The rare adjective finifugal describes someone “averse to endings” or “wishing something could go on forever,” whether it’s a book, a beloved TV series, a podcast, or anything else you don’t want to end. It comes from Latin finis, “end,” and fuga...
Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud. Plus...
According to The Little Book of Second Mentions: The Art of Avoiding Repetition (Bookshop|Amazon), a journalist once referred to a watermelon as the pink-fleshed crowd pleaser. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pink-Fleshed Crowd...
The word antidisestablishmentarianism first appeared in the 1890s, denoting “opposition to ending the Church of England’s status as the official state church”—the disestablishment of the church, in other words. This word didn’t take off in the U.S...
Why would some Spanish speakers use adaptations of certain English words when perfectly good Spanish words for the same thing already exist? Plus, handy terms in a dictionary of the Sussex dialect from 150 years ago: Back then, a dezzick was “a...
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on climate...