Month: December 2017
-
The 2017 “Etymology of the Year”: The Fake Origins of “Covfefe”
While some casual observers speculated if covfefe would win Word of the Year, lexicographers duly noted that the presidential typo for coverage, if creating a curious cultural moment, lacked any meaningful use to genuinely merit any such award. I think covfefe does deserve a different prize, however: my second annual Etymology of the Year.
-
Spelacchio, Yankee Swap, and Boxing Day: Some holiday etymologies
Over on the Oxford Dictionaries blog, I’ve written some pieces that will get you in the holiday spirit. For my latest Weekly Word Watch, I featured the Italian word spelacchio: The official Christmas tree of the city of Rome, imported from the Italian Alps at a cost of over £42,000, has been shedding its needles,…
-
Book review: The Story of “Be” by David Crystal
’Tis the season for ’tis the season, that yuletide cliché stuffing headlines and ad copy like so many Christmas stockings. This season, though, I got to thinking about ’tis itself, that old-timey-sounding contraction of it is. In one of his latest books, The Story of Be: A Verb’s-Eye View of the English Language (Oxford University…
Mashed Radish 