I saw this word today, and thought straight away that its origins were pretty clear.
-scope is clearly related to watching or looking (periscope, telescope etc.) And horo- must be related to time (hour). And that’s the case.
It comes from the Greek horoskopos, made up of hora (hour, season, period of time) and skopos (watcher, that which is watched). There was one thing I was slightly wrong about though. Continue reading
I thought about the word wow a little while ago. I’m not sure why it came to me: I don’t recall being particularly surprised by anything today. Continue reading
I briefly considered the word catchphrase today. Continue reading
I wasn’t going to write anything this evening. I knew I’d come back a bit late this evening, and assumed I’d be too tired and wouldn’t have much time, so I’d take an evening off.
Yet here I am. Continue reading
I’m not a vegan, nor am I planning to go vegan either. And I’m not a vegetarian either. I really like meat a lot. I did pretend to be a vegetarian once, though the pretence didn’t last long. But that’s another story. I really want to look at the word vegan. Continue reading
This word has been in the news a lot lately, specifically American news stories. It’s mainly only used in American English, and for that reason I’ve actually never heard it spoken aloud. Continue reading
I spent a little time in the classroom yesterday, correcting a test. One of the exercises required the students to finish the sentence Is the climate cold, or… with one of three options. One was …is it too hot? and another was …is it multicultural?
Obviously the correct answer was …is it too hot? But one student asked if …is it multicultural? could be right too. And of course it wasn’t, but then I thought: It also kind of is. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 