Here at Weird Words, I could never do these columns without a good dictionary — several, in fact. At the same time, I also couldn’t do them if I had to check every single word in every dictionary I own. (Trust me — that is starting to get out of hand.) So I have 5-6
According to Britannica’s website, there may have been two men named Valentine — both dating back to ancient times. Both were Christian martyrs, while one was patron saint of lovers — though he’s also associated with epileptics and beekeepers. Since this doesn’t sound terribly romantic, I tend to sidestep Valentine-related terms here at “Weird Words”
Happy New Year! And welcome back to Webb’s Weird Words; we were on a multi-week hiatus while your local linguist labored on seasonal fare like Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. And while we’re on the welcome wagon: a hearty “Woo-hoo!” for the exciting new update of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Released in November, the
Happy New Year! And welcome back to Webb’s Weird Words; we were on a multi-week hiatus while your local linguist labored on seasonal fare like Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. And while we’re on the welcome wagon: a hearty “Woo-hoo!” for the exciting new update of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Released in November, the
In 1989 Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin starred in a low-rent time-travel comedy called Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Making a virtual institution out of slacker-dude subculture — and providing an indelible lesson in how not to pronounce “Socrates” — the surprise hit generated two B&T sequels: Bogus Journey (1991) and Face the
Last week, Webb’s Weird Words trotted out one of our standard oddball vocabulary lists — this one including succedanea (suck-suh-DAY-nee-yuh). The plural form of a noun meaning “substitute” — especially a replacement medicine — it’s perhaps best known from a brief appearance in Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy Waiting for Godot. Now more than 70 years old,
