Kurt Mahlburg Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and author, and an emerging Australian voice on culture mercatornet.com There are questions that puzzle even the most astute philosophers. What is the sound of one hand clapping? If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear
The word for today is… sinecure (noun): 1: an office or position that requires little or no work and that usually provides an income 2 archaic : an ecclesiastical benefice without cure of souls Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : A sinecure is a job or title that usually comes with regular money
The word for today is… expedite (verb): 1: to accelerate the process or progress of : speed up 2: to execute promptly Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Need someone to do something in a hurry? You can tell that person to step on it—or you can tell them expedite it. Figurative
The word for today is… cachinnate (verb): : to laugh loudly or immoderately Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Cachinnate has been whooping it up in English since the 19th century. The word derives from the Latin verb cachinnare, meaning “to laugh loudly,” and cachinnare was probably coined in imitation of a loud
The word for today is… arboreal (adjective): 1: of, relating to, or resembling a tree 2: inhabiting or frequenting trees Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Arboreal took root in English in the 17th century, at a time when language influencers were eager to see English take on words from Latin and
Michael Bassett Political historian Michael Bassett CNZM is the author of 15 books, was a regular columnist for the Fairfax newspapers and a former Minister in the 1984-1990 governments bassettbrashandhide.com The Bible tells us in several places that the poor will always be with us. It’s doubtful whether
The word for today is… victual (noun, verb): noun 1: food usable by people 2 victuals plural : supplies of food : provisions verb 1: eat 2: to lay in provisions Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The word derives via the Middle English and Anglo-French vitaille from the Late Latin plural noun victualia
He may be the youngest royal with a close line to the throne but that hasn’t stopped little Prince Louis finding favour with the masses – even those not lining up to catch a glimpse of his famous family at a traditional royal event. Over the weekend, it was the
The word for today is… vicissitude (noun): 1a: the quality or state of being changeable : mutability b: natural change or mutation visible in nature or in human affairs 2a: a favorable or unfavorable event or situation that occurs by chance : a fluctuation of state or condition b: a difficulty or
The word for today is… carouse (verb, noun): verb 1: to drink liquor freely or excessively 2: to take part in a carouse : engage in dissolute behavior noun 1: a drunken revel 2 archaic : a large draft of liquor Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Sixteenth-century English revelers toasting each other’s
The word for today is… orthography (noun): 1a: the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage b: the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols 2: a part of language study that deals with letters and spelling Source : Merriam -Webster
The word for today is… reprehensible (adjective): : worthy of or deserving reprehension : culpable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : It may be easy to grasp that reprehensible is all about blame, but the word’s origins tell a grabbier story. The word comes from the Latin reprehendere (literally “to hold back”), a
The word for today is… gravamen (noun): : the material or significant part of a grievance or complaint Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Gravamen is not a word you hear every day (even rarer is gravamina, the less expected of its two plural forms; gravamens is the other), but it does show
righttolife.org.uk A study has found that Canada is the world leading country in organ harvesting from people who end their lives by euthanasia. According to the study, 136 people who were euthanised in Canada have donated their organs since 2019 to 2021. The figure far outweighs the other
The word for today is… beguile (verb): 1: hoodwink 2: to engage the interest of by or as if by guile 3: to lead by deception 4: to while away especially by some agreeable occupation Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : A number of English words have traveled a rather curious path
The word for today is… wistful (adjective): 1: full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy 2: musingly sad : pensive Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The etymology of wistful, while intriguing, is not entirely clear. It’s thought that the word is a combination of wistly, a now-obsolete word meaning “intently”
