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,
The word for today is… negotiate (verb): 1 : to discuss something formally in order to make an agreement 2 : to agree on (something) by formally discussing it 3 : to get over, through, or around (something) successfully Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : For the first 250 years of its life, negotiate had
The word for today is… wormhole (noun): 1 : a hole or passage burrowed by a worm 2 : a hypothetical structure of space-time envisioned as a tunnel connecting points that are separated in space and time Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology: If you associate “wormhole” with quantum physics and sci-fi,
Alberto Giubilini Julian Savulescu mercatornet.com Alberto Giubilini is a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford. Professor Julian Savulescu holds the Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. He is Director of
The word for today is… grisly (adjective): 1 : inspiring horror or intense fear 2 : inspiring disgust or distaste Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : An angry grizzly bear could certainly inspire fear, so “grizzly” must be a variant of “grisly,” right? Yes and no. The adjective “grisly” is indeed sometimes spelled “grizzly,
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com One hundred self described French intellectuals (university teachers in fact) have collectively put their signatures to an article in Le Figaro, protesting at the radical renovation plans for the Notre-Dame rebuilding. What a bunch of cowardly fleas these types are. This is age-old
JP Sears awakenwithjp.com If you ever wondered what you would do during the civil rights era that sought to end segregation from society or during Nazi Germany, what you are doing today is the answer to that question. We can look back at Germany in the 1930s and see
The word for today is… qualm (noun): 1 : a feeling of uneasiness about a point especially of conscience or propriety 2 : a sudden feeling of usually disturbing emotion (such as doubt or fear) 3 : a sudden attack of illness, faintness, or nausea Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Etymologists aren’t sure
Craig Prescott Bangor University Craig Prescott is Lecturer in Law at Bangor University. He also teaches Sports Law at Birkbeck College, London. Following rapid developments in the sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew, Buckingham Palace issued a statement announcing that Andrew will lose all his remaining patronages and military titles
The word for today is… edify (verb): 1 : to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge 2 archaic a : build b : establish Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The Latin noun aedes, meaning “house” or “temple,” is the root of aedificare, a verb meaning “to erect a house.” Generations of
Over the years, I have done a large number of applications to IRD on behalf of clients for payment arrangements for unpaid tax. IRD would inevitably ask for copies of bank statements (3 months, or even 6 months), even though we had filled in an application form, giving details of
