The organization Historic Hudson Valley describes the African-American celebration of Pinkster in an exemplary way. It avoids the use of the word slave and instead uses terms such as enslaved people, enslaved Africans, and captives. It’s a subtle...
What a difference pronunciation makes! The United States has a Department of Defense, and an individual might take classes in self-defense. So why do football and basketball coaches say they’re proud of their . . . “DEE-fence?” Linguists have a...
Kennings are compound words that have metaphorical meanings, such as whale-road meaning “sea.” They’re often found in Anglo-Saxon poetry, such as The Seafarer and Beowulf, but there are modern ones as well, such as rugrats for “small children.” This...
We recommend books that make great gifts for language lovers, talk about footwear called go-aheads, and look further into going commando. Also, was the 2008 election a historic event or an historic event?
We all know that the 2008 presidential election was historic. But was it a historic event or an historic event? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Historic vs. An Historic” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello! Hi, my name is...
trowel fodder n.— «Excavations are often very expensive or simply use students as “trowel fodder,” providing no training at all.» —“Archaeology in Further Education” by Dave Jones Education and the Historic Environment Mar. 2, 2004. (source: Double...