Diane calls from eastern North Carolina to talk about a phrase her father used if she asked him to repeat something: I never chew my celery twice. He probably conflated the idea of chewing celery with some far more common expressions involving doing...
The words plethora and drastic both have roots in ancient Greek. Both were first used in English as medical terms, plethora indicating “an excess of bodily fluid” and drastic meaning “having an effect.” This is part of a...
I have a new neighbor, and I’ve been electronically snooping on him or her. I say “him or her” because the surveillance device is the PandaCam at the San Diego Zoo, which welcomed a bouncing baby panda a few weeks ago. And as the...
spermarche n.— «For this milestone in male maturation I suggest one of two terms: we might call it primus ejactulatus from the Latin or spermarche from the Greek. I prefer the latter, which means “the beginning of sperm...
umbraphile n. an avid observer of, or a person with a great interest in, eclipses. Etymological Note: From Latin umbra ‘shade’ + Greek philos ‘loving.’ (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
