Category Archives: Wednesday Word

Kiss on Our List

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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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J is for Jeans

At least that’s what A Grandmother’s ABC Book says. It’s on page 56. Super patriots may believe that blue jeans and their name began in America, but non vero (Italian for “not true”). Both the word and the pants began … Continue reading

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This Is Jeopardy!

In a family Jeopardy game this evening to celebrate my son’s birthday, the Final Jeopardy category was “Science Language.” Here’s the Final Jeopardy answer: Coined by chemist Van Helmont, the word ‘gas’ comes from this Greek word meaning ‘unformed mass.’ … Continue reading

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Sand-Loving Creatures

Psammophiles were in the news last week, thanks to Dev Shah, winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The word is pronounced “sam- uh-file.” If you know your Greek roots, as Bee competitors usually do, the “-phile” part would be … Continue reading

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