The 15th Annual Liberty Band Festival arrives in Lycoming County on the weekend of Oct. 16-18 — with a free concert slated for 1:30 p.m. that Sunday at Montoursville Area High School. Hosted by Williamsport’s world-famous Repasz Band, Liberty brings in musicians from around the country to rehearse on Friday and Saturday — with a
If you know a bit about word origins, you might assume that female was formed by adding a prefix to male; or similarly, that belfry — i.e., a church’s bell-tower — is a form of bell with a suffix tacked on. But neither assumption is true — thanks to something called folk etymology. To quote
Bumbershoot. Zaddick. Rodomont. Diddle. Williwaw. Sklent. These are just a few of the terms we’ve examined through three-plus years at Webb’s “Weird Words” — of which this column marks the 136th installment. Here’s another batch, with no particular theme except that we haven’t covered them yet: Accidie (ACK-si-dee, noun) – Alternate spelling of the more-common
“Don’t judge a book by its cover!” I dare say that is one of the best-known adages in the English language; yet I admit to doing this all the time — and what’s more, doing it proudly. After all, it’s not much fun reading ugly books. What I mean is: A handsome cover can substantially
It’s impressive how a blundering, bird-hating beast like Wile E. Coyote has somehow become a sort of cartoon underdog. What’s even more impressive is the similar dark-horse status of the terrific new movie featuring that unkillable canine and his road-running nemesis. Indeed, Warner Bros. was so skeptical about Coyote vs. Acme that they tried to
