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Academic Insights for the Thinking World
It is amazing how many synonyms for “fool” exist! It is almost funny that fool, the main English word for “a stupid person,” is not native, says the Oxford Etymologist in this week’s exploration of the origins of fools.
Some words are so rare that few people know and even fewer study them. Such is “brocard”, the “outcast” subject of today’s blog post from the Oxford Etymologist.
The Oxford Etymologist casts a glance at a book exploring the history of language and its development that is “definitely worth reading.”
David Herd explores the language of human rights and why Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s recent pronouncement of human rights as a “luxury belief” is a shocking step even by the standards of contemporary political rhetoric.
Some words don’t interest anyone. They languish in their obscurity, and even lexicographers miss or ignore them. Yet they too deserve to get their day in court. One such word is “cowan.”
The distinction between nouns and adjectives seems like it should be straightforward, but it’s not. Grammar is not as simple as your grade-school teacher presented it.
The Oxford Etymologist explores squash, squeeze, and the development of squ- words featuring the infamous s-mobile.
The hero of today’s blog post is the adjective “slow.” No words look less inspiring, but few are more opaque.
A good deal of our scholarship is guesswork, and today’s story deals with the origin and history of the word “guess.”
Are Americans in different parts of the country starting to talk more alike? It’s a reasonable question to ask. Americans have always been footloose, and now that working remotely is possible, they’re relocating to other regions more than ever.
The Oxford Etymologist’s subject today is the origin of the verb “stink”.
The distinction between nouns and adjectives seems like it should be straightforward, but it’s not. Grammar is not as simple as your grade-school teacher presented it.
The Oxford Etymologist considers the etymology of the word “peeve.”
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.
While we occasionally have the sense that we are rolling dice with words and hoping for good luck, meaning and communication would be impossible if we only and always succeed no better than luck would allow.
The Oxford Etymologist responds to readers comments on his most recent blog post topics.