Gerry Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater This strange expression dates all the way back to the 1500s. Believe it or not, people in the 16th century only bathed once a year and as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I famously said, she bathed twice a year whether
The word for today is… benefic (adj) – Beneficent. Producing good or helpful results or effects Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Benefic comes from Latin beneficus, which in turn comes from bene (“well”) and facere (“to do”). The word was originally used by astrologers to refer to celestial bodies believed to
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com Last week, reading Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, first published 202 years ago, I encountered the following passage about the heroine Catherine’s sister Sally. “Sally, or rather Sarah (for what young lady of common gentility will reach the age of sixteen without altering her
Taylor Sander kingsseeds.co.nz Howdy! My name is Taylor and I originally hail from Golden, Colorado, in the USA, but have spent the last 11 years in the Northeast of the country, seven of those being in NYC. I arrived in New Zealand last November when Covid wasn’t
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says we’ll need more electricity to power cars like his. A lot more. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the world’s car fleets are electrified, increasing the need to expand nuclear, solar, geothermal and wind energy
The word for today is… appreciable (adj) – Possible to estimate, measure, or perceive. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Appreciable, like the verb appreciate, comes from the Late Latin verb appretiare (“to appraise” or “to put a price on”). It is one of several English adjectives that can be applied to
Gerry The Real McCoy Kid McCoy was born as Norman Selby in Indiana in 1867 (he later took the name Charles McCoy). By the end of the 19th Century, Kid McCoy was one of the most renowned boxers in the world. Just five foot eleven and one hundred and sixty
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com A United Nations employee, a Leilani Farha, described as a Special Investigator, recently wrote a report about our housing problems, which as an aside, is a current western world phenomenon. She wrote that the housing crisis was in fact, “a human rights crisis”. Not content
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com The media are currently imbued in the housing crisis, and consistent as ever, are talking nonsense. We’ve had much publicised finger-pointing at one another by the Reserve Bank Governor and the Finance Minister as to culpability, but all of this misses the point. Rising
This Government has signalled that they aren’t on the side of employers. They have announced a doubling of sick leave which will cost employers nearly $1 billion per annum. As businesses are still reeling from the enforced shut down because of the Chinese plague, this is the last thing
The word for today is… abstain (verb) – 1. To keep oneself from doing, engaging in, or partaking of something; refrain. 2. To refrain from voting. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : If you abstain, you’re consciously, and usually with effort, choosing to hold back from doing something that you would
Karen Rodham Staffordshire University Two years ago, I came into work on December 1 to find a bag on my desk labelled “Karen’s Christmas Intervention”. It contained many Christmas themed gifts and challenges – such as watching a Christmas DVD and going to a carol service. These were all designed
The ‘Queen of Covid’, Jacinda Ardern has decided to blame the housing crisis on the ‘team of 5 million’. So much for we are all in this together. Talk about arrogant: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is putting some onus on the public for the housing crisis, saying the Government had
The word for today is… verbiage (noun) – 1. An excess of words for the purpose; wordiness. 2. The manner in which something is expressed in words. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Verbiage descends from French verbier, meaning “to trill” or “to warble.” The usual sense of the word implies an
As we await the Royal Commission report into the unfortunate massacre at Christchurch, some others have been digging into why, precisely, the massacre occurred. Those in the firearms community have known for a very long time that the massacre could have been avoided if Police had done even the most
The word for today is… undertaker (noun) – 1. Funeral director. 2. One who undertakes a task or job. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : You may wonder how the word undertaker made the transition from “one who undertakes” to “one who makes a living in the funeral business.” The latter meaning
