From the category archives:

WORDS & GRAMMAR

CULL: to remove flawed or unwanted items

January 22, 2012

In the past few days Republicans have been said to be about the process of  culling the ranks of prospective candidates for their nominee for President.   It may well describe the process of sorting out the field, but I doubt that cull is a good word to describe the process. Cull is a term used [...]

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ALLEGORY: a symbolic representation of a concept

January 21, 2012

An allegory is a visualization of an idea.   Does that sound complicated?  It’s not. Blind Justice, the statue shown in today’s illustration, is a perfect example of an allegorical symbol.  It is an artistic representation of a concept, that true justice is blind to such things as race, creed, place of origin, gender, economic status, [...]

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PRIEST: not quite the same thing as “minister”

January 20, 2012

Tonight a friend, Diane,  will be ordained a Priest in the Episcopal Church.   An Episcopal Bishop will place his hands on her head and other ordained Priests will crowd around her and place their hands on her at the same time.  It is a very moving ritual, tracing its elements to ancient traditions of the [...]

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OBDURATE: hard-hearted, unmoved, obstinate

January 19, 2012

People do change their minds.   Adults learn that there are times when it is appropriate to take a different tack because you have received additional information that makes your original thought inappropriate or inaccurate.  Children have to learn that, and it is the responsibility of adults to model that behavior. For children it is hard [...]

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FORMIDABLE: strong, powerful

January 16, 2012

I began to write this posting to indicate the variations on the pronunciation of the word formidable.  Some people put the accent on the second syllable, with it coming out as  [fawr-MID-duh-buhl.]    But the “correct” pronunciation, I am told, is to put the accent on the first syllable and then run the remaining syllables, as [...]

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SNEEZE RESPONSE: “God bless you?”

January 12, 2012

There are a lot of people sneezing these days.  What with the change in climate conditions and new weather patterns the so-called “season for colds and flu” is vaporous.   It used to be clear that it was a specific couple of months.   Now it seems as if the entire year is a season for colds [...]

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KIT AND CABOODLE: the entire thing, all items in a specific place or location

January 9, 2012

I love words and terms that are characterized as “Americanisms.”   The other day I overheard a conversation in which a person talked about having to “get rid of the whole kit and caboodle.” I hadn’t heard the term in years.  I quickly pulled out my I-phone and added it to my notes list. What a [...]

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DEBATE: a formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers.

January 8, 2012

It always bothers me when a word gets brutalized and loses its accurate and helpful meaning and is replaced by a more popular meaning.  That’s especially disturbing when the new meaning denigrates the original purpose of the word. A current example of my point is the word debate.  It is a word with a long [...]

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SUBSIDIARITY: needs are best served by institutions closest to individuals

January 7, 2012

When I first saw the title of journalist Michael Gerson’s article in The Washington Post this week I was tempted to pass it by.  “Rick Santorum and the return of Compassionate Conservatism.” Somehow I just didn’t have the stomach to endure another appeal to the Bush-era thinking that there could be such a thing as [...]

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TEEMING: swarming, overflowing

January 6, 2012

There’s a huge difference between the meaning of the words crowded and teeming.   It has to do with the feeling of the situation. A funeral home may be crowded with mourners or a bus stop may be crowded with commuters.  It means that there is a large group of people in a place that may [...]

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