Monthly Archives: January 2011

In a recent post, I discussed how “unfriend” had returned to common use, thanks to Facebook. As I thought about that, I came upon the word “frenemy,” a great example of a portmanteau word. Lewis Carroll coined that term; linguists … Continue reading →

A spoonerism is a phrase generated by the (usually unintentional) transposition of sounds between words. While this type of speech error has undoubtedly been occurring for much longer than a century, our word for them came from William A. Spooner … Continue reading →

Thought of the day, from the A Word A Day (AWAD) email. AWAD is also available on Droid as an app titled Mensa Word of the Day. Opening the app gives you the full etymology and usage portions from the … Continue reading →

Today marks one month since I wrote my first post on WordsWordsWords. I sure am having a good time with it! Statistical software isn’t flawless, but it tells me that in that time, there’ve been about 420 page views, from … Continue reading →

Intrepid Reader Mike of Charlotte, NC, recently expressed criticism of my writing style, terming it “blathering” and “self-aggrandizement.” He’s kinda got a point, as I do have a tendency to run on. I probably would have expressed it differently, though, … Continue reading →