Clayton Fox brownstone.org Clayton Fox was a 2020 Tablet Magazine Fellow. He has been published at Tablet, Real Clear Investigations, Los Angeles Magazine, and JancisRobinson.com. Looming over my city of Evanston, Illinois is Northwestern University, home of the Wildcats, alma mater of David Schwimmer, Kathryn Hahn, and real
The word for today is… jovial (adjective): : characterized by good-humored cheerfulness and conviviality Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Jupiter, also called Jove, was the chief Roman god and was considered a majestic, authoritative type—just the kind of god to name a massive planet like Jupiter for. Our word jovial comes
The word for today is… feign (verb): 1a : to give a false appearance of b : to assert as if true 2 archaic a : invent, imagine b : to give fictional representation to 3 obsolete : disguise, conceal Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Feign is all about faking it, but that hasn’t always
Guy Hatchard PhD Guy Hatchard PhD is formerly a senior manager at Genetic ID a global food testing and certification company Sometimes we imagine we are involved in a rational argument about Covid vaccine safety and publish the evidence trusting that truth will have out, but mostly we puzzle about
Julie Birky brownstone.org Julie Penrod Birky is a clinical social worker specializing in the treatment of behavior disorders for children, adolescents, and young adults. She is also a college instructor, develops mental health education programs, and teaches Mental Health First Aid. More than a decade ago, my sister lost
The word for today is… enclave (noun): : a distinct territorial, cultural, or social unit enclosed within or as if within foreign territory Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Looking for the keys to the etymology of enclave? You’ll find them in French and Latin. English speakers borrowed “enclave” from French in
Ben and Jerry’s like to tout themselves as old-fashioned hippies takin’ on the man, man. The reality is quite different, of course: they’re really just another bunch of greedy one-percenters, multinationally chasing the Benjamins around the world. In fact, the “hippies” had no compunction in selling their souls
The word for today is… garbage (noun): 1a : food waste b : discarded or useless material 2a : trash b : inaccurate or useless data Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Middle English, “poultry organs and body parts used for food, poultry refuse,” borrowed from Anglo-French. Garbage (implied in sergant garbagere – “kitchen servant tasked with
Erin Sebo Flinders University Erin Sebo has taught and published widely in medeival epic poetry and historical reconstructive linguistics. Wordle is a quick English-language word game developed by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a unique gift for his partner, released in October 2021. It’s easily accessible online. The game,
The word for today is… univocal (adjective): 1 : having one meaning only 2 : unambiguous Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Earliest known print evidence of univocal, in the sense of “having one meaning only,” dates the word to the mid-1500s, somewhat earlier than its more familiar antonym equivocal (meaning “often misleadingly subject
Isaac Morehouse fee.org Isaac Morehouse is the CEO of Crash and Founder of Praxis. He is a member of the FEE Faculty Network. He blogs at IsaacMorehouse.com. Universities are dying. They have long ceased being the best way to gain knowledge. More recently, the degrees they confer have
Bruce Logan Once upon a time, familiar fairy tales enriched a child’s emotional and imaginative intelligence. Bible stories encouraged good character. Children learned that life was a poignant affair; eventually that tragedy was real and terrible. Every fairy tale or Bible story they read or listened to was about
The word for today is… trepidation (noun): 1: a nervous or fearful feeling of uncertain agitation 2: archaic : a tremulous motion, tremor Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’ve ever trembled with fright, you know something of both the sensation and etymology of trepidation. The word comes from the Latin
The word for today is… exonerate (verb): 1 : to relieve of a responsibility, obligation, or hardship 2 : to clear from accusation or blame Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : We won’t blame you if you don’t know the origins of today’s word. Exonerate derives via Middle English from the
The word for today is… amity (noun): : friendship – especially friendly relations between nations Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Amity has been used in English to describe friendship or friendliness for well over 500 years. It is derived from the Latin word for “friend,” amicus, and has come to be used especially
Simon Horobin University of Oxford Simon Horobin is Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College. He is the author of The English Language: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2018), How English Became English (OUP, 2016), and Does Spelling Matter? (OUP,
