The word for today is… derring-do (noun): : daring action Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Derring-do is a quirky holdover from Middle English that came to occupy its present place in the language by a series of mistakes and misunderstandings. In Middle English, dorring don meant simply “daring to do.” The phrase
If you were to believe the media, well, more fool you. But among the things you’d believe, if you took the legacy media, Hollywood and the political elite at their word, is that the Young People™ are wall-to-wall flaming queens, flouncing off into a rainbow fairyland of ladymen, soyboys
I recently picked up a second-hand copy of Theodore Dalrymple’s Spoiled Rotten. Like almost anything by the good doctor, it’s as disheartening as it is a ripping read. Drawing, as he so often does, on his experience dealing with the refuse of Britain’s criminal and welfare systems
Tabitha Stanmore theconversation.com As I was scrolling through Twitter recently, a viral tweet caught my attention. It was an image from a book of spells claiming that: “You may fascinate a woman by giving her a piece of cheese.” The spell comes from Kathryn Paulsen’s 1971 book, The
Michelle Wheeler particle.scitech.org.au Michelle is a former science and environment reporter for The West Australian. Her work has seen her visit a snake-infested island dubbed the most dangerous in the world, test great white shark detectors in a tinny and meet isolated tribes in the Malaysian jungle.
The word for today is… non sequitur (noun): 1 : an inference that does not follow from the premises – specifically : a fallacy resulting from a simple conversion of a universal affirmative proposition or from the transposition of a condition and its consequent 2 : a statement (such as a response) that does
The word for today is… debilitating (adjective): : causing serious impairment of strength or ability to function Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The verb debilitate (and its adjective form debilitating) comes from the Latin word for “weak,” debilis. Often used of disease—as in, “the patient was debilitated”—it can also suggest
The word for today is… winsome (adjective): : generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Winsome comes from Old English wynn, meaning “joy” or “pleasure,” which was altered in spelling to win (with the same meaning). That win is obsolete and is
The word for today is… sophomore (noun): : a student in the second year at college or a 4-year secondary school Source : Online Etymology Dictionary Etymology : 1680s, “student in the second year of university study,” literally “arguer,” altered from sophumer (1650s), from sophume, an archaic variant form of sophism, ultimately from
Dear Reader BFD columnist Terry Dunleavy passed away this week. The article that he had planned to write for today was going to tell us “why Luxon’s speech was NOT ‘State of the Nation’ but was welcome as reaffirmation of the State of the National Party”. In the years
The word for today is… yaw (noun, verb): noun 1 : the action of yawing, especially a side-to-side movement 2 : the extent of the movement in yawing verb a: of a ship – to deviate erratically from a course (as when struck by a heavy sea) especially to move from side to
It’s been a decade since Andrew Breitbart shufffled off this mortal coil, but he left behind an enormous legacy on the right side of politics. As one of his former colleagues, David Cole, argues, while there is still much of Breitbart’s legacy that’s a positive, there’s
Tarryn Basden particle.scitech.org.au Tarryn Basden is a biologist and science communicator from Western Australia. While she has had the privilege of working with lions and tigers and bears, oh my! She really enjoys teaching people about weird animals and making terrible puns as part of her science
The word for today is… euphemism (noun): : the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Euphemism comes from Greek euphemos, which means “uttering sounds of good omen,” “fair-sounding,” or “auspicious.” The first part of that root is
As I’ve discussed before, much of the evils of the present can be laid to the fact that a great many people have just stopped listening to one another. Instead of discourse (let alone “civil”), on almost every issue, we’ve become divided into two warring echo-chambers. This is
The word for today is… meritorious (adjective): : deserving of honor or esteem Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : People who demonstrate meritorious behavior certainly “earn” our respect, and you can use that fact to remember that meritorious comes from the Latin verb merere, which means “to earn.” Nowadays, the rewards earned for
