This week’s obscure English word is onomastics. This is the term given to the study of proper names. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
Something struck me the other day about the nature of academic ethics in New Zealand and some of the people who flourish by exploiting the conceits of that subculture. Check out these two stories – both are true. 1. A few months ago a gang member arrived in a Blenheim KFC where he saw a … More How academics get away with bullying
There are over a million individual words in English. This week’s is thon. It’s an epicene word that never made it into common usage. It was coined by Charles Converse in 1858 as a conflation of ‘that one’, and intended as a gender-neutral pronoun – like ‘they’. Thon first appeared in a dictionary as early … More The obscure word of the week is thon
I have been fascinated of late with the way our understanding of human evolution has forged ahead in leaps and bounds. This year alone we’ve discovered that Homo naledi, the previously unknown ‘archaic’ species that was discovered in a South African cave, was still going just 250,000 years ago and – very likely – had … More Re-thinking human evolution… again
The other month I had an interesting discussion about historians and history. The issue came up of enthusiasts who style themselves ‘historians’ – but whose qualifications are in a totally unrelated area. What was the difference between their stuff and what I’m doing? There is a huge difference, I explained. Anybody with an enthusiasm for … More Why history is all about trends and vectors
This week’s obscure English word is covfefe. Until this week it was so obscure nobody had even heard of it. I have no idea what it means. Your challenge? Can you come up with a dictionary-style meaning? In the comments. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
The obscure English word this week is moue. Really it isn’t an English word, of course. It is stolen from French (along with a lot of other English words) and means a pout. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017
