If the weather has you huddled indoors today, have a quick look at Mental Floss: 10 Words You Might Not Know are Portmanteaux
Category: dictionary
Oct 30
Ten better ways to say: scary
Happy Halloween! I hope you experience (and survive) something suitably spine-chilling. nightmarish ghastly frightful formidable unnerving horrendous horrifying hair-rising eerie perturbing Revisit ten better ways to say: afraid to plan your response!
Feb 14
Ten better ways to say: sweet
Whether it’s cake, a rose garden, a sonata, or the girl next door one of these should fit: syrupy cloying saccharine honeyed toothsome nectarous delightsome endearing dulcet redolent
Sep 07
Ten better ways to say: yummy
Now that the summer heat has faded, I have more energy to concoct things in the kitchen. I hope a few of my efforts will be worthy of these adjectives. 1. scrumptious 2. delectable 3. toothsome 4. ambrosial 5. mouthwatering 6. tantalizing 7. divine 8. fit for a king 9. to die for 10. choice …
Feb 06
How the US Supreme Court uses the dictionary
An interesting article from the Washington Post. The definition of a single word can determine the Court’s interpretation of law.
Nov 13
2012 Word of the Year
The Oxford English Dictionary has selected omnishambles as the word of the year for 2012. According to BBC News, “the word – meaning a situation which is shambolic from every possible angle – was coined in 2009 by the writers of BBC political satire The Thick of It.” This term could prove useful soon as …
Aug 21
Using foreign words
Any writer of anything more meaningful than a text message or business email knows the frustration of expressing an idea that simply doesn’t have it’s own word(s). Instead of struggling to explain that I yearn for some solitude and tranquility among silent pine trees, it turns out I can just blurt “Waldeinsamkeit” to a passing …