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...
In her new book Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne (Bookshop|Amazon), Oxford University scholar Katherine Rundell notes that the 17th-century cleric’s love poems are famously difficult to unravel, but well worth the effort...
Following up on our discussion of the really big word you ever learned, some listeners responded with antidisestablishmentarianism, a word rarely seen except in, well, discussions of big words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
crematoria cowboy n.— «The Church of England is taking steps to ban “ash cash” payments to clergy for taking funerals at churches and crematoria. Instead, the money will go direct to dioceses. The move will stamp out the “crematoria cowboys,”...
ash cash n.— «The Church of England is taking steps to ban “ash cash” payments to clergy for taking funerals at churches and crematoria. Instead, the money will go direct to dioceses. The move will stamp out the “crematoria cowboys,” clergy who...
