The term wordsmith is formed by analogy with older words such as blacksmith, goldsmith, silversmith, and locksmith — all denoting skill and expertise with a particular medium. This is part of a complete episode.
Leave a comment
1 comment
More from this show
According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
I often hear wordsmithing used in the specific context of group writing. While preparing a formal document as a group, we will come to a point where we have generally agreed upon what we want a sentence or section to say, but don’t want to take the time to work out the exact wording as a group. In these situations, someone will often suggest “we leave the wordsmithing” to one of the team to do after the meeting.