Popstar Avril Lavigne has been the subject of many online conspiracies over the years, but one dominating theory is that she died in 2003. The theory spun by theorists and internet sleuths, gained traction in the early 2000s and claimed the Sk8r Boi singer had been replaced by a doppelganger
The word for today is… querulous (adjective): 1: habitually complaining 2: fretful, whining Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : English speakers have called fretful whiners querulous since late medieval times. The Middle English form of the word, querelose, was an adaptation of the Latin adjective, querulus, which in turn evolved from the
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove a portrait of her from an exhibition by Archibald Prize-winning Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira. The billionaire mining mogul directly approached NGA director Nick Mitzevich and NGA chair Ryan Stokes in April to press for the portrait’
The word for today is… emulate (verb): 1a: to strive to equal or excel b: imitate – especially : to imitate by means of an emulator 2: to equal or approach equality with Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but we’ll posit that
Northland iwi Ngati Kahu has finished drafting a letter to King Charles III calling on him to stop what they say is a violent attack on Te Tiriti O Waitangi, a Maori academic and iwi chairperson says. Makere Mutu presented her evidence on the second day of the urgent Waitangi
The word for today is… cacophony (noun): 1: harsh or jarring sound : dissonance 2: an incongruous or chaotic mixture : a striking combination Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’re hooked on phonetics, you may know that the Greek word phone has made a great deal of noise in English. Cacophony
Author JK Rowling has been accused of cruelty for mocking the world’s first openly transgender football manager, comparing her to a ‘straight, white, middle-aged bloke’. The Harry Potter novelist replied to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from LGBTQ+ charity Pride, championing Lucy Clark. The transgender referee is the
The word for today is… ulterior (adjective): 1: going beyond what is openly said or shown and especially what is proper 2a: further, future b: more distant c: situated on the farther side Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Although now usually hitched to the front of the noun motive to refer
Elon Musk has had a win over the Australian government in a federal court decision to overturn a ban on videos of the Sydney church stabbing. The judge chose not to extend a temporary order for the social media platform X to hide videos of the terrorist attack globally online.
The word for today is… refurbish (verb): : to brighten or freshen up : renovate Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : As seems proper given how English prefixes work, before you could refurbish something you could furbish it. That shorter word was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French as furbisshen;
Raymond G De Vries Professor Emeritus, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine University of Michigan When we think about harm, we typically think of physical or psychological suffering. But ethicists point out that we can also suffer “moral injury” when forced to do something at odds with our
A $70,000 app to help Hamilton City Council staff with te reo has one councillor calling for closer scrutiny of “pet projects” as ratepayers face an unprecedented rates rise. He Pou Koorero – an app “designed to help people on their te reo journey” – will be launched this month and
The word for today is… verbiage (noun): 1: a profusion of words usually of little or obscure content 2: manner of expressing oneself in words : diction Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Verbiage descends from French verbier, meaning “to trill” or “to warble.” The usual sense of the word implies an overabundance
Just when you thought wokeness couldn’t get any more ridiculous: A private school in New South Wales has moved to change its yearly “Mother’s Day Stall” into a “Family Gift Stall” to be more inclusive – but some mums aren’t keen on the idea. It is actually called
The regulator would have been given the power to force online platforms to take down more kinds of illegal content, such as threats to kill people. The overall objective of the initiative was to “improve consumer safety for all New Zealanders”, Internal Affairs said. But a spokesperson for the department
The word for today is… obeisance (noun): 1: a movement of the body made in token of respect or submission : bow 2: acknowledgment of another’s superiority or importance : homage Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : When it first appeared in English in the 14th century, obeisance shared the same meaning as
