog’s name is 99. I wondered if Garmus had … Continue reading →

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Bad Air Quality

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Kathy

Malaria’s in the news, because we’ve seen cases in the US transmitted on our own soil, not carried in by a traveler–the cases totalling eight so far. Worldwide, it’s still a scourge, afflicting almost 250 million people every year, killing … Continue reading →

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One More July?

Posted on July 12, 2023 by Kathy

We’re now well into the seventh month of the year, so it’s high time we examined the history of the name July. The Roman Senate named the month in 44 B.C.E. to honor the assassinated Roman general and dictator Julius … Continue reading →

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A Linguistic Kerfuffle

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Kathy

My friend Jewel sent me a Washington Post article last week about Elon Musk and the term cisgender. In case you don’t know, cisgender refers to a person whose gender identity coincides with the sex with which the person was … Continue reading →

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