You can of course be ruthless – having or showing no compassion or pity for others. I don’t recommend it, but it’s possible. Logically then, you can be ruthful – being full of compassion or pity of others. Normally when we add the prefix -less to a noun, we can add -ful as well to mean the opposite: careful/careless, hopeful/hopeless, and so on.
etymology
The Strange History of Pepperoni
Hi there! Would you like a pepperoni pizza? Of course you would! Well, here you go…
A Tricky Tourist Trap
Yesterday, I mentioned that I expect other languages to have an increasing influence on English due to the fact that there are more non-native speakers of English in the world than native speakers. I’ve already noticed this happening a lot with one specific word. Let’s see if you can guess what it is:
The (Really) True Meaning of “To Decimate”
Has anyone ever told you that you, or most people, use this word incorrectly? It’s possible, because it’s a favourite of misguided pedants.
It’s main use now is to mean to inflict heavy losses, or to almost completely destroy/defeat. It’s usually used in a military sense, as so:
True Bug Waits
While checking that I knew what I was talking about when writing about the words venomous and poisonous, I came across an interesting term: true bug. Continue reading
Why is “Dick” Short for “Richard?”
It’s a pretty straightforward answer actually: one of those cases where when you see the steps between A and F, it makes sense.
September, and the Names of the Months
It’s September, and that always makes me think of the names of the months. September of course, is the ninth month of the year, but the name might make you think it’s the seventh, if you know your Latin.
English-Language Thoughts 