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The word for today is… turkey (noun): 1: a large North American gallinaceous bird (Meleagris gallopavo) that is domesticated in most parts of the world 2: failure, flop 3: a stupid, foolish, or inept person Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Turkey, country in western Asia and southeastern Europe; from confusion with
Kate Burridge Howard Manns Monash University Kate Burridge is Professor of Linguistics at Monash University and Fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. She completed her undergraduate training in Linguistics and German at the University of Western Australia. Howard Manns
The word for today is… mollycoddle (verb): : to treat with an excessive or absurd degree of indulgence and attention Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Coddling eggs is delicate business. You need to cook them slowly and gently, keeping the water just below boiling. Given how carefully you need to treat the
Mathew Otieno Mathew Otieno is a Kenyan writer, blogger and dilettante farmer. Until 2022, he was a research communications coordinator at a university in Nairobi, Kenya. He now lives in rural western Kenya, near the shores of Lake Victoria, from where he’s pursuing a career as a full-time writer
Not many people can say they have turned their youthful dreams into reality, but proud East Coast man Mahanga Maru (Ngati Porou) is one of them. From watching planes flying over his home as a child growing up in remote Ruatoria, he now owns and operates his own private airline,
The word for today is… acronym (noun): : a word (such as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The word acronym fuses together two combining forms: acr- (“beginning”) and
Kristen Dunfield psychlopaedia.org Kristen Dunfield receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada and the Fonds de Recherche Société et Culture, Québec. Fantastical beliefs in children are associated with positive developmental outcomes Christmas is a magical time of year, especially for children. Unfortunately, between elaborate Elf
Tani Newton ’Tis the season for overspending and overeating, to be followed by a long summer of hardship, hunger and domestic violence. The Salvation Army have their busiest month in January. ’Tis the season to dredge up old grievances and be nasty, catty and backbiting. It’s interesting how people
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is resting her credibility on her ability to deliver tax cuts next year, despite heralding a bleak economic future as she unveiled nearly $7.5 billion worth of savings in the mini-Budget, and slammed the Labour Government’s fiscal record. “It is actually very clear in
The word for today is… hirsute (adjective): 1: hairy 2: covered with coarse stiff hairs Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’ve seen even one horror movie featuring a werewolf, you likely can recall the classic transformation scene of such films: tufts of hair sprouting from under cuffs and collars,
Ann Farmer Ann Farmer writes from the United Kingdom. mercatornet.com In this age of cancel culture, every year I’m pleasantly surprised to see that Christmas has survived. The modern battle against Christianity is not a frontal assault — but it is slowly succeeding. Christmas trees will not get the
Ryan Bridge thought coming out was going to ruin his life. He even bought a ticket to move to the UK as an “escape plan” if telling his parents didn’t go well. He was worried his friends wouldn’t want to hang out with him and that his “whole
The word for today is… foliage (noun): 1: a representation of leaves, flowers, and branches for architectural ornamentation 2: the aggregate of leaves of one or more plants 3: a cluster of leaves, flowers, and branches Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Whether you’re a casual leaf peeper or a card-carrying
A North Island brown kiwi has managed to squeeze its way into a Bay of Islands woman’s hen house, cuddling up to get some shut eye. “Waipapa local, Jane, was checking on her chickens when she noticed the intruder, a North Island brown kiwi, taking a nap next to
The word for today is… supersede (verb): 1a: to cause to be set aside b: to force out of use as inferior 2: to take the place or position of 3: to displace in favor of another Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Supersede ultimately derives from the Latin verb supersedere, meaning
