Category Archives: words

Fair or Unfair?

Posted on November 5, 2023 by JE

In the course of an ultimately frustrating and pointless conversation online today, I found myself thinking of the multiple meanings of fair in English–at once, “light-skinned/light-haired”, “beautiful”, and “just, even-handed”. The meanings are so different that I wondered if they … Continue reading →

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The Shadow Nose

Posted on October 22, 2023 by JE

I’m reading Ǫrvar Odds saga at odd moments when I should be working, lately. I was looking up útnes which C&V (un)helpfully gloss as “an outer ness”. The AHD more helpfully told me that a ness is a cape or … Continue reading →

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I’m Somebody Now!

Posted on July 28, 2023 by JE

“The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here!”

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My Object All Sublime

Posted on July 25, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is snicjkered, which I take to be an especially insidious style of snickering. e.g. “He didn’t just snicker at me–he snicjkered! So I impaled him on my snickersnee.”

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Not Feeling SANQUINE About This

Posted on July 6, 2023 by JE

Yet another Faceplace ad that falls between sad and funny. I’m pretty sure the Latin on this very serious “blood oath” coin is supposed to mean “what is owed in blood” (quod debitum sanguine) only they misspelled “blood” as SANQUINE, … Continue reading →

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Latin Makes Your Teeth Shiny White!

Posted on July 5, 2023 by JE

I had occasion to use the word vademecum today, which doesn’t happen that often, but whenever it does I’m reminded of Vademecum toothpaste, which my mom used to use. This may be the first piece of Latin I ever learned … Continue reading →

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A Fuzzy Thing Happened…

Posted on June 28, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is trible (where I intended to type tribe). It caused me a little trouble.

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Potayto, Potahto…

Posted on June 18, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is eggshites (where I intended to type eggwhites). I’m thinking of letting it stand. Since Mr. Pancreas tried to kill me last winter, I’ve come to appreciate eggwhites, but my narrator doesn’t think much of them.

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Slay Ride

Posted on June 14, 2023 by JE

The latest round of student papers gave me a chance to use one of my favorite cut-and-paste comments. The principal parts of this verb are: slay, slew, slain. “Bob slays monsters. Joan slew monsters. Hey, all my monsters have been … Continue reading →

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To Werror Is Human…

Posted on June 14, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is werror (where I intended to type error). I figure a werror must be some kind of mutant werewolf produced by an experiment gone horribly wrong. “They were neither human nor wolf! You will never escape … Continue reading →

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