A mental health therapist wonders about the origin of the term manic. It derives from Greek mania, meaning “madness” or “frenzy,” from an older root that gives us mind and mental. From the same root comes maniac. The word mania is now part of such terms as nymphomania, kleptomania, megalomania, and Beatlemania. This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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