February 2 marks the annual Groundhog’s Day. This year’s winter has been particularly harsh on the East Coast, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow. While the frost is still thick on the ground, we want to explore the unusual origin of the common name for the herbivorous burrower Marmota monax. CONTINUE READING »
Have you had enough (or enuf) trouble spelling to make you want to scream (or skreem?) You are not alone. Since the 17th Century, scholars have been protesting the irregularities that occur in English spelling. Reform movements can boast such iconic English-speaking figures Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and Theodore Roosevelt. English is currently the most widely-spoken language on the planet, yet it is the only language among the top ten most spoken that lacks an official regulatory academy to approve spelling. CONTINUE READING »
Betelgeuse has been in the news again recently. No, not the creepy character played by Michael Keaton in the 1988 Tim Burton movie Beetlejuice . We’re talking about the red supergiant star in the constellation Orion, that Betelgeuse.
Apparently, some pseudo-scientific gossip is circulating online claiming that Betelgeuse will explode in CONTINUE READING »
In 1999, two graphic designers from Indianapolis raised a stir when they tried to discourage the use of Comic Sans MS, the silly-looking font designed by Vincent Connare and modeled after the text in American comic books. The designers observed that a font is the orthographic (written) equivalent of one’s tone of voice, and that Comic Sans was essentially like a squeaky-helium voice but in text.
Flash forward to 2011 and a recent study from Princeton University that suggests ‘funky fonts’ such as the aforementioned typeface as well as Bodini MT may CONTINUE READING »
Are you passionate about Sudoku? The number puzzle is so popular that its origin and the meaning of its name deserve some attention.
(Don’t confuse the word “sudoku” with “sodoku,” which is a bacterial zoonotic disease known as “rat-bite fever.” Basically, sodoku has more in common with the Ebola virus than any puzzle game.)
Sudoku is similar to types of European puzzles that were played in CONTINUE READING »
A mystery has gripped Biscayne Bay since New Years, when a 650-pound baby grand piano appeared on a sandbar above the waves. Was this out-of-place instrument flotsam, the work of pirates? Was this lagan from bumbling musical smugglers?
Full disclosure: This riddle has in fact been solved, and we’ll reveal the enigmatic source in a minute. There is a greater puzzle here that will last longer than this tale of a beached piano: the classic and confusing words CONTINUE READING »
There are many reasons to be thankful for the benefits of modern living ― antibiotics, airplanes, velcro . . . Another subtle but essential item is our calendar. It may have some frustrating moments, but consider how months used to work. Take heed of Mercedonius.
In the days of the Roman calendar, an intercalary month was added in leap years and a few other times as well. This month was called CONTINUE READING »
In a few weeks much of the world will be glued to images of men in helmets and tight pants kicking around an egg-shaped ball. You may know a ton of Super Bowl trivia, as well as all of the arcane rules of football, but how about this word right in front of you: Packers. “Packers” doesn’t inspire the same associations of strength or speed as Steelers. The origin of the Green Bay team’s name reveals quite a bit about the history of the sport.
“Steelers” not only evokes the strength of steel and inadvertently summons up associations of CONTINUE READING »
Science magazine recently released a study on the effects of diary writing for college and high school students. The results showed that students experiencing test anxiety and who wrote about their disquiet in a diary right before the exam performed better on the test by half a grade.
Dictionaries and diaries are old friends; what better way to learn new words than expressing your thoughts in writing? We welcome this bit of educational news as an excuse to talk about the precise origin of “diary” and some of CONTINUE READING »
You read the blurb on the back of a book to figure out if you want to shell out the extra bucks for the hardcover. You glance at the blurb on a DVD before deciding if that film is the one to enjoy that evening.
A good blurb provides a short summary or praise of a creative work, but it doesn’t give anything away. It whets the appetite. CONTINUE READING »