In 2006, the International Astronomical Union kicked Pluto off its planetary pedestal. In his delightful book How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming (Bookshop|Amazon) astronomer Mike Brown recounts the events leading up to the demotion of that celestial body and the controversy over the definition of the word planet. The resulting change in nomenclature was such big news worldwide that, in a run-off against the term climate canary, the American Dialect Society voted the neologism plutoed its 2006 “Word of the Year.” The word planet derives from the Greek word planētēs (πλανήτης) which means “wanderer.” 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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