Words make swoon, especially when they’re chock-full of history and pop culture references. So my inner word nerd was jumping for joy when I stumbled upon Wordnik, which is “based on the principle that people learn words best by seeing them in context. We’ve collected more than 4 billion words of text (web pages, books, [...]
Categories: etymology, langauge, new words
Tagged: dictionary, etymology, word nerd, wordie, wordnik, words
There are some words that truly bring to a smile to my face, and “hooray” is definitely one of them. It not only carries a sense of joy with its meaning, but also with its pronunciation. Like a slice of lemon to a meal or the color red to a wall, “hooray” brightens any sentence.
Our [...]
Tagged: battle-cry, etymology, hooray, language, merriam webster, online etymology dictionary, words
Monograms evoke memories of mom’s writing on t-shirt tags worn to summer camp and fancy hand towels in the bathroom of newlyweds. Monograms are pre-internet taggings of items that we want to claim or express ourselves on. I personally enjoy the first initial monogram, which is why I gravitated towards the tea cup shown above. [...]
Tagged: anthropologie, cup, etymology, etymology of monogram, letter, monogram, monogrammed cup, tags, tea cup, word
Ever since I applied my first shade of Bonne Bell lip gloss in middle school, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with “makeup.” I enjoy the colors and art form, but I always debate about concealing vs. enhancing. So, I thought I would bring that debate back to the surface today and take a closer look at [...]
Tagged: beauty, etymology, makeover, makeup, merriam webster, online etymology dictionary, word
A rabbit is pulled from a hat, your card is instantly guessed, an object disappears from a hand and appears behind your ear, and a woman who was split in half is put back together. All magicians usually end the previous entertainment experiences with one memorable word, “abracadabra.” I never truly payed much attention to [...]
Tagged: abracadabra, aramaic, cabalistic, etymology, magic, magical, words
Turn your wall worthy words into works of graphic art with my new favorite tool, Wordle. Simply copy and paste text into the site, and Wordle will generate an eye pleasing “word cloud.” Once your text is deconstructed into a fabulous word puzzle, you can then make this creation truly unique by changing the [...]
Tagged: apartment therapy, etymology, home decor, wall art, word, wordle
As I’m sitting here typing on my lovely friend’s computer, I feel quite moved to delve into the word “friend.” Over the years, my definition of “friend” has varied from the girl who shared her toys with me, to the girls that whispered middle school secrets over the phone late at night, to the women [...]
Tagged: etymology, friend, merriam webster, word
We all have a favorite word, or at least a word we use so much that our friends can’t wait to throw a thesaurus at us. So why not celebrate that favorite word in a non permanent way that you won’t regret in the morning (“bubba” in blue ink on your right arm doesn’t look [...]
Categories: etymology, wear your words, words
Tagged: brookadelphia, charm, etymology, necklace, words
Whispering into one’s ear, quickly passing a note that has been folded into a square the size of your thumb, a spot where you meet friends back in the woods, and pinky-swearing. All of these experiences and things relate to the word “secret.”
“Secret,” both an adjective and a noun, can be dated back to the [...]
I’ve been known to throw some slanguage around now and then, what can I say, I’m from Philly. I thoroughly enjoy scholarly pieces just as much as the pop culture blogs overflowing with the newly created words of the moment. So I thought I would start a weekly “sunday slanguage” post to spice up the [...]
Categories: etymology, sunday slanguage
Tagged: etymology, language, merriam webster, online etymology dictionary, slang, slanguage, words
As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I thought I would explore the word, “t-shirt.”
They hang in your closet, are folded in your drawer, or are in a pile in the corner of your room. They’re worn in, trusty, cotton friends that can last through the years. But did you ever stop to think about what [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: american apparel, dictionary, etymology, merriam webster, shirt, t-shirt, tee shirt, training shirt, word
Word lovers, raise your pencil, your pen, your laptop and your journal (not your desktop-please no injuries) to the dictionary, my favorite book. It comes in all shapes, sizes (extra large and super small), colors, languages, topics and can be found on a shelf and online. I’ve certainly collected quite a few dictionaries over [...]
Tagged: dictionary, etymology, merriam webster, online dictionary
Unless you live under a rock, then you’ve heard and read about “gas,” the hot topic and three-letter word of the moment. This one syllable wonder is dominating conversations and is dripping with anger and passion, as many are now cursing the word.
According to Merriam Webster, there are several varying definitions of “gas,” both as [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: chaos, etymology, fuel, gas, J.B, merriam webster, online etymology dictionary, slang, van Helmont, word origin