Month: October 2015
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“Lemurs” and “larvae”: creatures of the etymological night
Vampires, witches, demons, and zombies? The Halloween season spooks us with many ghouls and goblins, but you might want to watch out for two other creatures lurking in the etymological dark: lemur and larva. The origins of lemur and larvae Zoologically, lemurs and larvae have little in common, but etymologically, they have several interesting connections. First, both words were first…
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Home is where the haunt is
For word nerds, the real candy of Halloween is all the great words it gives out: werewolf, jack-o’-lantern, samhainophobia. But, as we so often see on this blog, sometimes it is the less unusual and more everyday word that can be the sweetest treat. Let’s have a look at just such a seasonal one: haunt. Its etymology really hits “home,” we might say. Haunt The word haunt has…
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Some language, strong & “light,” on Slate’s Lexicon Valley
I am extremely happy to share that I have two posts up on Slate’s language blog, Lexicon Valley. Be advised: there is some strong language ahead. One is a repost of a piece I did for Strong Language, “Something from nothing: A zero-fucks game.” As previously mentioned when I linked to it here, this post discusses an interesting innovation…
Mashed Radish 