A retronym is a word coined to distinguish something new from an older, more generic version, such as electric guitar or clock radio. A couple of new retronyms are fine water, or “unprocessed water that reflects a region’s terroir” and water...
Stellar first sentences from Bianca Bosker’s Cork Dork (Bookshop|Amazon) about her quest to become a sommelier and from A Tale of Two Cities (Bookshop|Amazon) by Charles Dickens.This is part of a complete episode.
Is there a term for words that simply feel good as you form them in your mouth and say them? Linguists sometimes speak of mouthfeel, an expression borrowed from the food world. They also talk about phonaesthetics, the study of the sensuous...
Creative communication in a noisy world! Writing a clever 140-character tweet isn’t easy. But you know what’s even more impressive? Working all 26 letters of the alphabet into just one sentence! The term for that type of sentence is...
A wine expert with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and a minor in French wonders about the origin of the term sommelier. It shares a root with sumpter, meaning “pack animal.” Sommelier used to refer generally to the person in...
tea sommelier n.— «To assist customers in selecting the appropriate teas to drink with each course there is a “tea sommelier” on hand.» —“Off the Menu” by Florence Fabricant New York Times June 29...