How do you pronounce Henry David Thoreau’s last name? It’s not “thur-ROH” but “THUR-roh,” as if pronounced like the word thorough, with the accent on the first syllable. The author of Walden (Bookshop|Amazon) had a French grandfather who was...
A listener in Buford, Georgia, says his mother’s maiden name was Barnett, and reports that he was told that the addition of an “e” to a last name was once an indication that the person was descended from slave families. This is part of a complete...
meaniac n.— «Learned a new word today. “Meaniac.” Prominent meaniacs include George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Elmer Fudd, Wily Coyote, Chris Matthews, Lord Voldemort, Pat Buchanon, Darth Vader, Genghis Khan, Mrs Williams (my 5th grade teacher) and Ty...
truther n.— «Truthers, as they are called, hold a wide range of (often mutually exclusive) theories about what took place on September 11, 2001. They break down into two broad camps: those who believe that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney made 9/11...