This week’s obscure English word is caracole. It means a half-turn, left or right, by a horse. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments, perhaps without the alliteration, using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019
As the twenty-first century approaches its third decade I am deeply worried about the nature of how social media is served to us. It didn’t really exist twenty years ago when everybody was worried about the ‘millennium bug’ destroying everything. Today it’s engaged by a really significant chunk of every human alive on the planet, … More If it's free, you're the product – again
This week’s obscure English word is captious. It’s an adjective, and it means to find petty objections to something, or to nit-pick. It’s from Middle English, and it’s yet another word English stole from French – ‘caprieux’. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments, perhaps without the alliteration, using this word. Copyright … More The obscure word of the week is captious
It is 78 years, this weekend, since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor turned what had been a European war into a world conflict. Over the next few days we roll through the anniversary of the loss to air attack of the Prince of Wales and Repulse – two capital ships the British deployed to … More On these days in history
This week’s obscure English word is cudweed. It’s a type of Asteraceae, the daisy family, with many different varieties. Some are edible. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments, using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019
I’ve written an article for a lifestyle magazine. It’s on sheep. Really. I’ve covered the early history of sheep in New Zealand, and there will likely be more in the series – including the stories of sheep rustling, fast business deals and general adventuring that went on in back-country New Zealand’s wool industry around 150 … More A short history of sheep in New Zealand's Wild West era
I have tūī in my back garden. Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae to scientists. There are at least three, possibly more, which live in the area and drop in every so often to snack on harakeke (flax) nectar. They also squabble and sing. Loudly. And all of that that is a great luxury to have in the back … More An ode to the humble tui
