This recurring “Weird Words” column aims to unpack oddball vocab like pogonip, putz, gleet, dik-dik and boustrophedon. But you can’t just keep trotting out such lists over and over, say 138 times in a row — which is where we’re at after more than three years. So every now and then, we dip into some
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
