Mark Twain once observed that Washington, D.C., was “the grand old benevolent asylum for the helpless.” Whether or not you believe that’s true, American politics and politicians have been for generations a great source of new words, colorfully repurposed words and humorous words. We offer just a taste today. Let’s start by looking at one […]

Recently the Internet has been flooded with rumors and conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook called the statements “false information.” The United Nations said there was an “infodemic” going on. While facts are facts, “truth” can be more elusive, and our language has evolved to reflect that. For instance, use of the term “alternative […]

Let’s face it, most of us don’t know our asperands from our epershands. Including me. That’s why I recently went looking for the names of all those symbols that lurk in anonymity just above the numbers on our keyboards. (The fact that they lurk above those digits also makes it easy for me to tackle […]

We Mainers don’t talk funny; it’s the rest of the country that talks funny. I think they make fun of our distinctive accent and unique vocabulary because they’re jealous of the fact that we get to live in the state where life really is the way it should be. For decades actors from away have […]

There are so many reasons to find words interesting, and one of them is the arrangement and combination of their building blocks – their letters – and, for today’s purposes, their vowels in particular. First up is greenskeeper, which makes use of the letter E, the most common letter in the English language, five times. […]

Most of the time words represent work. You know, that paper or report you have to write — or even a column for the newspaper (though I hardly call that work!). But on the other side of the coin, words can make us smile by showing their slightly spicy side, which is what we’re going […]

Today, let’s look at the important role the tiny comma plays in helping to make the meaning of our words clear. Specifically, we’ll look at the Oxford comma. (Yes, the comma has an actual name, because it was used by staff at Oxford University Press.) Also known as the the serial comma, you might remember […]

“It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.” — Muhammad Ali

I’m pretty sure there is nothing more confounding in the English language than the apostrophe. In addition to being the name of Frank Zappa’s 18th album and the act of a performer speaking to an imaginary person (“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”), there is the apostrophe’s more common use to replace missing letters in […]

At a recent news conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told his audience, “Words matter!” as he strongly advised people to just stay home. “Shelter in place,” he admonished, should be used only during events such as an active shooter scenario, when people need to move to a safe place away from windows. “Words matter,” […]