Sometimes I think we need an English to English translator. Regionalisms … Street Talk … Academic and technical language … You’d have an app that could reword anything from pop music lyrics to Shakespeare in ways you’d understand. Or vice versa. Need to sound super-educated? Or just clever? App would do that. Could call it Read More …
Some people aren’t so much selfish as they are, well, selfy. To coin a word. Or at least a meaning. (Apparently a self-portrait can be a “selfy.”) Selfish people worry about getting what’s theirs, whether it’s success, adulation, money, preferential treatment. Selfy people, on the other hand, can be nice and considerate, but they’re just Read More …
How could I have overlooked photographorisms? These would be pictures that illustrate sayings. Like a penny going into a piggy back be a photographisms for “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Except it’s not exactly as snappy, is it? Hmmm. True photographisms would be more than a picture, they’d precisely communicate a thought. And Read More …
Paragraphorisms: Wordy words of wisdom that take several sentences. Epitaphorisms: Clever final words suitable for tombstones. Laughorisms: Funny sayings. //*bant — that sorry-buzzer sound. a Google search reveals this was originally coined, same idea, by Ambrose Bierce.// Caraforisms: Thoughts under the influence. Stafforisms: Sayings common in workplaces. Girafforisms: (a) Perspectives from high places, (b) sayings Read More …
Why is all self-congratulations egotistical? In this age of You-Tube and Web 2.0, we’re all (well, bloggers anyway) being typecast as self-centered thumb-sucking babies. But is it just vanity? (All is vanity!) I don’t think. Sometimes you just feel good, celebrating your gifts, enjoying seeing your imagination come to life, hoping others benefit somehow. It’s Read More …
Well, there is now. If nutrients are chemicals good for you body, then what are substances that make you sick? How about pollutrients? Popped into my head driving yesterday. Has a certain ring, yes? Reminds me of a cartoon I once did that I’ll have to find, scan and post later. For more about Googlewhacks Read More …
I’d eat less (I’m just a bit overweight) if my stomach wasn’t greedier than my brain. It works like this: Mind see cherries. Mind think: “I’ll only eat half a little dishful.” Mouth eat. Stomach say: “Me want more.” Dish fill up. Mouth eat that. Mind think (lie): “Just a few more.” Repeat. Stomach rumble. Read More …
Some words look like they should be opposites but really aren’t, I’ve noticed. They’re anti-antonyms. Examples: hottie and icy, inlaw and outlaw, onset and offset, upset and subset, postman and foreman, topping and bottoming, undertake and overtake, uppercut and undercut, expect and inspect, retail and detail, demote and remote. Forgive and forget are especially odd, Read More …
Often you’ll hear expressed the idea that all roles are equally arbitrary. And, frankly, I bought into this for years. But now I realize: Yes, all the world may be a stage, but some roles are more real than others. Being a mother, for example, is based on giving birth, having a body that can breastfeed, and a baby’s Read More …
Finally, got my Internet back, after a few more weeks of problems with Verizon DSL. While working on a new puzzle for word lovers, I came up with this idea: Words that have the same sounds rearranged. Like mix and skim. See? Unlike anagrams, which rearrange letters, these words can use different letters. Must be Read More …