Showing posts with label word derivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word derivation. Show all posts
Sunday, July 3, 2011

Since you'll all be drunk today

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I figured it was time to investigate the word "hooch". And there's nowhere better to look than "A Browser's Dictionar...
Monday, June 20, 2011

More word derivation stories

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I haven't been doing this as often lately. Sorry. But I found some excellent derivation stories recently and it's past time to sha...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Phrase origins: off the cuff

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I hear the phrase "off the cuff" comes from olden days when debts were literally written on the cuff of the man who provided a s...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011

It's that fabulous day of the week!

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It's time for words and phrases. Today the material comes from John Ciardi's "A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium of Curio...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011

It's National Word Origins Day (i.e., Thursday). Woot!

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Today's words come from Robert Hendrickson's excellent volume, "The Facts on File: Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins....
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Fun batch of words and phrases today

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Today I'm jumping back to Robert Hendrickson's book, "The Facts on File: Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins". The f...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

It's word day. Woot!

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Today's entries come from "A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium of Curious Expressions & Intriguing Facts" by John Cia...
Thursday, April 14, 2011

Let's talk about words

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Today's words are taken from John Ciardi's " A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium of Curious Expressions and Intriguing Fac...
Thursday, April 7, 2011

A few words from Ciardi

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The following is from John Ciardi's "A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium of Curious Expressions & Intriguing Facts"....
Thursday, March 31, 2011

Words, words, words. Hooray!

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Welcome to word and phrase origins Thursday. Up today, a few facts from John Ciardi's "A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium o...
Thursday, March 24, 2011

It's that time of the week again

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The following is taken from "The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson. My copy of "...
Thursday, March 17, 2011

It's Phrase Origins Thursday!

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Word afficionados, rejoice! You held your breath, you waited and hoped and finally it's here -- Phrase Origins Thursday! But I digress...
Thursday, March 3, 2011

OMD! It's Word Derivation Day.

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Today, three lovely word derivation mysteries will be solved. As usual, the text you read below comes from The Facts on File Encyclopedia of...