In China, dogs say wang wang instead of woof woof. Wikipedia has a great list of such cross-linguistic onomatopoeias. Of course, we all know what the fox says. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Dog Says “Wang-Wang”” Hello, you...
Ron in Grand Rapids, Michigan, grew up hearing relatives ask for a receipt when they wanted a recipe, as in getting the instructions for a good cake. That usage is old-fashioned but well established. Both receipt and recipe go back to Latin...
Insure in the US Constitution’s preamble, as in to insure domestic tranquility, isn’t a mistake. Tim from Nashville noticed that modern usage often reserves insure for financial protection against loss and ensure for making certain something...
Does penultimate mean the very last? No! It means second to last, taking from the Latin word paene, meaning almost. It’s the same Latin root that gives us the word for that “almost island,” a peninsula. People misusing penultimate are overreaching...
The word stet was borrowed from the Latin word spelled the same way, which translates “let it stand.” Stet is commonly used by writers and editors to indicate that something should remain as written, especially after a correction has been suggested...
Is the synonym for pamphlet spelled flyer or flier? Both. In the UK, it’s more often flyer, and in the US, flier is preferred. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Flyer vs. Flier” We got an email from Jennifer Newton who asks, When...
