Inkhorn terms are bloated, fancy, show-off words formed by cramming Latin and Greek roots into English. The name references little bottles made from animal horn that 14th-century English scribes used to carry their ink. Lexicographer Henry Cockeram’s 1623 volume, The English Dictionarie (Amazon) features lots of them, including catillate meaning “to lick a plate,” from Latin word for “small plate” and agelastic, an adjective that describes someone who never laughs, from Greek words for “not laughing.” Another is latibulate, defined as “privily to hide ones selfe in a corner,” from lateo, Latin for “I lie hidden,” also the source of English latent. This is part of a complete episode.
When you’re talking about the location of an inanimate object, is it okay to say that it lives there, as in The peanut butter lives in that cabinet or The flashlight lives on that shelf? Strictly speaking, of course, that object isn’t...
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...
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