This week the world seemed to be well down the road to hell in a handbasket. There is, I think, no need to recap the events that have been flooding social media and news feeds. If this is the shape of where things are going, I despair for the world. What’s going on? What the … More Is the world is going to hell in a handbasket?
This week’s really obscure English word is gerb. It’s sometimes also spelt ‘gerbe’, and means ‘something resembling a sheaf of wheat’. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
The obscure word this week is fig. No really. Let me explain. Yes, it’s a well known type of fruit. But it had a meaning in the nineteenth century in reference to military uniform – from ‘figure’, as in ‘cut a fine figure’. It was also used to mean ‘condition’, as in ‘fine fig’. I’ve … More The obscure word of the week is ‘fig’, but not ‘fig’ as in fruit
This week’s obscure English word is lairage. It means a place where cattle can be rested on the way to slaughter (ewwww). Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
It seems to me that mythology and fairy stories go together pretty much hand in hand. One of the twentieth century masters of the art of writing them was J R R Tolkien, whose Middle Earth imaginarium spanned the whole lot. The Silmarillion, the foundation of his mythos, was deliberate mythology. He drew inspiration from … More What is a myth – and what is a fairy story?
This week’s really obscure English word is fecundate. It’s another word English has – er – borrowed from French and was first used in the late 17th century. It means ‘to make eloquent’. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
When I was at Tamatea High School in Napier, years ago, one of the gangs of bullies who prowled the place always greeted me the same way. “Here comes Wright. He must die!” Usually it was posed as a public question: “Hello Wright, do you want to die?” It was a daily event. I wasn’t … More Are humans bullies by nature?
