Month: January 2016

• Introducing Shakespeare Confidential

  So, I’ve started a new yearlong project. Shakespeare died in 1616. I’m going to read everything he wrote in 2016 and write about it. I’m calling it Shakespeare Confidential. It’s going to be accessible, personal, and human, so don’t worry if Shakespeare feels Greek to you. You can find it – and follow it – at www.shakespeareconfidential.com and @bardconfidensh.…

  John Kelly

  January 18, 2016

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• Cancer

  This week, we lost two greats to cancer: David Bowie and Alan Rickman. Their passing so sudden, the news hit many hard, but cancer, as so many know too well, can be such a creeping foe. In its own small way, the etymology of cancer bears this out. Cancer Cancer spread into English from French and Latin, both…

  John Kelly

  January 15, 2016

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• What is the “jack” in “jackpot”?

  Most people – normal folks, I imagine – are excited by the size of the Powerball jackpot: It has reached a record $1.5 billion at the time I write this. (I’ve already had to revise it up from $1.4 billion since I began this post.) But nerd that I am, I am wowed by the word jackpot. To me, its…

  John Kelly

  January 12, 2016

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• “They”: Singular present, Scandinavian past

  On January 8, the American Dialect Society (ADS) voted for “they used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun for its Word of the Year for 2015.” As its official announcement continues: They was recognized by the society for its emerging use as a pronoun to refer to a known person, often as a conscious choice by a person rejecting the…

  John Kelly

  January 9, 2016

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• Element, O, P? The elements of “element”

  Last post, I discussed how the four, newly confirmed elements are named. But what about the very word element? How did it get its name? Its etymology may not be so, er, elementary. The development of element In English, the earliest record of element names the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire, which ancient and medieval philosophers believed made up the whole…

  John Kelly

  January 8, 2016

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