Usually, when people cry, they cry out loud. But of course you can cry silently, can’t you? That hasn’t always been the case though.
word history
Alienist
I’ve come across this word a few times recently, while reading “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H.P Lovecraft.
No, I Don’t Mind
Carrying on from yesterday: all native speakers of English are quite used to the phrase I don’t mind… But why do we use mind in this case? Continue reading
Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb
Do you like rhubarb? Its taste is a bit sharp, but it can be quite nice alongside something gentler, like custarb. It’s one of those funny words with an Rh at the beginning, when really it seems like a simple R would do fine.
Astronomy and Astrology
You may already know the difference between these two words, but I think that they can be easily confused, so it’s useful to make a distinction. To put it most simply: astronomy is real, and astrology isn’t.
To Coin a Phrase
Without checking, I can safely say that I refer to words and phrases being coined a lot in these posts. I’ve long wondered why we use to coin as a verb in this way, so different, apparently, from how we use coin as a noun. So I decided to look into it.
The Fates and The Weird Sisters
A little more Greek mythology for you.
The other day, I wrote about the Furies, and as usual I initially confused them a little with the Fates.
English-Language Thoughts 