Growing up in Virginia, I often heard stories about verbal jousting between Sir Winston Churchill and Lady Astor, who was also born in Virginia. One of the most memorable is the following: Lady Astor: “If you were my husband, I’d give you poison.”Sir Winston: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.” Amusing, but not…
This weekend I heard a podcast mention the concept of ‘kangaroo words’ so decided to have some fun dreaming up derivatives of kangaroo words. Kangaroo words contain letters of another word with the same or similar meaning, in the correct order but not necessarily consecutively. For example, the word chicken has the word hen in…
Have you ever noticed the word nonplussed has two opposite meanings? The original definitions of nonplussed is perplexed or disconcerted. Recently, and primarily in the U.S., nonplussed has come to mean unfazed or not surprised – the exact opposite of the original definition. The opposite definitions are certainly confusing but surprisingly it’s not that rare…
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This well-known quote, often attributed to Albert Einstein, cautions us from repeating ineffective actions or continue down paths likely to lead to disappointing outcomes. Only, Albert Einstein never said it. The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, the self-described ‘most…
Have you ever noticed there’s conflicting sayings for every situation and every point of view? When someone you care about goes on a long trip, a friend might comfort you by saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”. On the other hand, when you end a relationship with a toxic partner, the same friend might…
You likely remember the spelling rule, “I before E, except after C.” It’s been taught in English grammar textbooks at least as far back as 1866 and persists in modern school texts. In fact, it’s been called the “supreme, and for many people solitary, spelling rule.” The rule is supposed to help with the complexity…
“Now you’re cooking with gas.” On the surface, it was an odd thing for my friend to exclaim during a recent Memorial Day BBQ as I pulled some filets and corn off of my decidedly wood-fueled Big Green Egg. But I instantly understood the phrase – he was being appreciative of my cooking. The modern…
Have you ever heard of Nordstrom’s? It’s a trick question. The name of the store is actually Nordstrom. There is no letter ‘s’ in the name. The same is true with Kroger and JCPenney. Even the president made the mistake with supermarket chain Meijer. So why do people add ‘s’ to store names? The most…
Ever wonder why we say clocks go tick tock and not tock tick?Or why the music genre is called hip hop and not hop hip? If you ask most English speakers for a reason, they’ll likely respond it just sounds better that way. That may be true, but it turns out there is an actual…
Have you ever written a common word and momentarily questioned whether you spelled it correctly? If so, you might have experienced jamais vu. You’ll notice I wrote jamais vu, not the more common expression déjà vu. Déjà vu (French for “already seen”) is the feeling we’ve experienced something before when it’s actually new to us….