Martha from Rock Hill, South Carolina, wonders about the phrase She’s got the botts, meaning “she’s pouting.” The botts, also spelled the bots, refers to “a general malaise or moody spell,” and the bot in this case is the same bot in the botfly, a...
The rarely used English noun list, meaning desire or craving, is entirely different from the word list that denotes a series of things. The little-used meaning is at the root of the term listless, which in its original sense meant a lack of desire...
Absenteeism is a problem in the workplace, but so is presenteeism. That’s when people who should stay home to nurse a cold or flu insist on coming in to work, risking a turn for the worse or infecting everyone around them. This is part of a complete...

