The Ponderer In all the current discussions about pronouns, it is easy to get caught up in the arguments and forget what a pronoun is actually for. A pronoun substitutes for a noun. It is used instead of a noun, to simplify speech. We substitute pronouns to avoid saying something
The word for today is… fallacy (noun): 1a : a false or mistaken idea b : erroneous character 2a : deceptive appearance b obsolete : guile, trickery 3 : an often plausible argument using false or invalid inference Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Philosophers are constantly using the word fallacy. For them, a fallacy is reasoning
Michael David Barbezat Australian Catholic University Michael Barbezat is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University. His research on medieval intellectual and religious history examines the ideologies and assumptions that justified and encouraged persecution during the Middle Ages. From Kate Bush
Ashwin Dhanda University of Plymouth Dr Ashwin Dhanda is a Consultant Hepatologist at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust where he is lead for alcohol services. He is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Plymouth. A new anti-hangover supplement has just gone on sale in the UK. It is
Ingo Geiger scoop.me Over the past 10 years, homelessness in Houston has dropped by 63%. Double the decrease seen anywhere else in the U.S. The city helped 25,000 people out of homelessness. So what does Houston do better than other major cities? The “housing first” concept gives
There’s a meme doing the rounds: “The year is 2024. Your electric car won’t start for 48 hours because your status on social media was deemed too offensive.” What ridiculous, conspiracy theory nonsense! Except that, like too many “conspiracy theories” today, it’s just a few weeks at
Colin Parkinson The recent overturning of Roe vs Wade has brought a lot of attention back to the issue of abortion here in New Zealand and I have noticed that there is still some confusion not only about our own laws here, but also around a few common arguments used
Thomas Harrington brownstone.org Thomas Harrington, Senior Scholar at the Brownstone Institute, is an essayist and Professor Emeritus of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College in Hartford (USA) where he taught for 24 years. He specializes in Iberian movements of national identity Contemporary Catalan culture. Sucker! In early adolescence there are
The word for today is… darling (noun): 1 : a dearly loved person 2 : favorite Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Darling comes from Old English deorling, which was formed by attaching the Old English suffix -ling (“one associated with or marked by a specified quality”) with the adjective deore, the ancestor of
The word for today is… sagacious (adjective): 1a : of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment b : caused by or indicating acute discernment 2 obsolete : keen in sense perception Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : You might expect the root of sagacious to be sage, which, as an adjective, means “wise” or, as
The word for today is… mollify (verb): 1 : to soothe in temper or disposition 2 : to reduce the rigidity of 3 : to reduce in intensity Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Mollify, like its synonyms pacify, appease, and placate, means “to ease the anger or disturbance of.” But mollify is particularly well-suited
The word for today is… fractious (adjective): : tending to be troublesome Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The Latin verb frangere means “to break or shatter” and is related to a few common words, which is evident in their meanings. Dishes that are fragile break easily. A person whose health is easily
The word for today is… abeyance (noun): 1 : a state of temporary inactivity : suspension —used chiefly in the phrase in abeyance 2 : a lapse in succession during which there is no person in whom a title is vested Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Abeyance comes from Old French baer, meaning “to
It was recently announced, with great fanfare from demographers, that Millennials had overtaken Baby Boomers as the largest demographic cohort in Australia. To which I responded with a yawning, “So, what’s the difference?” Millennials are the children of the Boomers, and the apple hasn’t fallen far from the
Ryan McMaken mises.org Ryan McMaken is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. Send him your article submissions for the Mises Wire and Power and Market, but read article guidelines first. Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy and international
The word for today is… gullible (adjective): : easily duped or cheated Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : You are gullible if you think there is no entry for gullible in the dictionary. It descends from the verb gull, meaning “to deceive or take advantage of.” The verb was borrowed into English from
