Category Archives: words

Invasion of the Stochastic Parrots

Posted on February 20, 2023 by JE

Apparently enough fatheads were taken in by the chatbot hype this winter to flood electronic submission portals with chatbot-written fiction. At last there’s an option for the person who’s too dumb or lazy to read but who thinks they can … Continue reading →

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Southbound

Posted on February 2, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is soughtward (for an intended southward). Seems like it ought to mean something—“in the direction of seeking”, maybe. “He never found what he was seeking soughtward; he only found it when he stopped looking.” Or maybe … Continue reading →

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Goa, Going, Gone

Posted on January 31, 2023 by JE

I was scrolling through an electronic edition of a venerable Latin dictionary, which is a totally normal thing to do, and I was brought up short by the entry for superstitio: “excessive fear of the goas; unreasonable religious belief.” I … Continue reading →

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To Peeve or Not to Peeve?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by JE

That’s easy. Don’t be a language peever. It generally violates Wheaton’s Law and there’s always the danger of exposing one’s own ignorance of language. Well, easier said than done for some of us. People who write are also frequently in … Continue reading →

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Get the Hnakkr!

Posted on January 2, 2023 by JE

I’m rereading Snorri’s Edda and Tacitus’ Historiae in tandem, and it’s an interesting experience. With Snorri, this involves a lot of adventures in the dictionary, as the vocabulary of Old Icelandic is definitely less familiar to me than the vocabulary … Continue reading →

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Scrabbling for Points

Posted on January 2, 2023 by JE

ME: Can I convince D that “nunbone” is a word? ALSO ME: You can’t convince me. OTHER ME WANDERING BY: I thought the other one was “me”. ALL: I AM!

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Coca þola

Posted on December 30, 2022 by JE

I was looking up þola in Cleasby & Vigfusson this afternoon even though I was pretty sure I knew what it meant, which is a totally normal thing to do. They said it meant “endure”, as I expected, and connected … Continue reading →

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Who’s Nest?

Posted on December 28, 2022 by JE

I was looking up  the Old Norse word nestbaggi (“bag for provisions”) and wondering about the etymon of nest (“provisions”). Is it the same as English nest (like, where birds live)? I still don’t know; it looks doubtful. But apparently English … Continue reading →

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Scale vs. Scale

Posted on December 21, 2022 by JE

While looking up something today, I got lost in the dictionary (an almost daily occurrence around here). I ended up finding out that scale in the sense of “a calibrated line” (etc.) isn’t related at all to scale from a … Continue reading →

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The Ygg and I

Posted on July 28, 2022 by JE

Today I’m thinking about Weird water and eggs. Snorri says that the first root of Yggdrasil comes down in Ásgarð and that next to it is the Pool of Weird. The Norns come out to it each day and splash … Continue reading →

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