As a noun, respair means “the return of hope after a period of despair.” As a verb, respair means “to have hope again.” Although both forms are rare and obsolete, they seem ripe for reviving. Respair is among dozens of...
Agathism is the doctrine that all things ultimately tend toward good, even though the means by which that happens may be evil or unpleasant or unfortunate. The word comes from Greek agathos, meaning good, which is also the source of...
We get lots of calls and emails that take a pessimistic look at the way language changes– which reminded us that the word pessimism itself, just 100 or so years ago, was derided by the curmudgeons of old. People thought the word pessimism was...
Need a word for the cheerful but futile advice one offers despite knowing that the recipient’s efforts might not pan out? Try floptimism. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Floptimism” Grant, here’s another...
If your iPhone’s Siri thinks that two meetings in one day is not bad, does that make her an optimist? Since when did cellphones start making value judgments? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Optimistic Technology”...
two eyes and a wiggle n.— «In an act of both optimism and desire, millions of shad fry—so young and tiny they are often referred to as “two eyes and a wiggle”—have been released upstream on many area waterways where dams are...