kuzbu
According to Wikipedia, "kuzbu" is "an Akkadian word which means 'seductive allure' or 'sexual appeal.'" Or, in the vernacular, "hotness." As in, "Whoa, his entire body is adorned with kuzbu."...
comma sutra
This morning, the phrase "comma sutra" popped into my head, don't know why. I immediately thought it would make a good name for this blog, which I've been thinking of...
Premium Basic
When you want your service to sound great, you might be tempted to label it with a superlative, like, say, "Premium." But if you want to distinguish two levels of...
virii
I occasionally see people use "virii" as the plural of "virus," but there's no good reason (that I know of) to do so. See Wikipedia's entry on the plural of...
Gell-Mann quotes
Just came across two quotes attributed to physicist Murray Gell-Mann: If I have seen farther than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarves. [On the Feynman Problem-Solving Algorithm]...
energumen
An "energumen" turns out to be a person possessed by an evil spirit, or someone who acts like they're possessed, or a fanatic. I'm now surprised that I haven't seen...
TASER
According to a variety of sources, the word "TASER" was coined as an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle." Apparently the Taser's inventor was a fan of the Tom...
Mama, momma, mom, etc
I was recently discussing various words for "mother," and it occurred to me that words/spellings like mama, momma, mom, ma, and mamma have different connotations to me. MW11 lists them...
Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day?
Every year around this time, a question of the utmost importance occurs to me. I refer, of course, to the question of whether this holiday honors mothers or a mother—that...
Headline
Headline from a news story: Gay rights activist makes Clinton stop What did the activist make Clinton stop doing, and was it President Clinton or Secretary Clinton? Answer: Neither: the...