Last week while editing an academic text, my hawkish eyes fell upon the phrase money laundry. The esteemed professor had made a typographical error. I smiled quietly to myself as…
Zeitgeist is a lovely word to get your teeth into, literally and figuratively. And both syllables require a firm grit. Derived from the German language, the word is surrounded by…
I am catching up with the past, voraciously reading through the pages of William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice with a copyright date of 1979. A literary marvel, the author provides delightful…
Today we are going to have some fun exploring the difference between veracity and voracity. These words if not heard correctly can be interchanged to disastrous effect. The one has…
The apple: On first appearance, there’s nothing special about it at all. It’s typically green or red on the outside with a crunchy white interior (if it’s a quality mid-season…
In my school days, I loved writing essays and sometimes the result was so impressive that my teachers rewarded me with the highest marks in the class. Such was the…
With so much exposure to people’s dirty legal laundry and equal amounts of televised fictional dramas – Law and Order my personal favourite – I often heard the charge of…
Tintinnabulation. This delightful six-syllable tongue-twister made its debut in 1831 according to some sources, even earlier according to others. Online Etymology Dictionary states its origin in usage as "the ringing…
In my work as a sub-editor, the only word allowed for an attribution is 'said'. No, 'revealed', no 'pointed out', no 'suggested', no 'argued' - just plain 'said'. But for…
