familyfirst.org.nz After we honoured and celebrated fathers on Sunday, it’s worth considering just how significant fathers are to the well-being and development of children, and ultimately the overall health of our society. Sadly, many kiwi kids live without a biological father or stepfather in their home.
The word for today is… debunk (verb): : to expose the sham or falseness of Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : To debunk something is to take the bunk out of it—that bunk being “nonsense.” (Bunk is short for the synonymous bunkum, which has political origins – see BFD Word of the Day
The word for today is… scintillate (verb): 1 : to emit sparks 2 : to emit quick flashes as if throwing off sparks 3 : to dazzle or impress with liveliness or wit Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The initial spark of the verb scintillate was the Latin noun scintilla, meaning “spark.” The ember
The word for today is… duress (noun): 1 law : forcible restraint or restriction 2 law : compulsion by threat Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Duress is most often paired with the word under to refer to force or threats meant to make someone do something. For example, someone forced to sign a
Good News Network goodnewsnetwork.org Georgina Brough and Christian Allen get daily visits from a group of wild lorikeets—birds that broke in a year ago and now want to hang out constantly. The new feathered friends first visited the young couple in early 2021. They flew in through their
The word for today is… fulsome (adjective): 1a : characterized by abundance b : generous in amount, extent, or spirit c : being full and well developed 2 : aesthetically, morally, or generally offensive 3 : exceeding the bounds of good taste : overdone 4 : excessively complimentary or flattering Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In the 19th
The word for today is… jingoism (noun): : extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Jingoism originated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when many British citizens were hostile toward Russia and felt Britain should intervene in the conflict. Supporters of
Groucho Marx famously said that you’re only as young as the woman you feel. But behind the quip is more than a skerrick of truth: ageing is as much a matter of mind as of body. Of course, no amount of wishful thinking is going to make old bones
The word for today is… culminate (verb): 1 of a celestial body : to reach its highest altitude 2a : to rise to or form a summit b : to reach the highest or a climactic or decisive point Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : When a star or other heavenly body culminates, it reaches
Brittany Hunter fee.org Brittany is a writer for the Pacific Legal Foundation. She is a co-host of “The Way The World Works,” a Tuttle Twins podcast for families. If you haven’t heard the name Andrew Schulz yet, you will. He is, in this writer’s very humble
Government quietly introduces $103 billion tax on KiwiSaver Financial agencies and GST experts have warned the tax will hit KiwiSaver balances hard and be passed on in the form of increased fees, while the opposition has described it as “yet another tax grab … to fleece New Zealanders of their hard-
The word for today is… noisome (adjective): 1 : noxious, harmful 2a : offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell b : highly obnoxious or objectionable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Noisome looks and sounds like a close relation of noisy, but it’s not. While noisy describes what is
familyfirst.org.nz When does surrogacy become a commercial venture? A recent article published in Newsroom says “The [Law Commission’s recent] report recommends amending the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Act to allow payments to surrogates for their reasonable costs. It suggests these should include reasonable medical, travel and accommodation
The word for today is… confidant (noun): : one to whom secrets are entrusted Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’re confident of the trustworthiness of your confidants, you’re tuned into the origins of the word confidant. The word comes, via French, from the Italian confidente, meaning “trusting, having trust
The word for today is… cavil (verb): to raise trivial and frivolous objection Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : You must be joking! That’s just one of the things you might be tempted to exclaim if you found yourself quarreling with a caviler – and you’d be right, etymologically speaking at
The word for today is… fatigue (noun, verb, adjective): noun 1a : labour b : manual or menial work (such as the cleaning up of a camp area) performed by military personnel c fatigues plural : the uniform or work clothing worn on fatigue and in the field 2a : weariness or exhaustion from
