Three pirate lasses
It occurred to me recently to wonder about the derivation of the word "cutlass." Turns out it's from Middle French "coutel," meaning knife, which ultimately derives from Latin "culter," meaning...
in the wind
Just happened across a remarkably poetic phrase that I've never heard used this way before. I was reading an article about a woman who stabbed an attacker; the woman fled...
New iPhone word game
Some day I'll review various iPhone word games that I like; in particular, Jumbline (also available in a free lite version) was my favorite until now. And it's still pretty...
Sign
Saw this sign on a streetcorner outside a store recently: Used babies, $500 and up The store was, of course, a piano store....
Another recombinant idiom
From TechCrunch, December 3, 2009: "Don't shoot the gift horse that feeds you."...
island of misfit toys
I don't think I had ever heard of the Island of Misfit Toys before a couple of months ago, when it figured prominently in an anti-iPhone Verizon commercial. Which would...
Language changes
I'm reading a science fiction story published in 1958: "Eastward Ho!", by William Tenn. It posited a post-Collapse future in which white people live in low-tech poverty, while American Indians...
Rum, hobbitses, and the Kirk
A few weeks back, N introduced me to the catchy video remix "Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain; why is he climbing a mountain?" It does a neat job of...
Powerlatin
Y'all may have seen the Powerthirst video. (If you haven't, then the following probably won't make any sense.) Well, now there's Powerlatin!!! MORE PRONOUNS THAN YOUR MIND HAS ROOM FOR!!!...
baramin
Recently was reading some discussion or other of creationism and came across the word "baramin." Creationists use the word to refer to the "created kinds" of animals referred to in...