David Zapatka While watching the last two episodes of The Expanse, I heard significant dialogue about the rail guns being used by Marcos Inaros, the leader of the Belters’ Free Navy, who was intent on destroying the Inners (pronounced Innas), the people residing on Earth, Luna (the moon), and Mars. These rail guns were…
Tag: word of the month
Features, April 2022
Word of the Month: Ziggurat
David Zapatka Reader John W. Patterson writes, “For what it’s worth, because of my ever-deepening interest in what might be called “The History of Ideas,” I’ve been following your Word column in our Quail Creek Crossing for some years now. In a very real way, etymology is itself a useful adjunct for dealing with the…
Features, February 2022
Word of the Month: Chicane
David Zapatka The Tour de France is one of the greatest sporting spectacles of the year. I love watching the drama and triumph. While watching the broadcast, I heard a commentator describe the upcoming chicane in the course and knew immediately, “chicane” would be my next word of the month.Chicane verb chi·caneshi-ˈkān , chi- 1. to use chicanery…
Features, December 2021
Word of the Month: Irenic
David Zapatka Friend, fellow bridge enthusiast, and reader Maria Davis wrote, “I came across this word today as I was flying to Miami. I rarely get five hours of uninterrupted reading time! I was reading Essays on Ethics by Jonathan Sachs, so he used the British spelling “eirenic,” which is closer to the original Greek…
Features, November 2021
Word of the Month: Contronym
David Zapatka Reader and dear friend Ellen Engel suggested I look at Mental Floss’ article on contronyms. I subscribed to Mental Floss for years and enjoyed the magazine. Today, you can only read it online, as its print version has been discontinued. Contronym noun con·tro·nym | ˈkän-trə-ˌnim variant – contranym: a word having two meanings that contradict one…
Features, September 2021
Word of the Month: Percipient
David Zapatka Friend, fellow bridge enthusiast and reader, Maria Davis, wrote, “I enjoyed your article on thraldom. It’s easier to spot the etymology when the alternative spelling thralldom is used. I have seen thrall and enthralled but thral(l)dom is a word that I had not encountered previously. I came across an interesting word today—percipient. It…
Features, August 2021
Word of the Month: Thraldom
David Zapatka While reading page 52 of The Labours of Hercules by Alice A. Bailey in my book-reading group, I ran across this sentence. “Let the soul be single in its purpose and freed from the thraldom of matter, and then right action and a right point of view will inevitably be the characteristics of the…
Features, July 2021
Word of the Month: Orbisculate
David Zapatka We’re doing something different this month. We’re going to explore getting a new word into dictionaries. Reader Debbie M. writes, “Hello, I enjoy your column and want to offer a suggestion. ‘Orbisculate’ is a word not yet in the dictionary. I think we should help the young people who are trying to get…
Features, June 2021
Word of the Month: Enough
David Zapatka Have you had enough? How much is enough? Enough of what? Enough stuff? Enough politics? Enough religion? Enough of some person? Enough of some activity? What does enough really mean? Reader and sister, Judy Haberstroh, says, “I came across this excerpt and thought the word “enough” may be a good one for your…
Features, May 2021
Word of the Month: Ontology
David Zapatka Last month’s column on “negentropy” elicited this response from a reader, “My thermodynamics class was at 8 a.m. and I slept through that particular law. Thanks for the review albeit a little late to do anything with it.” There’s an art to scheduling university classes and avoiding 8 a.m. classes was one of…