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NOES: the plural form of the word “no”
In a recent article I read the report of someone who was making the case that the Republicans in Congress are the” Party of No!” It is a criticism which we have heard numerous times over the past...
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RETICENT: hesitant, reluctant
Reticent is one of those words that can by misconstrued easily. I was reading John McIntyre’s blog posting for Saturday in which he distinguishes between refute and rebut. He is absolutely right...
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WHINGE: to complain or whine
I’m thankful to my colleague, John McIntyre, for the word whinge which came up in one of his postings a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great word, available to writers who tire of the day-to-day words...
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DEMOTIC: pertaining to the common people
I ran across the word demotic while reading the recent posting of John McIntyre in his blog You Don’t Say. Demotic is a word used with some regularity, it would seem, in the world of linguistics. It...
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MILITANT IGNORANCE: the desire on the part of individuals to wallow in false...
It frustrates the heck out of me when I hear people say something they know is false, but which they have embraced for the purpose of winning points. You hear it all the time in political rallies....
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NOR’EASTER [nawr-EE-ster]: a storm coming in from the northeast
When a storm in the northeastern part of the United States comes in from the ocean, particularly from a point northeast of the land site, it is called a nor’easter. There are language purists who...
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ELDRITCH [EL-drich] : weird, unearthly
I went to the theater to see Promised Land with Matt Damon this weekend. But, as ever, it’s impossible to go to a movie without having to endure at least ten minutes of trailers prior to the sigh of...
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RAMSHACKLE: loosely made or held together; rickety
Ramshackle is a fascinating word. It isn’t uncommon; in fact, it is quite commonly used in discussions, writings, and other forms of communication. But, again, it occurred to me that I didn’t know...
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CROTCHET [KROCH-it] : An odd, whimsical, or stubborn notion.
When I first came across the word crotchet I thought it was the familiar word, crochet. I spent some time researching the word, thinking that there was some literary variation on the meaning to what...
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HORS D’OEUVRES [awr DURV]: Any of various savory foods usually served as...
As I’ve said many times before, there are words in our American English language that come to us directly from another language. John McIntyre, my colleague who writes the blog, You Don’t Say, says...
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